"J.Clarke" wrote in message
d...
On 2 Jan 2004 12:37:04 -0800
(harrypotter) wrote:

I have a newbie question about dvd-r's and cd-r's. I've noticed some
computers are coming out with both a dvd-r and cd-r. Others only have
a dvd-r.

A year ago a CD-RW was standard with a DVD-ROM optional. Today a combined
drive is standard, with DVD writer optional.

Is there an advantage of having both a dvd-r and a cd-r? Or is it a
redundant feature?

It's redundant for the most part--some folks like to use the CD drive
for CDs to save wear and tear on the DVD drive--DVD writers, while they
are very inexpensive compared to what they used to cost, still cost a
bit more than CD writers, and they perceive a cost saving. Also, some
CD writers write CDs faster than DVD writers unless that has changed
recently.

I don't think the read mode of any CD/DVD drive is going kill the drive in
under 5 years.

Loading your system up with redundant CD/DVD drives does risk spin-up power
sags, which can cause bad sectors on your hard drives.