Optical drives no longer come pre-installed in most PCs and laptops, yet they’re still indispensable for many users. Whether for playing old DVDs, installing ancient software from CDs, or burning data ...

Last year, we expected DVD+R/RW burners to overtake the competition and thought that the establishment of a single standard would be critical for rapid adoption. We were half right: DVD+R/RW drives ...

Optical drives are still practical for many users, whether to play old CDs and DVDs, install software, or create backups—especially with modern laptops, which are usually supplied without a drive.

Apple’s digital-hub strategy has made the DVD burner — with its ability to play movies, back up more than 4.5GB of data, and create movies that your friends can play on their home DVD players — a ...

Apple’s eMac provides a lot of bang for the buck. But you can add an even bigger bang for less than $100: a modern optical drive capable of recording double-layer DVDs. By adding one of these drives ...