Best Laptop DVD Writer

[HKS]

I have an hp laptop with the matshita uj-851s that is starting to burn 0 quality discs. I have a warrenty to replace. What laptop drive should I replace it with?

[DrageMester]

I have a Matshita UJ-840S and it's extremely picky about DVD media. Most DVD media it doesn't like at all, producing burns that are hard to read in some drives or even discs that aren't even recognized.

Of the media I have tried so far, it only really likes YUDEN000 T03 (Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD+R) and MCC 004 (Verbatim 16x DVD+R).

Have you tried using some other DVD media?

[Scour]

I think a Pioneer or NEC will do good

[dolphinius_rex]

I think a Pioneer or NEC will do good

Do either of those MAKE laptop sized DVD burners?

[Ian]

Do either of those MAKE laptop sized DVD burners?

Yes. Pioneer has one or two models and NEC has a bunch.

[HKS]

I have been burning TYG02 silver thermal at 8x without problems and getting Nero CD-DVD quality results in the mid 90's. All of a sudden 8x burns with this media are yielding zero quality attributed to high jitter rate errors. However, if I burn TYG02 at 4x I again get results in the mid 90's. I have also had problems burning Verbatim 2.4x DL MIS which wouldn't burn at all. These changes leads me to think that the uj851-us dvd-ram drive may have mechanical issues and need to be replaced. There are not many reviews or recommendations for notebook dvd burners online and newer laptop burners that support 6x DL burning are coming out from panasonic and samsung. If anyone has had similar issues or more knowledge about laptop dvd writers please advise.

[LoneWolf]

I think a Pioneer or NEC will do good

Do either of those MAKE laptop sized DVD burners?

NEC does. I bought one for my Latitude C640. It's a NEC-6650A dual-layer model, 8x single, 4x DL. It works quite well.

[Scour]

Yes, NEC and Pioneer are maybe the only slimline-drives which works well

[HKS]

I've run loads of scans and tested the capabilities of the matshita uj-851s and about the only thing it does well is burn DVD 5 at 4x max. For everything else it is extremely poor.