laptop dvd burner in desktop help

[m-man]

Hey, i have a Dell gx620 optliplex desktop
and i want to but a dvd burner in it.

but it has one of those slim notebook style drives.
i have heard that notebook dvd burners are painfully slow and not very good at burning dvd's. would this still apply to the desktop that uses slim drives?

should i go for the external burner instead?

thanks

[Emulgator]

In case you look for a internal replacement drive
you may be locked to a DELL OEM drive, which may cost more than triple of a decent external drive.

Furthermore if you intend to buy another manufacturer's internal drive,
be aware to find out about the appropriate ATAPI-priority (master/slave/cableselect)

Slimline drives are often firmware bound to master XOR slave XOR CS XOR /CS !

You can change ATAPI priorities in some cases by soldering to ground /XOR+5V/XOR cutting open
Pin 47 of the 50-pin JAE-connector at the host side.
I did this several times to update my favourite notebooks.

Depends on firmware of the new drive. Go for CS or /CS, this allows to change ATAPI priority.

I would go for an external solution.
Avoid USB, some controllers do not provide more than 11 MB/s, some no more than 14 MB/s, some no more than 22MB/s.
Only a few USB controllers (like JM20336) get you to sufficient 33MB/s.
Firewire will do, if motherboard has it. Sometimes Windows tends to cripple firewire speed.

IMHO the best solution is to connect an external drive via eSATA.
Here no speed limit tricks can be played. You have free choice.

[Ghitulescu]

Come on, do you really think that laptop drives would be ashamed when placed in a desktop case and suddenly start working better?...
Get an external solution...