Broken CD/DVD drive

[blah blah]

Hello all you IT folks

My son managed to drop his laptop the other day (Dell Inspiron), luckily the only problem I have found with it is that the CD/DVD drawer is broken. A quick call to PC world followed, they wanted £50 + parts. I know they wont be the cheapest but even so that sounds a lot for what is probably a fairly easy job. So a couple of quick questions

Are all CD drives the same size with the same fixings etc or do I have to buy a Dell drive for a Dell laptop ?

Is it really just a couple of screws to remove the old one, then slot the new one in and screw it in or is there more to it than that ?

Thanks all

[jonny72]

Buy an external DVD drive instead, will cost about £20.

[Peter Venkman]

Assuming the Inspiron is a 1525 (which it may not be) a replacement drive from Ebay will be about £15.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Inspiron-1525-1526-DVD-RW-TS-L632-F104H-PT068-/330506236096?pt=UK_Computing_Drives_Storage_CD_DVD_Drives_ET&hash=item4cf3b4f0c0

Takes literally 2 minutes to fit, a few screws to remove etc, heres a guide.



Do it yourself it is very easy.

[blah blah]

Thanks JJ, looks even easier than I thought !

Its a 1545 but it looks very similar as far as the fitting goes.

A lot of the ones on eBay seem to be refurbished or used, is there any risk in buying those or is it worth spending the extra £10-£15 for a brand new one ?

[Peter Venkman]

Nah buy refurbished as theres a high liklihood it will be dropped again in the future!

[blah blah]

Nah buy refurbished as theres a high liklihood it will be dropped again in the future!

You know my son then ? 

[jayohaitchenn]

JJ knows him inside out... if you know what I mean