Compare the Best Optical Disc DrivesOctober 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 Writer Prices

The price range of optical disc drives is from $29 to $128 and in total we found prices for 12 optical disc drives. The average price of a new cd burner is $68 and the 80% of dvd burners are priced between $39 and $94. The HP 652241-B21 is the most expensive optical disc drive that we found at $128, and the LG GH24NSC0 is the cheapest at only $30.

Cd (Re)Writer Brands - Price Range

The average price of Verbatim dvd burners is $42 which is the highest average price of all cd burner brands. Verbatim dvd burners start at $0 and their most expensive cd burner costs $127.

The second highest average cd rewriter price out of all brands is Transcend dvd rewriters with an average price of $41. Transcend dvd rewriters start at $41 and their most expensive cd rewriter costs $41.

The average price of Apple dvd rewriters is $28 which is the third highest average price of all cd (re)writer brands. Apple dvd rewriters start at $0 and their most expensive cd (re)writer costs $84.

Optical Disc Drive Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 11 expert reviews and 226 user reviews for optical disc drives and used these reviews to calculate the average rating for each brand of cd rewriter.

Biggest Dvd Burner Retailers

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

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

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

If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of $0 on a typical $6 new cd burner 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 this the most common disc loading type amongst new cd (re)writers. We found 29 cd writers that are cd burners that have a slot loading, making this the second most common disc loading type amongst new cd writers.

Type

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

Amongst new cd rewriters, the most popular type is internal. We found 83 cd rewriters that are internal dvd rewriters. We found 52 dvd rewriters that are external cd (re)writers, making this the second most common type amongst new dvd rewriters.

Optical Drive Types

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

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

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Dvd (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 rewriters. 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 cd burner prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Dvd Writers for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

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