Advantages: In built wireless connectivity, large screen, thin
Disadvantages: Too wide and deep, no floppy drive

...and internet browsing I recommend buying a small USB mouse. Around the keyboard are three buttons for adjusting the volume (Up, Down and Mute). The DVD/CDRW drive is to the left of the machine. A small button on the front allows you to turn the wireless antennae on or off. The primary selling feature of this laptop is the inbuilt Centrino wireless technology. It is very easy to connect to a wireless network and I find I get a better signal with this laptop than with my desktop with its large wireless aerial. The hard drive is large enough to handle most application data and I haven't filled it yet, or come close. The CDRW works well and is reasonable quick. Not having a floppy disk drive can be annoying if you are switching documents over to a desktop in a hurry or taking documents to a workplace (mine does not allow those USB pens... Read review

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Advantages: 12 speed and value for money
Disadvantages: Not Scsi

...Reliable Performer: The Ricoh Mp7125a with just link (Ricoh’s name for burn proof) this is a good reliable performer, a well-built unit supplied with Nero 5 writing software. After 6 months of daily use I have yet to have a buffer underun, for a price of just under £100 this machine is well worth considering. I actually paid about £30 more than this when I bought mine. As with other Ricoh CD-RW drives, maintains a maximum read speed of 32x for CD-R and CD-RW media, as well as for CD-ROM. Because CD-RW media has a lower reflectivity than CD-ROM or CD-R media, amplification circuits are more susceptible to noise. This fact causes difficulties with high-speed CD-RW reading, and currently most CD-ROM drives, even 40x drives, can only read CD-RW media at about 20x at best. However, Ricoh have succeeded in minimizing circuit noise... Read review

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Advantages: Very Reliable
Disadvantages: Not Scsi

...Reliable Performer: The Ricoh Mp7125a with just link (Ricoh’s name for burn proof) this is a good reliable performer, a well-built unit supplied with Nero 5 writing software. After 6 months of daily use I have yet to have a buffer underun, for a price of just under £100 this machine is well worth considering. I actually paid about £30 more than this when I bought mine. As with other Ricoh CD-RW drives, maintains a maximum read speed of 32x for CD-R and CD-RW media, as well as for CD-ROM. Because CD-RW media has a lower reflectivity than CD-ROM or CD-R media, amplification circuits are more susceptible to noise. This fact causes difficulties with high-speed CD-RW reading, and currently most CD-ROM drives, even 40x drives, can only read CD-RW media at about 20x at best. However, Ricoh have succeeded in minimizing circuit noise... Read review

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Advantages: Re-Writable CD, 74min record time, 650MB storage
Disadvantages: Small storage compared to Re-Writable DVD's

...The Imation CD-RW 650 MB 24x discs are an excellent way to back up or store data at home or at work. I know it's not much storage compared to DVD-RW's but these still come in use as I still use them sometimes myself. As sometimes you don't need 4.7GB that a DVD can hold. Imation CD-RW rewritable discs have an increased recording speed of 24x and noise free play for a wide range of applications. Even though the CD-RW format requires speed compatible disc burners for recording, the discs can be used in standard CD-R/RW drives as well as Multi-read CD-R/CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and rewritable DVD drives. This is very useful as you may have a drive which can handle more speed which shouldn't have a compatibility issue. Main features and functions: - Storage media type CD-RW - 10 discs - 650 MB storage - 74min recording time - Write Speed: 24x... Read review

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Advantages: None anymore
Disadvantages: Slow, expensive, proprietary format, inconvenient

...Once upon a time, when CD-R/W drives were expensive, everyone wanted a Zip Drive, because they were cheap and convenient. Nowadays things have changed, and CD-R/W drives are cheap. The biggest drawback of the zip drive is that most people do not have one, so your data was often useless if you wanted to share it with someone, unless they too had a zip drive. The other thing is zip drives are slow, and they will slow your entire system to a halt when reading or writing a disk. I really cannot see any reason to buy a zip drive these days - the media are a LOT more expensive than CDs, and hold a lot less data; you cannot easily share data unless the other person has a zip drive too, and if Iomega goes out of business you can say goodbye to your data, whereas CDs are a standard format.... Read review

