Compare the Best Optical Disc DrivesOctober 2019

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

We currently list 41 cd writers ranging from £10 to £106. On average, a new cd burner costs £36 and 80% of cd burners are priced between £12 and £79. The Apple SuperDrive is the cheapest cd writer at only £10, and HP USB External DVD Writer is the most expensive at £106.

Dvd Burner Brands - Price Range

The average price of Pioneer cd writers is £58 which is the highest average price of all dvd writer brands. Pioneer cd writers range in price from £23 to £92.

Verbatim dvd (re)writers range in price from £0 to £93, and the average price of Verbatim dvd (re)writers is £39 which is the second highest average price of all dvd rewriter brands.

Buffalo dvd (re)writers start at £0 and their most expensive cd writer costs £78. The third highest average cd writer price out of all brands is Buffalo dvd (re)writers with an average price of £33.

Optical Disc Drive Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 18 expert reviews and 3,447 user reviews for cd burners and used these reviews to determine the average rating for each brand of cd (re)writer.

Biggest Dvd Burner Retailers

The biggest dvd rewriter retailer by number of products currently for sale is Amazon UK. We found 11 current dvd rewriter offers from Amazon UK. The second biggest retailer is shop4world with 11 offers. That means Amazon UK is the same as shop4world when it comes to dvd (re)writers. Ebuyer is the third biggest retailer with 11 current offers.

When Are Most New Dvd (Re)Writers Released?

April to June is the most common period for new dvd (re)writers to be released in. If you wait until April 2020 then you might be able to get better features on your optical disc drive. Also the price of the current dvd burners may drop off just before the latest models are released in April. June was the biggest month last year for new optical disc drives, with eight new optical disc drives released that month. The biggest month in 2017 for new dvd rewriter releases was April, with seven new cd burners released that month. In 2016 most new optical disc drives were released in September, with nine new optical disc drives released that month.

How Fast Do Cd Rewriter Prices Drop After Release?

On average cd rewriters drop in price by 10% in the first 6 months after release.

That means a saving of £1 on a typical £11 new cd (re)writer if you wait 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.

The most common disc loading type amongst new cd rewriters is tray. We found 110 cd rewriters that are dvd (re)writers that have a tray loading. Slot is the second most popular disc loading type amongst new cd writers. We found 29 cd writers that are dvd (re)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.

We found 80 optical disc drives that are internal cd (re)writers, which makes internal the most popular type amongst new optical disc drives. We found 51 cd writers that are external dvd (re)writers, making this the second most frequently found type amongst new cd writers.

Optical Drive Types

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

We found 113 cd (re)writers that are optical disc drives that have a dvd Optical drive type, which makes this the most frequently found optical drive type amongst new cd (re)writers. We found 26 cd rewriters that are dvd burners that have a blu-ray Optical drive type, making this the second most common optical drive type amongst new cd rewriters.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Dvd Rewriters?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying dvd (re)writers. For each retailer it shows the total number of dvd (re)writers 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 Ebuyer. 3 of their dvd writer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Cd Rewriters for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for dvd burners 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. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was Ebuyer. 27.3% of their optical disc drive prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.