LG GP65NB60 8X USB 2.0 Super Multi Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer Drive +/-RW External Drive with M-DISC Support - Black

Purchased to use with an early 2020's Apple Macbook Pro. We have had this same model for several years and have enjoyed consistent performance. Eventually, the drives began to fail in writing to DVDs and needed replaced. We immediately returned to LG for a replacement. There are other drives available for a few dollars less, but we did not hesitate to spend the money for a product we know well and trust completely. I recommend other buy this drive and enjoy the same quality and performance that we have experienced

I can't speak to this as a DVD player or a burner of any kind as I've only used it to rip CDs, but in that capacity, it's AWESOME. Streaming sucks. There, I said it. Price increase after price increase. Ads that get longer and longer. Songs/albums that were available yesterday are gone today. I decided "enough is enough". I have SO MUCH physical media (records and CDs), why not rip them?This drive arrived quickly, looks very nice, included a cable that was more than long enough, matches my laptop in finish perfectly (I got the silver drive and have a 7th gen Surface Laptop in titanium) and, most importantly, is FAST. Takes me an average of 2-3 minutes to rip an entire CD in high quality (320k). For setup, all I had to do was connect it to my laptop. No drivers to download, no software to install.As fast as this is, I'll have my entire CD collection ripped and copied to my phone in no time. Goodbye, Spotify/Prime/Pandora. Hello free, add free listening.

This item arrived in its box with the software CD, but there was no plastic insert so the drive was just rattling around in there, and no cords were supplied. It's pretty clear this was opened previously and is likely somebody else's return, but it worked perfectly, has been working consistently, and doesn't appear the worse for wear, so I'm going to hold onto it.Things to note:1) The enclosed software CD was, for me at least, entirely unnecessary. I didn't expect it would be given modern technolog--plug and play, drive recognized, let's get burning. I had my first disc created less than ten minutes from opening the box.2) The product description claims the drive reads at 24x but only writes at 8x. This is incorrect. The usable write speeds for this item are 10x ,16x, and 24x, and it has been working consistently at AWS (max) speed. So it actually writes a lot faster than it says it does. I'm one of those people from the early days who were told you should always write at the slowest possible speed to ensure success, but that's not necessary here. Also, if you try to write at any other speed than the aforementioned three, imgburn will just force you into the closest acceptable one after the process starts, so trying to write at 2x or 4x is pointless anyway.3) This drive requires a *MINI USB* cable, not micro USB, and not USB-C. Mini is the oldest protocol of the three and I was actually surprised to see it still in use here, but look it up if you don't know what it is. This would have been a deal-breaker for me since the drive didn't come with a cord, but I happen to still have some mini USB cables on-hand, and the first one I tried worked great. On the bright side, unlike a lot of slimline external optical drives, this one doesn't have a fixed cable that's some ridiculously short length like 6" or something. Thus I could use a cord long enough for the drive to connect to my PC while actually sitting on my desk instead of balancing on top of the tower.Anyway, it works well. Just make sure to check it over for damage if it comes as badly packaged as mine did, and mind the type of cable it needs!UPDATE: My report on the write speed was not entirely accurate. The drive is indeed limited to 4x or 8x writes...for DVDs. I've only been using the drive to burn CDs, which it will do at its full speed of 24x. So the product description is *half* right. They really should point out that there's a write speed difference depending on what kind of media you're trying to create.

Works just as expected, great for the price. Exactly what I needed to burn CD-Rs, nothing more and nothing less. Perfect.-For those curious, the tray for the cd is not fully automated, as you will need to manually pull it out and push it in. It does, however, pop out about an inch when you hit the eject button, or if your CD-R is finished burning (assuming your burning software has the option).