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Advantages: Good quality, fast, Stable, supported by most CDR software
Disadvantages: not Burn-proof

...This is one of the best CDR/W that you can buy. Apart from state the obvious and say that the SCSI ( Small Computer Serial Interface - think of it as clever IDE ) and the Burn-proof are better, which they are, this has to be one of the best supported CDR/W drives that money can buy. The wide range of software thats available can utilise this drive and it has a very good stability with only one CD failed and that was because I banged the case by accident. The Build of this drive is excellent as is technical support ( for when and if you drive fails - which is rare ) Plexor have always produced good quality CDR/W drives since day 1, but the launch of drives that are BURN-PROOF means that you can now 'technically' surf the net while burning a CD back which can save loads of time and hassle. All in all this is a good drive... Read review

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Advantages: Simply the Best Scsi Cdrw on the market
Disadvantages: None

...I have owned cd writers since the very first one that was released on the market, many years ago. I bought a Phillips 2X write, 2X read...Since then I have bought numerous cdr's and cdrw's, ranging from the cheap and nasty to the most expensive. I have the privilage to be a systems builder and I've fitted dozens of EIDE Cdrw's, but I have recommended Scsi drives as I always have used them myself. Scsi has always been a better option if you wanted reliability and speed, but I must say that EIDE drives are closing the gap slowly, but I still favour Scsi over EIDE. I think people have been put off buying Scsi systems because of all the tales of woe heard by people years ago trying to install a Scsi drive, ID adresses, Termination, Host Addresses etc,,, but the modern Scsi device, drives and cards are a lot easier to install now than... Read review

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Advantages: It's a good combo drive
Disadvantages: check what media you use with it.

...Firstly, this model is a rebadge of a Ricoh MP9060A. This drive is DVD&CD/RW drive, that is the reason on which I bought it. It was only a bit more than a regular CDRW. This drive was recommended in a group test in Personal Computer World. It was the best of the Combo drives. The performance was better than the Ricoh MP9060A, because of a updated firmware. The drive writes CDRs at 6 speed, CDRW at 4 speed. It reads the DVDs at 4 speed, and the CD-ROMS at 24 speed. In my opinion, in terms of reading, you really don't need anymore than a 24 speed, any higher is just to show off. The Drive comes with Audio cables, manuals, and the support posters. Software supplied comes courtesy of Adaptec, with Easy CD Creator, CD Copier Deluxe and DirectCD, and few other things present on the CD. Also there is a CDRW disc included. However, I... Read review

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Advantages: Functional, good software package
Disadvantages: Not as advanced as the pricey ones

...Wow! A new computer for my Masters studies! Wahey! The Dell Dimension like all Dell computers is only available online and only comes in the colour of black. It is a desktop computer- a decision I made after seeing just how much cheaper desktops are becoming than laptops. The other benefit, of course, is the generally greater disk space available in bulkier machines. My particular package was pretty low-spec in that it came with a normal-sized monitor (no flat-screen magic here) and a single CD/DVD-Rom drive rather than the optional 2. Here is my exact specification: HARDWARE: Dimension 3000 Celeron 320 (2.40GHz) List D09305 Dimension 3000 256MB RAM FREE - Double Memory Promo 512MB (2x256) Dual Channel DDR333~512MB DDR333 Dual Channel Memory (2x256) 40GB IDE Hard Drive (7200rpm) 429-11152 48X DVD/CDRW Combo Drive~48X DVD/CDRW... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent, reliable, robust, good value for money
Disadvantages: None whatsoever

...CD-ReWriter. However, one salesman who looked quite knowledgeable told me that Compaq were using LiteON drives in their PCs for quite some time and somehow I believed him. So I came home with a 40 speed CD-ReWriter which had a CD-R (write once CD), a CD-RW (re-writeable CD) and a software CD included in the box. When I came home I couldn’t wait to start using it. Having never used a CD-writer before I was quite excited. I opened my desktop PC (which I had built a couple of years ago) and installed it in an empty 5.25 inch bay. The IDE and sound cables were included in the box and I chose to set it up as Primary Slave on the motherboard. The main hard drive was Primary Master while the old CD-ROM was Secondary Master and the extra hard drive was Secondary Slave. As I was running Windows 98 I went into the BIOS to update these changes... Read review

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