heraldtalia wrote:I pulled up Best Buy and Circuit City online, all the specifications were way too technical for me.
This should help:
>Interface or Port Connection
This tells you how the drive interfaces with your system
Here is a link that explains it further:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/index.htm >Average Access Time
DVD access time is the speed in which data is made available to your computer for processing from the DVD. Manufacturers, however, do use different criteria in calculating their access times and since the speeds are recorded in milliseconds, access time should not be of major concern when comparing different products. The access time also includes the time it actually takes for the read/write head to locate a sector on the disk (called the seek time). This is an average time since it depends on how far away the head is from the desired data.
>Buffer Size
A buffer is a temporary storage area, usually in RAM (Random Access Memory). The function of most buffers is to act as a holding area for data so that the processor is free to perform other functions. For example when printing data, the data is stored in a buffer for the printer to access at its own speed, but freeing up the processor to perform other tasks. The larger the buffer size, the more information can be temporarily stored and the quicker it can be accessed. A larger buffer will be very beneficial if you are using the device for multimedia or other applications that stream data.
>Maximum Speed of DVD-ROM
This is the maximum speed at which the drive reads data from a DVD disc. The read speed determines the data transfer rate. For example a 16X drive provides a 2.4MB/sec maximum transfer rate, a 24X drive provides a 3.6MB/sec rate, and a 32X drive provides a 4.8MB/sec rate.
>Maximum Speed of CD-ROM
This is the maximum speed at which the drive reads data from a CD disc. The read speed determines the data transfer rate. For example a 16X drive provides a 2.4MB/sec maximum transfer rate, a 24X drive provides a 3.6MB/sec rate, and a 32X drive provides a 4.8MB/sec rate.
>Internal or External
This is a description of weather the device is ment to be placed within the computers case, or out side of the case
>System Requirements
This tells you what operation system you must have (Windoes 95, 98, 200, Me, XP, Mac OS, Linux, etc) and also aditional hardware like processor speed (ie: pentium III 1.8Ghz, athlon 1.6Ghz, Mac G4, etc.)
The rest like height and weight I think you can figure out.