Before buying this item, I carefully went over the previous review, and decided to give it a try. I was happy to see that the negative issues listed in that review had not only been addressed, but resolved. The "yellow" port seen on the picture was not actually on the player as stated in the review, but the new instructions show exactly where to plug everything. The LG external came with an installation cd, as well as being a "plug and play" item. The directions were well written, and easy to follow. I was able to view dvds within minutes of opening the package, and my crappy old computer had no issues with this hardware whatsoever. I'm on windows xp, which seems to take issues with everything, LOL, but not this item. While you can just "plug and play", after installing the programs on the cd you are given several desktop shortcuts to access exactly what you are trying to do (i.e. burn a cd, burn a dvd), and the directions are step by step from there.
This item is well worth the money, and its quality would be worth even more. I highly recommend this external! NEW USB 2.0 Slim External DVDRW DVD DVDRW CD+RW CDRW Drive Writer Burner
I ordered this device to compliment my ASUS Eee 1000HE netbook. The item arrived in a short period and plug and played well. I haven't as of yet had the chance to use the device to burn either a CD or DVD so can not provide information on that. I was impressed how easy it was to just plug it in and start watching a DVD. The quality was great.
I was confused however because the device did not look like the picture. There is an extra plug and yellow connector shown in the picture that is not on the device. I was also disappointed with the manual....if you can call it that. There were three little pages and by little I mean 2 x 3 only one page was in english and half the page they talked about using a disc to install the USB device so not being a computer guru I wondered where is the disc? The instructions then stated that if the device does not run smooth apply external power.....well again there is no external power cord so I guess I need to provide my own.
It is a good price and it performs the functions I purchased it for so to me it is a good buy. My complaints are ninor and not with the function of the item but the marketing and instructions.
Just got it and have noticed the door does not close properly most of the time. Also had to change the properties of the device to play cd's before I could burn anything. The device actually kept appearing then disappearing in my Control Panel. Overall it seems to be a pretty good unit. Once I finally got it all squared away it worked quite well.
This equipment breaks new ground in low dvd burner prices but it should be purchased with some knowledge of the product. The drive boasts that additional drivers are not needed, but this may not be accurate depending on your computer's operating system. The drive installed ok on my 32bit Windows 7 machine but would not install on my 64 bit computer which complained of a lack of the appropriate driver. Usually, one can find workable drivers on the manufacturer's website, but this drive lacks any brand identification. This has been a continuing problem with Windows 7--the 32 bit system installs ok but drivers are missing for the 64 bit system. A mini-cd was included which installs Nero burner code on your system and also has a driver for Windows 98 SE! Also, my AVG FREE virus software on the 64 bit machine claimed that 2 back-door Trojans were on the little cd, but a system check after the installation attempt showed no malware was installed. This is often the behavior of false alarms from the virus protection software, but it may be especially important that you have good virus software installed in order to deal with any problems. This little drive will probably work out ok for me, but I'm glad that I have a fairly solid basis of computer knowledge and experience.
I thought this burner was easy to use with good quality. Sometimes the door didn't close properly, but it wasn't a big problem. Here we are, less than 5 months later, it doesn't work at all. You have to use a paper clip to open the door and it doesn't burn DVD's or music CDs. Waste of money!
I bought this product because my 8-year-old HP desktop computer did not have a DVD drive. Earlier I had bought some expensive new software, Adobe Acrobat, and didn't know that a DVD drive was required to install it. My computer has Windows XP Pro and Service Pack 2.
So I thought I'd try the Power Optical external DVD drive. One important factor in my choice of this product was that the product technical specs said that the USB cable was 2.0 but was "compatible down with USB 1.1." I figured that as old as my computer is, it would be USB 1.1. I also read the two favorable reviews already posted here.
The DVD drive worked perfectly and was very easy to use. I just plugged it into the port with the USB 2.0 cable, and as soon as the unit powered up, I put my Adobe installation disc in it and installed my software without any problems.
I did not install the Nero media management software that came with the DVD drive for two reasons. First, I don't need it at this time, since all I wanted to do was install my Adobe, not view or burn DVDs. Second, I have read lots of bad reviews of Nero. Might try Nero later.
If your computer has never had a dvd player installed before, do not buy this. No software is included. You will need a dvd decoder to play a dvd (search for Microsoft dvd decoder to check your machine). If you don't have it, you will have to pay ~$15 to buy it. I had some old software around that installed a decoder, but I am still trying to successfully burn any type of cd.
The directions are inadequate as a previous reviewer indicated. There is no way to get help with the device. Stick with a name brand. This is no bargain. - Slim External Dvd Rw - Computer - Accessories - Dvd Drive'
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