Compare the Best Optical Disc DrivesSeptember 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 Burner Prices

In total we found 14 dvd (re)writers ranging from $29 to $128. A new dvd (re)writer costs on average $70 and 80% of dvd (re)writers are priced between $39 and $120. The most expensive dvd 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 burner price out of all brands is Verbatim cd writers with an average price of $42. Verbatim cd writers range in price from $0 to $127.

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

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

Cd (Re)Writer Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 17 expert reviews and 4,879 user reviews for dvd burners and used this data to calculate the average rating for each brand of cd rewriter.

Biggest Cd Rewriter Retailers

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

How Fast Do Cd Writer Prices Drop After Release?

In the first 6 months after release, dvd 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 $8 new dvd (re)writer 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.

Amongst new dvd writers, the most common disc loading type is tray. We found 115 dvd writers that are cd writers that have a tray loading. We found 29 dvd burners that are dvd burners that have a slot loading, making slot the second most common disc loading type amongst new dvd burners.

Type

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

We found 73 cd writers that are internal cd rewriters, which makes internal the most frequently found type amongst new cd writers. We found 53 cd (re)writers that are external dvd burners, making external the second most frequently found type amongst new cd (re)writers.

Optical Drive Types

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

Amongst new optical disc drives, the most common optical drive type is dvd. We found 117 optical disc drives that are cd burners that have a dvd Optical drive type. Blu-ray is the second most frequently found optical drive type amongst new dvd writers. We found 26 dvd writers that are cd (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 (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 burners. 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 Burners for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

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