I’ve got to get a new one, and I’m trying to decide between two plans of action:
Get the cheapest thing I can find on ebay, anything just as long as it works, no matter how slow. Then, this summer, I’ll get a high quality DVD multi burner.
Go with a gorgeous new Plextor CD-RW drive, and hold out on the DVD burner until my DVD-ROM drive gives out, at which point I’ll get a DVD multi burner.
Option 2 is slightly more expensive in the short term, but since the DVD burner won’t be coming for awhile after that, I’ll probably saving money in the long run. However, the new CD-RW drive is going to get obsoleted no matter what, once I get the DVD burner. It might make more sense to get an El Cheapo drive if I’m just going to get rid of it anyway.
Keeping in mind that buying a DVD burner right now is out of the question, what would you all suggest?
What use did you give to your old CD-RW drive? If you just used it to backup your stuff, there might be cheaper alternatives for a substitute. I don’t know if a zipdrive is cheaper, but you should consider it if you’re just backuping.
<img src=“http://www.rpgclassics.com/staff/tenchimaru/td.gif”> Zipdrives suck, and are more expensive on the long run. The disks can’t store near as much data as a CD, let alone a DVD, and still cost a lot. You’d be better off paying double for a CD-RW drive than paying for 10 disks just so you can back up one cd.
You can probably find something reasonably priced at a regular store too, not just EBay. Wait for a rebate offer at your retailer of choice. They change deals at least weekly if not more.
There’s not much point in getting a DVD burner, unless you have some insane desire to burn lots of DVDs. DVD drives and discs cost a lot more than CD-RW drives and discs, and the only advantage they have over CD-RW drives is that they can burn DVDs.
CD Burners are very cheap now a days, you can get 40x or higher for stupidly low prices.