what is meant by  DVD combo drive? what is the advantage?
151533
it will read DVDs and CDs and write CD-R and CD-RW\nONLY ADVANTAGE IS WILL FIT IN ONE BAY OR CAN BE MADE SMALL ENOGH TO FIT IN A LAPTOP
75913
The differences themselves are very technical, involving laser tracking and positioning.\n\nAll DVD-R's are writable DVD's, allowing users to burn information onto them.\n\nMany DVD players and/or DVD burners will only use a specific type of DVD (usually +r, but not always)
62123
A DVD/CD-RW combo drive can only burn CDs, CDR, CDRW, but cannot burn DVD. it can read DVD's though but u need the DVD player software for it installed on ur PC. U can only burn DVDs with a DVD-rw.
1037051
lots of people been asking these kind of questions in computer forum..\n\nas far i know, plextor provide the best optical drives, despite the fact that they are more expensive.. if you are in budget then go of NEC .\n\nif you use lots of ur dvdr-w room, you will notice the performance will decrease from time to time, so it is good to have 2 burner and use them alternatively
668762
it is a drive that can read/write dvds and read/write cds ...saves space if you dont have room for multiple drives and really want to be able to write both dvds and cds
293352
Your question is flawed...\n\nThe drive spins the disc faster while reading on the outer area, and slows down as it gets closer to the inner area.\n\nIt's not like an old record player where there is one constant speed.
34983
DVD 9 is a dual layer disk. It holds 7.95 gigabytes more than a standard DVD.
818278
By optical, I'm assuming you mean CDs and DVDs.  The drives that read them are optical drives.  The only disadvantage I can think of is the possibility of less throughput than other means of storage.  And, of course, they are likely to become scratched.  This is all improving though, with the introduction of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray media.  The drives that read them have to handle a lot more data, so the amount of data they read in a given amount of time is a lot more than that of traditional optical drives.  There is also an improvement on the physical makeup of the disks that makes them a lot harder to scratch.  I hope that answers your question.
111281
Yes, you should have no dificulty.  The only problem may arrise if you have purchase a DVD with SATA Connection, but as these are still rare, you should have no problem.  I have found that with DVD Drives that aslong as you have installed DVD Software to operate the drive, it works fine.
74451
Digital Video Disk or Digital Versatile Disc
394774
I prefer to work out with an eliptical machine and weights.\nVirtual drives are used for playing games without the game CD.
197784
It means you put information, backup files or copy info onto the DVD as a hard copy.\nYou have to have a DVD RW drive in your computer.  It will "read" info off of discs that already have stuff on them.\nIt will "write" or create a disc with the info you want to put on it.
766634
You are looking for a dvd drive for your computer.  Check out:\n\nhttp://www.tigerdirect.com/\n\nhttp://www.compusa.com/\n\nhttp://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/category.do?catOid=-12973&N=20012961+20012973&c=1\n\nhttp://www.bestbuy.com\n\nYou can get either a dvd drive that only reads dvd's and cd's (ie. dvd-rom) or a dvd drive that can write dvd's and cd's (dvd writer).  I would go for the writer so you can burn stuff to dvd (dvd's can hold alot more than cd's).
885999
A DVD reader and software\nb
134577
Regarding DVD writer part:  This drive lets you "burn" or create dvds which hold 4.7 GB vs. a cd which holds .7GB (or 700MB)\n\nThe Light Scribe part means that you can etch black lines onto the top of special Light Scribe dvd recordable disks.  I think this is more of a gimmick, as who has the time to program the computer to etch in even the title let alone the complicate graphics they show in the ads.  Also you need the special discs that only HP sells (they cost more $$)  \n\nRegarding dual layer: The burner (and most dvd burners sold today) can record twice as much onto the same side of the disc.  They can hold up to 9GB on one disc instead of 4.7GB.  Again, you need more expensive double layer discs.
71004
It's just two different formats of DVD media.  If you plan to use either make sure you're DVD writer is compatible with the type you plan to use.  Most of the newer drives can let you use both types. They will say something like DVD±R (DVD +/- R).\nCheck out the two links below.
507297
is it a combo drive? it doesn't really matter as long as it plays dvds right?