Nice external dvd burners

[Funkin']

I don't have a dvd burner in my computer. And it has gotten to the point that I'm absolutely sick of not being able to download 360 or Wii games, or burn movies, because I don't have a burner.

So, I've decided to go with an external burner(mostly because I've never installed anything inside a computer), and I would like some recommendations on some good ones.

Now I was talking to a couple of my friends, and they were telling me that the brand of the model really doesn't matter, that the speed is what really matters. To get a burner with a speed of 20x or over. Is this true? That really only the spped of the burner matters and not the brand?

So, I'm just looking for some suggestions on an external burner that would be good for burning 360/Wii games and films.

Thank you for any info, I'll appreciate it.

[Detale]

Dude go for the internal burner. It's way easy to install, I'll walk you through it no problem. Just tell me what kind of computer you have. External burners are more expensive and usually slower than internal ones.

[apextwin146]

Dude go for the internal burner. It's way easy to install, I'll walk you through it no problem. Just tell me what kind of computer you have. External burners are more expensive and usually slower than internal ones.

wat would there be two install? I mean u just put it in the Drive bay , connect the power cable and data cable and u r set to go .. In BIOS just make sure its detecting at the time of Boot(set it to secondry)

[clocker]

Dude go for the internal burner. It's way easy to install, I'll walk you through it no problem. Just tell me what kind of computer you have. External burners are more expensive and usually slower than internal ones.

wat would there be two install?

D. likes the easy jobs.

[triso]

...
Now I was talking to a couple of my friends, and they were telling me that the brand of the model really doesn't matter, that the speed is what really matters. To get a burner with a speed of 20x or over. Is this true? That really only the spped of the burner matters and not the brand?
...
Thank you for any info, I'll appreciate it.

I have noticed that burning at a higher speed, more than 4x, creates a DVD that is not readable by all DVD drives and machines.

Dude go for the internal burner. It's way easy to install, I'll walk you through it no problem. Just tell me what kind of computer you have. External burners are more expensive and usually slower than internal ones.

wat would there be two install? I mean u just put it in the Drive bay , connect the power cable and data cable and u r set to go .. In BIOS just make sure its detecting at the time of Boot(set it to secondry)

There are a few snags that could occur: No free power cable, no free IDE or SATA cable or no empty drive bay. Just have a computer buddy open the case and look inside before buying anything.

[basilhaydens]

I wouldn't burn anything over 2-4x unless you need coasters. I would also go with the internal, since externals are prone to problems, just like external hds.
I'm no expert of this either and have looked into replacing my laptop drive, after finding a guide, I see it is really, really, really easy. So don't sweat that part.

[Detale]

I have noticed that burning at a higher speed, more than 4x, creates a DVD that is not readable by all DVD drives and machines.

Dude go for the internal burner. It's way easy to install, I'll walk you through it no problem. Just tell me what kind of computer you have. External burners are more expensive and usually slower than internal ones.

wat would there be two install? I mean u just put it in the Drive bay , connect the power cable and data cable and u r set to go .. In BIOS just make sure its detecting at the time of Boot(set it to secondry)

There are a few snags that could occur: No free power cable, no free IDE or SATA cable or no empty drive bay. Just have a computer buddy open the case and look inside before buying anything.

I burn almost all my stuff between 10 and 12X on 20X media and I can say I have a 95% perfect disk rate. As I understand it as long as you stay around half the disks write speed you should be OK, this has served me well so far.

It is an easy job and a better end result so why shouldn't he?

[apextwin146]

Dude go for the internal burner. It's way easy to install, I'll walk you through it no problem. Just tell me what kind of computer you have. External burners are more expensive and usually slower than internal ones.

wat would there be two install? I mean u just put it in the Drive bay , connect the power cable and data cable and u r set to go .. In BIOS just make sure its detecting at the time of Boot(set it to secondry)

There are a few snags that could occur: No free power cable, no free IDE or SATA cable or no empty drive bay. Just have a computer buddy open the case and look inside before buying anything.

I wouldnt call that a snag just an resource oversight .. The way i do it is get the requirements cleared up and taken care of then proceed with installation ..
Or i could have totally misread ur post by which u wanna say that are the SATA ports would be in use .. Then thats a concern

[Funkin']

Wow, thank you so much for all the info guys. I guess I'll go internal if externals have such problems.

Detale, unfortunately I'm not at my computer right now, and won't be until tomorrow, so I'm not looking right at it at the moment. But the computer brand is an emachines. And I'm pretty positive the model number is C2782(as I remember reading emachines C2782 on it, lol).

So, a little walkthrough how to install it would be most appreciated!

So, anyways, the lower the number is faster the write speed? Since Detale tells me that 10 and 12 is good, but triso tells me 4 is good, I guess I'll have to experiment since it looks like a standard write speed isn't used. Also, I guess brand doesn't really matter. So should I just go with the lowest price that I can find?

Any recommendations on the types of discs will also be appreciated since I'll be getting all of this within the next couple of days.

Thank you to everyone that has responded.

[clocker]

I would also go with the internal, since externals are prone to problems, just like external hds.

I guess I'll go internal if externals have such problems.

I wasn't aware that external drives were "prone to problems".
There is nothing inherently wrong with an external solution- either optical or storage- and in many cases, I think it's a better way to go.

As usual, you get what you pay for- cheap stuff may not last- but that holds true for internal parts as well.
I prefer to assemble my own external boxes as I can be assured that only quality parts are used.
So far, seems to work fine.