Hey folks, need a bit of advice.
Firstly I ordered this from Dell & it should be here any day now;

Dell Dimension 8250
3g Processor
512 RDRAM
17" Monitor
120g Turbo Hard Drive 7200
64Mg GeForce Graphics Card with TV Out
Blah
Blah
Blah

Now I cancelled the DVD+RW because of 2 reasons;
1) The standard NEC NC 110A has had so many bad reports
2) It's a + only!

So what I want to know is, what DVD Burner would you pro's recommend? I'm not too worried about price. Say around £200-£250? Could I get something good for that?
And secondly, could I stick in another 120g hard drive or is that pushing it too much?
In case someone asks about fans; I have no idea what fan is in the unit and yes I do know it would be cheaper to make my own system but;
a) I don't know how to :confused:
b) I don't have the time :clown:
c) I could care less! :D

I'm mainly using the sustem for video work.
Any help appreciated.

If your quick BIG POCKETS 104 OFFER (http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?id=110) are doing a Black (which will match your system) Pioneer 104 for £159.99 until it runs out of stock.
Its probably one of the most compatible, common & best DVD-R drives around at the moment.

Most people who own a DVD-R writer, have had a 104 (OEM version) or A04 as its also known (retail version).
You can also go for the new Pioneer 105 (OEM version) or A05 (Retail version) which is around £200 for an OEM one, which can burn at x4 speed, but there are a lot of compatiblity issues with it at the moment.

Hi m8

You would'nt be 'pushing it' by adding another 120gb hdd but it depends on the reasons for having that amount of storage, if you're doing video editing or photo imaging etc then yes you could justify spending the extra on another hdd.
With regards to the DVDRW then as Mantis says the black 104 would match nicely or if you dont mind aesthetics then the 105 Pioneer or another popular drive at the moment is the Sony DRU500a which is a combo (DVDRW +/-) giving you the best of both worlds,however the Sony's are like rocking horse sh$t at the moment so good luck to you if you can find one. The media issues with the Pioneer 105 are in a massive thread in the DVD forum but don't let that put you off the 105 cos if you match it with the right media you wont have any problems,do some research on the media first if you go with the Pioneer 105

Smiffy

Thanx a lot Mantis & Smiffy.
I've heard good things about the 104.
If I don't manage to get a black one this time round, think I might still be able to pick one up from elsewhere?
Also, what does OEM stand for? And is there a lot of difference with that and a retail version?
Call me thick....but not out loud....

Also need to get a good capture card. Around £200?
Perhaps you can help me out with that little one as well :)

Thanx a lot for the help already and any more you may be able to offer. :D