DVD Burner for a Dell laptop

[PhoneMatt]

I am trying to upgrade 2 Dell laptops-a Latitude C500 and a C600- by adding DVD burners. I saw the Samsung SN-S082D at Newegg. It looked good, but I can't find out if it will fit in this unit. In fact, I can't find out what burners, if any will work in these machines. Dell sells an IOMagic, but I'm not too thrilled with it. Does anyone have any experience with adding a burner to one of these machines? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(And, yes, before it's asked, I have tried both Dell and Samsung. Classic Catch-22. "It's not our drive, we don't know if it will work." "It's not our computer, we don't know if it will work." At least Newegg flat out said, "We don't make compatibility recommendations." I was just happy for a straight answer.)

Matt

[chesterfield]

i bought the same one from newegg almost a year ago, and it works great--here is my review from newegss website...also, other reviews said it works fine in a dell....

Rating + 5Rating + 5Rating + 5Rating + 5Rating + 5 WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pros: This drive is GREAT....I own an HP Pavilion DV4275NR that is supposed to be under warranty, but the idiots at HP can't confirm that and also, the HP Drive I would need from them is on backorder. In any case, this drive arrived the mext day, and my existing HP bezel was a PERFECT FIT!!!!!! GO NEWEGG!!!!!!!

Cons: NONE!!!!!!

[Super Warrior]

I am trying to upgrade 2 Dell laptops-a Latitude C500 and a C600- by adding DVD burners. I saw the Samsung SN-S082D at Newegg. It looked good, but I can't find out if it will fit in this unit. In fact, I can't find out what burners, if any will work in these machines. Dell sells an IOMagic, but I'm not too thrilled with it. Does anyone have any experience with adding a burner to one of these machines? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(And, yes, before it's asked, I have tried both Dell and Samsung. Classic Catch-22. "It's not our drive, we don't know if it will work." "It's not our computer, we don't know if it will work." At least Newegg flat out said, "We don't make compatibility recommendations." I was just happy for a straight answer.)

Matt

You could remove the current drives in both laptops, and compare the backends/connectors to those of the drives you are looking to buy. In order to see if it'll fit. Thats what i did.

I'm become a laptop guy since early 2006 and from my experience dell's laptops have standardized parts, that are easy to upgrade. Upgrading my Inspiron B120's drive to a DVD burner was a snap. I now own a Dell Vostro 1000 and it appears to be the same.

Though those models, C500 & C600, sound a bit old. Aren't those Pentium III based? Depends...

[oldandinthe way]

In my limited experience with Dell Laptops electronic incompatibility is rarely a problem. Any drive in the right form factor, with the proper interface should work.

Mechanical incompatibility is more common, and Dell is known for overpriced mounting hardware to allow standard drives to operate.

If you are replacing an existing drive in the same interface and formfactor it is likely you will be able to reuse the mounting hardware.

IOMagic does not make drives. If Dell were doing something special in their drives IOMagic is not a vendor they are likely to contract with. That also provides encouragement to your chances of success.

[PhoneMatt]

Yep, they are older P III's, 1.2 GHz. Old, but working well. I decided to order one of the drives, since this seems to be the only way to see if it will work. If it doesn't, I'm out the 15% restock charge. I figured that the drives are standard, but the connectors weren't. Hopefully, I can reuse the old caddys on the new drive. (OK, so I'm hoping I won't have to screw around with this, but I'm ready for it, if it happens.) I'll let you know what happens when they arrive later this week.

[PhoneMatt]

Well, the burners arrived and they fit...sort of. I took one old DVD ROM out of its caddy and put the new burner in it. It fit, except for the bezel. I can either remove the bezel that came with it and put the old DVD ROM bezel on there (if it will fit) or shave about 1/4 inch off of the new bezel. (Yeah, taking a razor to a new toy- I can see that happening.) Of course the electrical fittings don't match at all. The old drive had an adapter to go from normal to Dell, so I can just switch it out. I really can't wait to test out this new drive. (I specifically got it, because it does DVD RAM, which is important to my friend.) If it looks good, I might have to get one for my laptop.