Which DVD-R/RW drive will be most compatible with my Dell Dimension 3000 machine?

londonman81

Hi all,

I've seen a few of these £40ish DVD R/RW drives on various sites and would like to buy one for my new Dell Dimension 3000.

But before I do so, I would want to know which drive will be most compatible with my PC so that I do not get start getting silly blue screens and incompatibility issues.

Ideally I'd like to know which ones Dell put in their machines for the higher end models. Then I can be sure of getting a well suited drive.


Does anyone have any ideas???

Thanks as always

L

londonman81

Mr_Skint wrote:

well as long as your system requirements are compatible I dont really see a problem,, what is the make or model of the drive you wish to purchase?

Some LG one which costs around £35.

The problem I'm keen to avoid is having a brand which doesn't marry well with existing components in the Dell machine.

I've heard that certain combinations of hardware don't work well so that's my concern....


Thanks

L

Flimber

I put an NEC 3520A in ours t'other day and it's dandy

Mike.

ukbill69

NEC ones are the best, stay away from phillips and LG

Flimber

Some Philips DVD Drives are made by BENQ and rebadged.

bbb_uk

Don't want to throw a spanner in the works but some drives aren't compatible with all the different makes of blank DVDs.

I personally like the Pioneer 109 its supports the very new DVD-R DL (Dual Layer) and other competing standard DVD+R DL discs and can write upto 16x.

I'm using the 108 and haven't had a bit of trouble at all - it likes all the different makes of DVD-Rs and DVD+Rs I've used in it but unfortunately can't write to DL discs as at the time I bought it they were only still thinking of the DL standard.

londonman81

bbb_uk wrote:

Don't want to throw a spanner in the works but some drives aren't compatible with all the different makes of blank DVDs.

Yikes! Now I'm even more confused than before...some say any brand is ok, some say avoid LG and go for NEC.....then consider which discs work with which drive....

Who'd be a computer retard like me eh? lol


Cheers for the responses anyway ppl - keep it up and we may reach some consensus!

L

londonman81

Mr_Skint wrote:

P.S did you find my previous reply to SAR rates it was moved

Yes I did Mr Skint - thanks very much for the link. A very useful site.

Only problem now is to find one which is not discontinued....

Am basically looking for a camera phone, flip design, with low SAR value (preferably less than 0.5 W/kg) and on a pay as you go tariff from any network that can be unlocked...oh and less than £100 preferably!

Big ask I know - but i'm hunting around for one!

Thanks again!

L

bbb_uk

What I also should have mentioned in my earlier post is that it is possible for these manufacturers to upgrade the firmware (software) on the drive itself so that it is compatible. Unfortunately, I can't say how often they get round to this if they do bother about it.

Again though to throw yet another spanner (I'm really like working with spanners - lol) in the works I personally don't know whether all manufacturers do bother with upgrades. I know in the past (but not true now though) is that Sony themselves released writers that couldn't be updated.

That is last spanner I promise!

-TangleFoot-

bbb_uk wrote:

I'm using the 108 and haven't had a bit of trouble at all - it likes all the different makes of DVD-Rs and DVD+Rs I've used in it but unfortunately can't write to DL discs as at the time I bought it they were only still thinking of the DL standard.

Oh really?

Get your Pioneer firmware updates here!

(For anything else, try here)

bbb_uk

-TangleFoot- wrote:

Oh really?

Get your Pioneer firmware updates here!

(For anything else, try here)

It doesn't support the new DVD-R DL just the DVD+R DL discs. I emailed Pioneer support over this because at the time I bought it I asked if it would support the DVD-R DL which was in the middle of being finalised and was told a firmware upgrade would be available once the '-' DL had been finalised.

I recently emailed them regarding this so-called firmware upgrade and got the response that due to unforseen circumstances the DVD-R DL is not possible as my drive needs to be redesigned and a higher output laser is needed for DVD-R DL discs.

They basically said I would need the 109 model.

I've not bothered getting that as at this time the price of the DL discs are still expensive so I've left that until such a time as they become cheaper and then I'll look into getting whatever is the new drive out at that time!