If I want two optical drives, what's the best configuration?

[SaltBoy]

I'm thinking that if I want two optical drives, I should get a 16x DVD-RW(Obviously). But would getting another DVD Writer make sense, or should I just get a 52xCD-RW/DVDROM combo?

 

[BlueWeasel]

I don't see why you'd need 2 drives capable of burning. The DVD burner is capable of burning CDs, although probably at 40X max (not much difference between 52x and 40x realistically).

If it were me, I'd just go with a DVD burner and DVD-ROM drive. You could save a little money this way, although nowdays, there's probably not much difference between a DVD-ROM and a CD/DVD-ROM combo drive.

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
I don't see why you'd need drives capable of burning. The DVD burner is capable of burning CDs, although probably at 40X max (not much difference between 52x and 40x realistically).

If it were me, I'd just go with a DVD burner and DVD-ROM drive. You could save a little money this way, although nowdays, there's probably not much difference between a DVD-ROM and a CD/DVD-ROM combo drive.

That makes sense, but I guess I wanted a little bit more speed when reading from/writing to CDs. I understand that DVD-RWs are capable of only 48x when it comes to CDs. Even if the difference is not significant, I figure every little bit of that 52x helps. Plus, money isn't too much of an object when buying these sort of things.

 

[Peter]

Read-only drives are much quicker in reading, particularly in reading data. That's because their head assembly isn't nearly as heavy as a writer's, and thus changes track much more quickly.

 

[fleshconsumed]

If you don't plan to copy audio/data protected CDs that you'll do fine with just one DVD burner. BenQ1640 burns CDs at 48x, that's fast enough, buying separate CD burner just to get up to 52x is stupid. If you do need to copy copyprotected CDs you should probably consider getting a separate CD burner as most of the DVD burners do not handle copyprotected CDs very well. That's basically the main reason I use dual combo BenQ1640/PlextorPremium.