i saw a plextor slimline cd on ebay for like 69 bucks....i've got a cheapo cd writer in there right now;

basically, my questions is....if it looks like it will fit from the picture (same size/shape, it seems) will it fit? are there really all that many differences, or are slimline cd drives basically a standard?

Just because it looks like it will fit doesn't necessarily mean it will fit.

Be careful what you buy for a Dell computer, I'm not absolutely certain but I think they have some sort of propriety stuff in their systems. I have ran into problems with over-the-counter hardware not working with my Dell PC such as a floppy drive. However when I replaced my main system CD drive everything worked.

hmm....well, i already replaced the drive once; the new drive i got (from some dude who sells 'em on ebay specifically for my laptop) works fine, but i'm thinking that i'd get better rips and burns w/ a higher quality drive. i'm not really experiencing terrible errors with this one; i've had a few, but i'm not sure if they were actually hardware problems, or media problems. (was using cheap cd-r's, too)....


so...maybe i'll stick w/ what i've got for a while....see if i get terrible rips.