How To Choose An External DVD Drive

So are you one of those people who recently bought a new laptop and discovered that you don’t have an optical drive anymore? Don’t worry, you aren’t the only one. It seems like it’s the new standard for laptops as most companies have completely dropped adding DVD & CD drives to their devices. And that isn’t that surprising as Microsoft, Apple and Google have been pushing their cloud servers.

But that doesn’t matter if you have a bunch of DVD’s laying around that you need to access. So what those same computer companies have done is release an external version. You know just like how Apple comes out with their dongles. Another excellent way for them to make extra money. So let’s take a look ways that you can spot the best external DVD drives and avoid the bad ones.

Performance Is Everything

Yes you read it right. Burning and read speeds are the most important factors when it comes to picking an external DVD drive. Simply because there’s really no reason to buy something that isn’t the fastest. Mostly because the drives don’t cost that much and they are pretty even in terms of performance.

So if you see a drive that’s much slower than the others then stay away from it. Chances are that you’ll find a much faster drive that costs just as much. That’s the positive side of capitalism!

Design & Build Quality

Now it’s not hard to find a bunch of external DVD drives that completely match performance wise. What’s harder is finding one that pleases you aesthetically and doesn’t break the bank. This is why you should compromise and go with the external drive that not only looks good to you but is also affordable.

I also don’t recommend going with the cheapest option. Build quality is still pretty important and there’s a limit to how good of a drive you can build if you are set on a low budget. I also recommend looking at more known brands like ASUS and Dell. They are known for their quality so you can’t really go wrong with their gadgets.

Cable Connector

Some of the older external DVD drives used to come with a Y cable. It usually had a microUSB connector and two USB 2.0 connectors. One of the USB 2.0 connector was used to connect to a computer and the other one you could either connect to your computer as well or to an outlet instead with an adapter. Basically one to transfer data and the other to power the device.

What I recommend is pick an external drive that comes with just one standard cable. The new drives don’t require an extra port for power. Plus the standard USB 2.0 is good enough to transfer data at the maximum speed and even power the drive.

So overall it’s up to you to pick the right external DVD drive. Most of them work exactly the same and the only real difference is in the design. Perhaps we might also start seeing some with USB-C cables soon as that standard is becoming more popular. So pick one that fits your budget, looks great and has good reviews. That’s the key to finding the best solution.