New CD/DVD drive?

Its time for me to upgrade my dvd reader + cd reader/writer to a dvd writer. However, I have absolutely no clue about the computering side of it.

I've got a Dell inspiron 5160 laptop, and after weighing the options, I think I want an internal (as opposed to an external usb) drive.

Is it possible to have a drive that will both read/write dvds and read/write cds?

I've heard good things about drives with lightscribe, so if thats possible, I'd like to include it.

Anyone have any suggestions, knowledge, or general advice? It'd be greatly appreciated, because I know practically nothing!

Thanks in advance!

Yep. A DVD-RW drive is only a tad more expensive than a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive. (And it'll burn CDs too.)

You'll have to get one designed for that family of laptops, though. It looks similar to the Dell Latitude D-series drives, but not compatible. The burner'll set you back a bit, but probably not more than $150 Australian or thereabouts. Search ebay, Dell's site, whereever, can probably pick up a good deal.

As for Lightscribe Kiana, its nothing I'd go ga ga over. Its a neat way to have "etched" labels on a cd but as a designer they look kind of junkie and you will be paying more for cds that have the special film to allow you to etch the design on it.

In the end it looks like a printed label in horrible quality.

LG Lightscribe DVD+/-RW Drive on Newegg.com

This is what I would recommend. I've never had any significant problems with LG products, and it comes with burning software (nero express) which the OEM ones do not. Look for retail packages.

I'm not sure if Newegg ships to the UK but you'll probably be able to find someone that does.

Also, I disagree about the lightscribe issue. It's neat to be able to label disks this way. True, printed labels are nicer. True, lightscribe disks cost a tad more. The question is, how much more do printed sticky labels cost, and how much trouble are they to apply properly to the discs, and are you going to take the chance of damaging a drive if you apply them slightly off-center? Or, if you get the disks with paper surfaces, you have to pay extra for those, and make sure you get a printer that supports that kind of printing.

With high-contrast printing, the disks look pretty good in lightscribe. Unfortunately, the high-contrast printing takes a while. But unless you have a large batch to label, just start one going and then go borging.

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Originally posted by Grantref
Also, I disagree about the lightscribe issue. It's neat to be able to label disks this way. True, printed labels are nicer. True, lightscribe disks cost a tad more. The question is, how much more do printed sticky labels cost, and how much trouble are they to apply properly to the discs, and are you going to take the chance of damaging a drive if you apply them slightly off-center? Or, if you get the disks with paper surfaces, you have to pay extra for those, and make sure you get a printer that supports that kind of printing.

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I don't really need it for design or to make discs look beautiful. The extent of my creativeness is, well...managing to write "Woolly Monkey Proofs 2007" relatively straight on the disc.

In which case, can I use normal discs if I don't want to use the lightscribe part of it?

Also, whats the deal with all the x's, like you can find 16x, 48x, 6x. I was told it's speed, but why is higher speed better (if it is!)? Or is it just faster?

As for money, I'm not so bothered. I'm happy to shop of ebay/computer parts sites and scavenge!

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Originally posted by kiania
Also, whats the deal with all the x's, like you can find 16x, 48x, 6x. I was told it's speed, but why is higher speed better (if it is!)? Or is it just faster?

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Yes, it's speed. (It's the multiple of CD-audio standard speed, so if you burn at 1x, you're burning at that speed, if you burn at 4x that's going to take roughly a quarter the amount of time.) Generally the maximum speeds supported will differ for read, burn, and rewrite. There's nothing "better" about higher speeds, except - they're faster. :) But sometimes (esp with cheap media) you'll have trouble with high speed burns, so you'll have to go into the CD burning software and tell it a lower speed. Run it at the highest speed you consistently get good results at - or if you have a disc you need to burn *right first time* (like if it's your last blank CD and you need to take it with you tonight or something!), burn it at 1x and suffer the delay.

As for coming with software - frankly, I wouldn't rate that very highly. The software it comes with mightn't suit your particular needs/preferences anyway, and there's plenty of free CD burning software around. If you can save money or trouble by picking the one without software, go for it.

I'm not so bothered about software, I have the full copy of Nero anyway :) And I think another of my cds (possibly windows) came with Sonic (or something by sony) that rips too. So software really isn't a factor. Just want something that'll fit in my laptop and look pretty. Think I might be able to cope searching ebay now *smiles worriedly*

You should think about an external one! I just bought one last month for about $50 (DVD writer) and it's pretty awesome.

Also, for labeling, nothing's better then a black sharpie. :D

Kyilm suggest an external. Problem is that it means more things to carry around (I've already got speakers, hub, external harddrive, printer and a ton of cables, another bit is just as heavy!

And I have a red pen that I've been labling things so far with, but I always like new toys to play with!

I like the external because when I use my internal CD writer it more or less tanks my laptop (Inspiron 5150) and consumes all the resources but with the external drive it's a lot faster and less painful to burn stuff. And if you're already lugging that much around, a writer won't be that big of a deal! :p

I bought this one:

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...urn_DVDBurners

And I am COMPLETELY satisfied by it.

