Tips for buying a new notebook DVD drive

Before you upgrade or replace the DVD/CD-RW drive in your notebook, make sure that the drive you are buying is compatible with your computer. Some notebooks require an optical drive that works in cable select mode (CSEL). Some notebooks require master/slave (M/S) drives. Typically the drive is set to master or slave through a firmware flash. If the optical drive is not configured properly, it will not be detected by the BIOS or you will get IDE #1 error when you start the laptop. The best way to avoid these kinds of problems is to buy an optical drive designed for your laptop. If you plan to buy a generic drive, make sure to contact the seller and confirm that the drive will work in your computer.

In most cases you would be able to use the same connector board and DVD drive caddy (braces) from your old device. Just remove them from your old drive and install on a new drive.

Also make sure that your current plastic bezel (front panel) will fit a new optical drive. All bezels are different and very often you have to have a specific bezel for a specific drive. Do not hesitate to contact the seller and ask about the drive and the bezel computability.

39 comments May 10th, 2006

What memory should I use for upgrading my notebook computer?

Laptops are not very upgradable computers and in general you stuck with hardware you got inside your laptop. But still there are some components that you can upgrade to improve the performance of you computer. One of these components is memory (RAM). In short, more memory – better computer performance.
There are a lot of different memory brands on the market and sometimes it is very easy to get lost. As a computer technician I would recommend to use Crucial – high quality, not expensive and very reliable computer memory.
Crucial offers you very good tools integrated into their website. These tools will help you to find the correct memory type and correct memory size for your computer.
If you have no idea what kind of memory is installed into your laptop you should use the Crucial system scanner. The Crucial System Scanner takes the guesswork out of upgrading your memory.
The Crucial system scanner will examine you computer and give you an idea what kind of memory you need, what memory size you should use and how many sticks you can install.
More advanced users can use the Crucial Memory Advisor tool. In this case you will have to select the manufacturer, the product line and the model of your laptop manually.

47 comments March 10th, 2006