Compare the Best Optical Disc DrivesNovember 2020

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

The price range of cd rewriters is from $29 to $128 and in total we found prices for 13 cd rewriters. On average, a new cd rewriter costs $69 and 80% of dvd rewriters are priced between $39 and $100. The most expensive cd (re)writer that we found is the HP 652241-B21 at $128, and the cheapest is the LG GH24NSC0 at only $30.

Dvd (Re)Writer Brands - Price Range

The highest average dvd rewriter price out of all brands is Verbatim dvd burners with an average price of $42. Verbatim dvd burners start at $0 and their most expensive dvd rewriter costs $127.

Transcend dvd burners start at $41 and their most expensive dvd rewriter costs $41. The average price of Transcend dvd burners is $41 which is the second highest average price of all dvd rewriter brands.

The average price of Buffalo dvd rewriters is $37 which is the third highest average price of all dvd burner brands. Buffalo dvd rewriters range in price from $0 to $100.

Cd Rewriter Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 21 expert reviews and 3,443 user reviews for cd rewriters and used this data to determine the average rating for each brand of cd (re)writer.

Biggest Dvd Writer Retailers

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

How Fast Do Dvd Writer Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, dvd burners drop in price by 6%.

That means that on a typical dvd burner costing $7 you could save on average $0 by waiting 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.

We found 114 cd (re)writers that are cd (re)writers that have a tray loading, which makes tray the most frequently found disc loading type amongst new cd (re)writers. Slot is the second most common disc loading type amongst new dvd (re)writers. We found 29 dvd (re)writers that are cd writers that have a slot loading.

Type

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

The most popular type amongst new dvd rewriters is internal. We found 83 dvd rewriters that are internal dvd (re)writers. The second most common type amongst new optical disc drives is external. We found 52 optical disc drives that are external dvd burners.

Optical Drive Types

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

Dvd is the most frequently found optical drive type amongst new dvd writers. We found 116 dvd writers that are cd burners that have a dvd Optical drive type. The second most common optical drive type amongst new dvd writers is blu-ray. We found 27 dvd writers that are cd burners that have a blu-ray Optical drive type.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Cd (Re)Writers?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying cd (re)writers. For each retailer it shows the total number of cd (re)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. 1 of their dvd rewriter prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Cd Writers for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

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