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Originally posted by Carrah
I like the external because when I use my internal CD writer it more or less tanks my laptop (Inspiron 5150) and consumes all the resources but with the external drive it's a lot faster and less painful to burn stuff.

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I did think about that, athough I got told there wasn't much of a difference in general. :S

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Originally posted by karahd
I bought this one:

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...urn_DVDBurners

And I am COMPLETELY satisfied by it.

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Is it still useable for linux? I keep getting told to switch, and that one says its for windows (assorted types). Don't want it to stop working if I do change OS! :(

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Originally posted by Carrah
I like the external because when I use my internal CD writer it more or less tanks my laptop (Inspiron 5150) and consumes all the resources but with the external drive it's a lot faster and less painful to burn stuff. And if you're already lugging that much around, a writer won't be that big of a deal! :p

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Inspiron 5150? That's a decent P4 3GHz or thereabouts. Burning a CD on that shouldn't be a problem. You may have a problem with your CD burning software.

With external CD burning, you're dependant on (usually) your USB port. I've seen a number of laptops where a USB port is actually high-speed capable, but either Windows gets something wrong, or some other USB device has throttled it, or something - end result is that it runs at USB 1 speeds, nowhere NEAR what it takes to burn a DVD decently. (I think it's the fault of the mobo too - it only happens with certain models.) Internal drives are immune to this.

Fundamentally, though, the main choice with internal vs external is... do you want to have the external device dangling off. And you've already decided that. Go internal!

Slightly worried, I checked dell's webside for DVD writers that are compatable with my machine, and it didn't appear to have any listed. Concern is currently flooding over me :(

You gave me a lot of numbers there, Rosuav. All I can tell you is what I experience when I burn with my internal CD drive. And that is noise that sounds like a jet taking flight and an unresponsive laptop =P.

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Originally posted by Carrah
You gave me a lot of numbers there, Rosuav. All I can tell you is what I experience when I burn with my internal CD drive. And that is noise that sounds like a jet taking flight and an unresponsive laptop =P.

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So you have two alternatives. A noise like a jet taking off, or a noise like Rosuav talking... and it's hard to tell them apart. :|

Try a different CD-burning program. You might find an improvement. Don't get rid of your old one though, just in case.

I don't use one! I just stick the files in a windows explorer folder and hit burn.

My laptop -always- sounds like a jet taking off...so noise isn't an issue!

I need some cute fluffy black earmuffs though...

I'm told that I want an internal. I'm also told that Grantref's suggestion is for a desktop, and someone else looked at me in absolutely horror when I mentioned Karahd's suggestion.

I'm happily lost once more, so back to ebay I go! :D

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Originally posted by Carrah
I don't use one! I just stick the files in a windows explorer folder and hit burn.

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Oohhh... that just means it has "Explorer Integration", which is one of those buzzwords that doesn't really mean all that much in usefulness. There's a number of free CD burning utilities around.

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Originally posted by kiania
I'm told that I want an internal. I'm also told that Grantref's suggestion is for a desktop, and someone else looked at me in absolutely horror when I mentioned Karahd's suggestion.

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Ehhh. I never actually clicked his link until now... Yes, that's a desktop model.

If you have a small phillips screwdriver and half an hour to kill, you could probably buy a bare DVD-RW module, and rig it to fit into your computer by taking parts off your DVD/CD-RW combo drive. But you'd probably do better not to.

This might be more the sort of thing you're after.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330086703603

I'll attempt to find one of them in silver, and in the uk then!

(and no, best not to try ripping bits apart - I'm liable not to be able to put it back together again!!)

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Originally posted by kiania
Is it still useable for linux? I keep getting told to switch, and that one says its for windows (assorted types). Don't want it to stop working if I do change OS! :(

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I use Linux! I think you're the only one who didn't know that ! :)

My Kubuntu loves it!

Must have missed the post on the forums about that then.

Now you all have me curious. I just got... well work got me a new Dell D620 that has a dvd burner in it. I'll have to test it and see how it does but the new D620's have dual processors so it shouldn't be any problem

I remembered my little bro having to relplace some parts on his lappy last year. He got all his parts from this place The Parts People . After a quick search here's a cdrw/dvdrw just for the laptop you've got CDRW/DVDRW For Inspiron 5160 Hope that helps.

Only problem is that thats in texas and their international shipping is painful. I'll take a look for the same model on ebay though, thank you :D

Sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention to what the computer was. Externals are really the way to go for laptops because it's rare for a laptop to work with anything but the drive that originally came with it.

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Originally posted by Grantref
Sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention to what the computer was. Externals are really the way to go for laptops because it's rare for a laptop to work with anything but the drive that originally came with it.

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Oh, it's not hard to get a drivebay device for a specific computer. Actually, you can even hack one into another, all it takes is a small screwdriver, a bit of care, and a bit of time. But in this instance, I'm confident she'll be able to get what she needs at a reasonable price.