Notebook burners, external or internal?

[ahwei]

I'm looking to buy a new notebook and wondering how external and internal burners stack up against each other in terms of performance. Ideally, I'd like to get a built-in DVD/CD-RW drive but I want to know how external models, esp. the firewire burners perform before I make a decision. Also, how bulky are those firewire burners? Anyone happen to know if notebook burners support more "hardcore" burning apps like CloneCD? TIA...

 

[kindlr]

I have a Backpack Tripleplay CD-ReWriter which lets you use PCMCIA to burn up to 8x. It worked at that speed until my computer started slowing down, now I'm forced to tone it down to 4x. I'm not sure if it's the EasyCD crap that came with it or my computer, either way the HD is getting wiped in a month. Costs $220 and theres a $20 rebate at CompUSA til early December. No experience with Firewire drives since the notebook doesn't have a port for it.

 

[Zim Hosein]

ahwei, while I can't comment on performance of ext. vs. int., I would suggest that you go w/ the combo drive as if you run into any problems, the manufacturer will support any troubleshooting if you run into any problems. Just an opinion, hope this helps.