Many modern portable PCs have no CD/DVD drive or ability to internally install one. The omission is partly driven by the smaller form factors designed for mobility in size and weight. But even for systems physically large enough to house one, there is an ever-decreasing need for using an optical drive in the first place. Almost all applications and device drivers are available on the Internet which negates the need to ship software on physical media of any sort where it’s likely to be obsolete before such media ever arrives to its user.
Yet there remain times where a CD/DVD reader and/or writer is still needed. People who haven’t transferred all of their old CD collections still need to rip them onto their hard drives. Burning custom audio CDs from iTunes playlists is still a reasonable way to give friends a nice gift (a carryover from the “mix” cassette days). And if you don’t happen to have ready access to the Internet, having physical media is the only way to go.
So is the case for my situation where I have a couple of systems that don’t have an optical drive and need one every so often. The LG GP50NB40 external drive is just what I needed for supporting my Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S ultraportable and a Mac mini (mid-2011). Apple was an early mover in eliminating optical drives from their products, and many Windows vendors have now followed suit. While there are lots of choices in the market for external drives, many are way more expensive and likely overkill in features for most users in the modern world of 2015.
This LG drive is perfect for my needs. My son uses the Yoga in college where he’s a music performance major and needs to view and rip music from CDs. My daughter in high school and needs occasional software installs that still ship on physical media and wants to rip and burn audio CDs for her friends once in a while. They will not be heavy-duty users, but when they need it, they’ll now have it.
I tested the unit on both of their computers and on my traditional desktop machine that already has an optical drive. Everything worked as expected. No manual or automatic installation of drivers or applications were needed—it just worked right out of the box. The product comes with a CD of apps, but I don’t need them and didn’t try them out. Other units I found while shopping required a separate power adapter or a second USB line for providing sufficient power to the drive. This one is superior in needing only one USB cable to handle both data and power.
Before I made this purchase, I read reviews already posted and some warned of issues with Mac compatibility regarding Mac OS not recognizing the drive unless a disk was already inserted in the unit. I found this to be true, but see no issue. The Mac OS X Finder will show the device once a disk is placed in the drive. If a disk gets stuck in the unit for whatever reason, there’s a pin hole where a paper clip point can be inserted to manually eject the disk easily enough.
Having just received and tested the product for basic functionality, I cannot claim how well it will endure use over time. But the small size and price with the convenience of a single cable for both data and power, this product looks like it’ll be perfect anyone with modern-day computers that have no internal optical drive.
| Brand | LG Electronics |
|---|---|
| Series | GP50NB40 |
| Item model number | GP50NB40 |
| Operating System | Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS X |
| Item Weight | 10.9 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 5.7 x 0.8 x 5.4 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 5.7 x 0.8 x 5.4 inches |
| Color | Black |
| Hard Drive Interface | USB 1.1 |
| Manufacturer | LG ODD |
| ASIN | B00AWRTXVS |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | January 4, 2013 |
