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I am thinking of adding a DVD/CDR to my laptop. It's an Acer Travelmate 220. The drive was an option at the time I bought the laptop, and I have a call in to a local dealer to see if they are still available.
My question is....If the internal drive unit is no longer available does anyone have any recommendations for an external unit?
Any things I should look for or look out for?
An external unit might even be a better idea since it could be used with both the laptop and the desktop. At this point I am just thinking about being able to rent/view a DVD movie or two when we are on vacation. Sometimes we get TV/movie withdrawal and our eyes get cross-eyed after reading 20 or 30 books!
Any comments will be appreciated!
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Does your laptop have USB 2.0 or firewire aka, IEEE 1394 ? If so look for an external drive that does one of the two. They are both about the same speed, (real world figures). If not, I wouldn't mess with an earlier USB version. Too slow.
As far as the new dual layer and higher speed drives are concerned...if ya have plenty of money and cost is no object, get the best thing you can afford.
If like me you have to be satisfied with bang for the buck. Don't worry about dual layer or anything that writes faster than 8 speed. The media for both is not even available yet. At least not mainstream. If you did find a writeable dual layer DVD the cost would be too high at this point in time.
If all you want to do is watch movies...maybe get a stand-alone dvd player. The cost on those is coming down pretty quickly as of late. Most will hook to a tv as well as have their own lil' baby screen.
Overall your best bet is the internal drive if you can get it.
Steve
-------------------- Steve Aycock Designs 3489 Oswald St. Johns Island, SC zaor@warpdriveonline.com Posts: 124 | From: Charleston, SC | Registered: Feb 2003
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Another place to get drives and other computer media cheap is www.bannapc.com. They have all kinds of stuff. If you want to bargain sho pgo to www.pricewatch.com they monitor websites for the cheapest published price on drives.
-------------------- Adam May 205 S. Sangamon St. Lincoln, IL 62656 217-735-9939 headhoncho@ampstudio.net www.ampstudio.net Posts: 149 | From: Lincoln, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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Today I found a local computer store who knew what they were doing and I now have a DVD rom/CD RW drive installed in the laptop.
The drive, DVD and CD writing software installed and disks provided, plus installation of all was $199 Cdn. Acer wanted $204 U.S. plus shipping to send the unit to me and never mentioned any software or drivers.
I'm a happy camper and the movie we tested it with at the store looked AWSOME!!! (NOT "Big Screen" of course but really good quality)
Only reason I didn't do the internet ordering thing was because I kinda like to see something installed and working before I hand over the money...Similar to the way my customers think!!!!
Of course I didn't buy this drive as a "toy" for me...it is a "present" for Shirl so she can take a rest from reading books and watch a movie once in a while in the evening when we are on vacation!!!
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
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