Please help me pick the right CD drive

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Marc_G · #1 Post by **Marc_G** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 1:45 pm

Hi folks-

I'm getting ready to specify new laptops for my team. Our T30's are nearing end of lease and in February we're due for replacement.

The new unit will be a T42P, probably the 1.8mhz model. I want to make sure we get the right CD drive. We will need to burn DVD-ROMs as part of our work (these will hold VMWare images that run a gigabyte or two).

I'm having trouble matching the drives listed for the T42 models with the drive options. If I understand correctly, there are three drive options:

DVD-ROM Ultrabay Slim drive: I think this only reads CDs and DVDs. Yuk.

CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo II Ultrabay Slim drive: This one writes CDR/RW but not DVD-ROMs, only reads them, right?

Multiburner Ultrabay Slim drive: This is the one we want I think, that will burn DVDs.

So, looks like I want the Multiburner. But when I "view all models" of the T series, the Optical Device listed might be "DVD Recordable" rather than Multiburner. Is this the same thing?

My current first choice model is 2379DYU; we'll outfit it with more RAM separately. May have to customize it for the Cisco wireless card to ensure compatibility with our corporate network (we use LEAP authentication; is the Cisco card the only one that can do this?).

Any comments appreciated.

AtmosMan · #2 Post by **AtmosMan** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 1:49 pm

The Multiburner and DVD recordable are the same thing. Though some poeple on this forum think it is too slow (recording DVD at only 2X or so.)

DrSmile · #3 Post by **DrSmile** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:06 pm

If you need +rw or +r capability the ultrabay slim burner that is offered will not do that. You would have to go with an external USB2 option.

Marc_G · #4 Post by **Marc_G** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:11 pm

Hi guys-

Thanks for the details.

So, at about 2X speed, how long would a 2 gig burn take? About an hour? (sheesh!)

lfeagan · #5 Post by **lfeagan** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:53 pm

Yes, thus the recommendation of using an external drive instead.

Plinkerton · #6 Post by **Plinkerton** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:15 pm

That's a bit surprising. Why would IBM put such a crap multi drive in their notebooks? For 350$ or whatever insane amount they charge, you'd think it would a top-of-the-line haul [censored] burner. Right?

csv96 · #7 Post by **csv96** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:34 pm

On my T42p with DVD Multi-Burner, it takes about 25 minutes to burn a full DVD (4.7gigs). In defense of the overpriced DVD Multi-Burner, the DVD-RAM capability is a very nice feature. Just stick in a DVD-RAM disc and you have a 4.7gb drive with write speeds equivalent to a 20x CD burner. You can read, write, copy, move, delete files on the DVD-RAM just like you would a compact flash card or zip drive. No special drivers needed since Windows XP has native DVD-RAM support.

As for the price of the drive, it's premium priced because it's probably the only 9.5mm DVD recorder on the market.

Marc_G · #8 Post by **Marc_G** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:54 pm

Thanks guys!

Particularly thanks CSV96 for the time estimate. At 25 minutes for a full 4.7 gigs, that's not bad! I know that there are lots of faster external drives out there, but being able to back up (compressed) my entire "systems + programs" partition to 1 DVD-ROM disk in half an hour will be NICE.

Right now I'm spanning it (actually two partitions right now) over about 5 or 6 CD-Rs. What a pain.

Plinkerton · #9 Post by **Plinkerton** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 7:25 pm

25 minutes isn't bad at all. It seemed consensus that it took much longer than most DVD burners. That sounds great with the DVD-RAM thing. That would be cool to be able to do that.

I almost got one when I ordered my TP, but I just couldn't swing the price...

MadeInJapan · #10 Post by **MadeInJapan** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:44 pm

DVD-RAM is very nice...I use one too....but remember that RAM burning is much longer...most burn at 1X...best is 1.5X that I know of.

MadeInJapan · #11 Post by **MadeInJapan** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:45 pm

By the way, if anyone finds the 9.5mm DVDburner that burns + and - formats, please post here and let us know. As of date, no one has found one....and I know I've searched long and hard.

aleung · #12 Post by **aleung** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:51 pm

can someone tell me the differnece between DVD-RAM and DVD-RW ?

JohnDrake · #13 Post by **JohnDrake** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 3:53 am

The drive costs more because its the 9.5mm...has to sip power, so it is slower than a desktop drive...more expensive because of size as well.

You will not be able to get a native Cisco Aironet MiniPCI adapter on a T42. This is not a problem, however, as the other adapters for the T42 ALL support LEAP through Cisco Compatibility eXtensions (CCX). You must use the IBM Access Connections communications configuration software to make this work (it is awesome code, however, so you won't be disappointed). If you use your domain username/password for LEAP, you will need to activate a little setting in Access Connections so it can pass this to your RADIUS server. Not a big deal.

Cisco is not going to be able to supply the MiniPCI Aironet 350's...that's why they are being dropped. They are licensing CCX to Intel and Atheros for wireless...

Please help me pick the right CD drive

Please help me pick the right CD drive

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