I am gonna buy an dvd external drive for my laptop and was wondering if there were any that were better than others? I've never had a dvd writer and i'm not sure what all the format differences mean, but i would like one that can handle just bout everything.

You want to buy an external one or get an external enclosure and convert an internal one?

Anyway, I'm moving this to CoOp.

dvdrw $99-200 enclosure $30-150

Either get a Pioneer 106 and a USB 2.0/Firewire case or get the Sony DRU510UL as it is an actual external burner. Both are outstanding writers and support burning both - and + formats at up to 4x.

Again, agreeing with jester :D Probably cheaper to buy the enclosure and an internal.

It is by about $30-$40 last time I checked.