Compare the Best Optical Disc DrivesAugust 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 Burner Prices

Dvd writers range in price from $29 to $128 and in total we found prices for 14 dvd writers. On average, a new optical disc drive costs $72 and 80% of dvd writers are priced between $39 and $127. The HP 652241-B21 is the most expensive dvd burner that we found at $128, and the LG GH24NSC0 is the cheapest at only $29.

Optical Disc Drive Brands - Price Range

The average price of Verbatim optical disc drives is $42 which is the highest average price of all cd burner brands. Verbatim optical disc drives range in price from $0 to $127.

Transcend dvd (re)writers start at $41 and their most expensive cd (re)writer costs $41. The second highest average cd (re)writer price out of all brands is Transcend dvd (re)writers with an average price of $41.

The average price of Apple dvd (re)writers is $28 which is the third highest average price of all dvd (re)writer brands. Apple dvd (re)writers range in price from $0 to $84.

Cd Rewriter Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 20 expert reviews and 3,433 user reviews for optical disc drives and used this information to calculate the average rating for each brand of optical disc drive.

Biggest Dvd Burner Retailers

The biggest cd burner retailer by number of products currently for sale is Adorama. We found 1 current cd burner offers from Adorama.

How Fast Do Cd (Re)Writer Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, cd rewriters drop in price by 6%.

That means that on a typical cd rewriter 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 burners that are cd writers that have a tray loading, which makes tray the most frequently found disc loading type amongst new cd burners. The second most common disc loading type amongst new dvd writers is slot. We found 29 dvd writers that are dvd burners 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 cd writers is internal. We found 83 cd writers that are internal cd burners. We found 52 cd rewriters that are external cd rewriters, making this the second most frequently found type amongst new cd rewriters.

Optical Drive Types

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

We found 116 dvd burners that are optical disc drives that have a dvd Optical drive type, which makes this the most frequently found optical drive type amongst new dvd burners. The second most popular optical drive type amongst new dvd (re)writers is blu-ray. We found 27 dvd (re)writers that are cd burners that have a blu-ray Optical drive type.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Cd Burners?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying dvd rewriters. For each retailer it shows the total number of dvd rewriters where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying cd 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 Optical Disc Drives for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

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