Compare the Best Optical Disc DrivesMay 2021

Optical disk drives cover a wide range of internal and external devices meant to both read and write a variety of removable media. This means they can be used to both read data from discs (i.e - playing a movie DVD or Blu Ray) and also writing or ‘burning’ data (i.e - creating a music CD from individual mp3s, or permanently writing files to a disk for distribution).

While most computers used to house CD and DVD drives as standard, drastically smaller devices and a move towards cloud-based streaming mean that disc drives are being used less and less. Indeed many modern laptops and desktops no longer contain a disc drive at all.

This means that even though it is legacy tech, it’s still worth keeping a drive handy for those times you want to read the data from an old DVD, burn a disc for a friend, or watch a movie when you don’t have access to Netflix. This guide will explain the major points of consideration when choosing an optical disk drive.

Read/Write Speedas

Finally, read & write speeds measure how quickly data can be written from & to the disc. This is measures in bytes per second - the higher the speed, the faster large files (such as movies) will be burnt to the disc, or read from the drive. The read-write speeds are also affected by the USB version supported - USB 3.0 supported drives allow far higher transfer rates than USB 2 drives, so it is worth seeking out the newest drive you can for the fastest data transfer speeds.

Cd Rewriter Prices

We currently list 15 cd writers ranging from $29 to $128. A new cd rewriter costs on average $70 and 80% of dvd burners are priced between $41 and $100. The LG GH24NSC0 is the cheapest cd burner at only $30, and HP 652241-B21 is the most expensive at $128.

Dvd Rewriter Brands - Price Range

The average price of Verbatim dvd rewriters is $42 which is the highest average price of all optical disc drive brands. Verbatim dvd rewriters start at $0 and their most expensive optical disc drive costs $127.

The second highest average cd (re)writer price out of all brands is Transcend dvd burners with an average price of $41. Transcend dvd burners range in price from $41 to $41.

The third highest average dvd (re)writer price out of all brands is Buffalo optical disc drives with an average price of $37. Buffalo optical disc drives range in price from $0 to $100.

Cd Rewriter Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 17 expert reviews and 4,659 user reviews for dvd (re)writers and used these reviews to determine the average rating for each brand of dvd (re)writer.

Biggest Cd Burner Retailers

The biggest cd (re)writer retailer by number of products currently for sale is Adorama. We found 2 current cd (re)writer offers from Adorama.

How Fast Do Cd Burner Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, dvd (re)writers drop in price by 6%.

That means a saving of $1 on a typical $8 new cd (re)writer if you wait 6 months before buying.

Disc Loading Types

The disc loading type refers to the mechanism by which the optical disc is loaded into the drive. Normally this is by placing the disc in a tray or by inserting it into a slot.

Amongst new dvd (re)writers, the most popular disc loading type is tray. We found 115 dvd (re)writers that are dvd (re)writers that have a tray loading. We found 29 dvd rewriters that are dvd burners that have a slot loading, making slot the second most frequently found disc loading type amongst new dvd rewriters.

Type

Type denotes whether the disc drive is meant to be placed internally into a computer, or used externally via USB.

Internal is the most popular type amongst new dvd rewriters. We found 73 dvd rewriters that are internal dvd writers. We found 53 cd writers that are external cd (re)writers, making external the second most popular type amongst new cd writers.

Optical Drive Types

The drive type denotes what type of disc (CD, DVD,etc) the drive is capable of reading.

Amongst new cd burners, the most popular optical drive type is dvd. We found 117 cd burners that are dvd writers that have a dvd Optical drive type. Blu-ray is the second most popular optical drive type amongst new cd rewriters. We found 26 cd rewriters that are dvd (re)writers that have a blu-ray Optical drive type.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Cd Rewriters?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying cd writers. For each retailer it shows the total number of cd writers where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying dvd (re)writers. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was Adorama. 2 of their dvd burner prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Cd Burners for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for dvd (re)writers by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of dvd (re)writer prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's dvd (re)writer prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers.