Annex said:
Thanks for the detailed answer. I just preffer "normal" tray type
drive, not slot load type.
Is this Vostro slot load type drive handy enough in regular use? (and
reliable?)
Annex
I would never use a slot load type, so I don't know. I don't know
if they scratch up the media or not.
I've used a slim tray with compression hub, and I was always
worried about cracking the center of the CD. That is the type
of drive that might come close to fitting in your Vostro, but
it is still not a very robust type. On those, the eject uses a
button and spring. The mechanism has to be simple, to keep
the drive slim.
(You push the CD down onto the hub, and the fingers in the hub
area compress and help keep the CD in place. When you push the
button, the tray only opens a little bit, like half an inch.
You have to finish opening it yourself.)
http://www.logicsupply.com/products/cd_224e
(More examples. It seems both the slot and the tray are 12.5mm high.)
http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/cd_dvd_drives
With the bezel part of the problem, some bezels are
angled or have custom features. If you were to spend
good money on a replacement drive, you might take delivery,
open the package, and then discover it doesn't fit. Sometimes
a slight dimension difference, will cause the tray to catch
on an adjacent piece of plastic.
Virtually all the CD and DVD drives I've used, are desktop
versions. So I don't have a lot of experience with the
various laptop types. (I know what they look like, but haven't
used them.)
There are SATA and IDE versions. There are IDE opticals, where
Master versus Slave is controlled by the firmware load. (Desktops
use a jumper, which is easy to change.) Some laptop opticals
have jumpers too. There are plenty of variations to ruin
your day when you open the box. I believe some even use an
adapter plug, as well as an interface cable.
Paul
