My laptop cd/dvd-rom drive is crapping out on me. Is it hard/expensive to replace one of these? The reason I ask is because I never hear about anybody changing anything on laptops outside of RAM and hard drives. I did a quick Google search, and someone mentioned that it might be cheaper if I just go with an external drive via USB. Is that really necessary? It seems really ugly and inconvenient, so I’d rather replace the drive if possible, if its not a hassle and doesn’t cost lots of monies.
bump
It’s really easy to replace them. You can just remove them and slot a new one in and your OS should detect it.
The prices vary, depending on if you want the DVD drive to rewrite dvd’s for you and at what speed. From what I have seen from random googling you could expect anywhere from $60 for a simple reader to $300 for a pretty fast rewriter.
it’s not really that expensive…
what type of laptop do you have?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827152073
there ya go
NEC Black 8X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 8X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 8X DVD-ROM 24X CD-R 24X CD-RW 24X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ ATAPI Slim DVD Burner - OEM
$67
You gotta go under the bottom of hte laptop, find the screw that holds it in place. you might have to remove the battery / memory cover / hard drive, etc… unscrew the one screw that holds it in, slide it out, pop the new one in, and do the reverse steps, and viola, you’re done.
here’s some more
LG Black 8X DVD-ROM 24X CD-R 24X CD-RW 24X CD-ROM 2MB Cache ATAPI Slim Combo Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136065
$47
It’s not easy half the time.
Laptops use a different ATA connector than desktops do.
GOOD news is is that they’re all standardized. Bad news is, even if they are, the front plate/bezel might not fit.
they’re not all standardized, since now, there’s some that use SATA instead of IDE, so the interface is a little smaller than the older ones
How old, what brand, and what model is your laptop?
I have a Dell laptop, and upgrading the ram & disc drive was easy.
No way, I bought a nice pioneer DVD-RW drive for my laptop. Only cost about $80.
Changing a laptop drive is totally easier than a desktop comp drive. At least on the recent 2003 and up dell models.
The bezel’s from each may be able to be changed. When I upgraded my laptop’s stock DVD drive, with the pioneer DVD-RW, I just removed the faceplates from each and switched them. Perfect fit on my new drive after.