Panasonic New UJ262 UJ-262 9.5mm SATA Super Slim Ultrathin 6X 3D Blu-ray Burner BD-RE Dual Layer Recorder 8X DVD-RAM Writer Tray Loading Optical Drive for Dell Laptop

I wanted to upgrade the internal DVD burner in my HP G450 Notebook PC, without having to break the bank; the best HP could offer for my laptop was an upgrade to just a BD-Player -- not even a BD burner -- for $250, without anything extra, like a software to play (or burn) my HD media. I had purchased another/different OEM BD-Burner -- LG Electronics BT30N -- for my , earlier, for about $20 less than this one, but had to later return it, because it was too thick -- about 2-2.5mm more in depth -- compared to the 9.5mm of this one (Panasonic UJ-262), which perfectly fit PERFECTLY for my laptop, & took me very little effort to replace/upgrade. The LG one -- that I later returned -- was similar to this one, in terms of it's speed of burning & playing all of the various forms of BDs, BD-Rs, BD-ROMs, BDR DL, DVDs (-RAM, -ROM, +R, -R, +RW, -RW, dual Layers/Single Layers, etc.), & CDs (-R, -RW, -ROM, etc.), as well as playing my 3D Blu-ray movies -- using a separate 3D BD-Playing software & externally connecting it (via HDMI cable) to my 3D HDTV or 3D LCD monitor, but it was slower -- at only 2x speed -- at burning BD-REs, however, unlike this Panasonic one (which can burn at up to 6x speed), however, the LG one could play/burn the next-gen BDXL discs -- Three Layer BDXL-R/BDXL RE discs offer 100GB capacity while quad layer BDXL-R discs boast 128GB storage capacity -- so it was a bit of a toss-up, but as long as it would fit my (& work) in my laptop, I think it was worth it. It does burn/record onto blank Blu-ray discs just as fine as any notebook BD-Burner, as far as I'm concerned, however, the only thing I didn't like about it, if anything, was that, considering its price (about $100 at the time, when I purchased it), I do think that it should have included some software suite for playing/burning BD/DVD/CD media (especially for playing HD movies on Blu-ray), but I won't hold that against it, since I was grateful just to find a BD-burner to fit my notebook PC. However, a word to the wise: When the product description states, "100% Brand New without original manufacturer packaging," that is a fancy way of saying it is an O.E.M. (Original Equipment Manufactured) item, not a retail one, & thus, will not include anything (like accessories) -- not even any screws -- other than the product, itself, unless otherwise stated. Luckily for me, however, I already had a third-party software to play the BD movies.

These ultra slims are very delicate, even though I rarely used my DVD drive and was very careful when I did - 6 months later the drive would no longer eject. The seller offers only a 3 month warranty.

Replaced a notebook DVD RW drive with this one. With patience and watch tools was able to transfer the face-plate off and over to the new drive. Be careful to not break any of the plastic connecting hooks. Worked fine. No software; but then you know that. I used my own Blu-ray software. Worked fine in its new home dock. Not real fast, but then that's for my desktop workstation.

Installation was simple and straightforward. After installation the problems started to arise. If you push a disc onto the tray, something disconnects and reinserting the tray to the drive becomes a very difficult maneuver. The drive also comes without any software to play Blu Ray discs, resulting in you needing to spend another $40 on a program to play them.

Put this in my Dell Inspiron 15 3537 running Windows 7 (downgraded from win 8.1) . Drive was very slow to read discs if at all. Reinstalled Windows 8.1 and it worked like it should. You will need DVD/BluRay player software to play bluray movies I gave it 3 stars because did not want windows 8.1

Here is how to select a compatible Blu-ray burner to replace the existing optical drive in your laptop computer. The most common situation is you have a laptop with a DVD drive and you want to install a Blu-ray drive in its place. (All Blu-ray drives can also handle DVDs and CDs, so you aren't losing any functionality by making this replacement.) Selecting a compatible replacement drive turns out to be slightly complicated. Here are some tips I've discovered after replacing optical drives on many different laptops: 1. Download and read the owner's manual for the laptop to find out how to remove and replace the existing optical drive. 2. I believe that all reasonably-modern laptops can accept and use an internal Blu-ray optical drive, even though they may have originally shipped with an internal DVD drive. Windows will automatically load an appropriate driver for it (or you can find one), and although I'm not a Mac guy, I assume something similarly easy and automatic happens on Macs. 3. Decide whether you want just a Blu-ray PLAYER drive, or a Blu-ray BURNER drive (which, of course, can also play), so you order a drive that meets your needs. 4. Decide whether you want a BDXL Blu-ray drive. These have all the features of normal Blu-ray drives, but can also handle 3D, triple-layer, and quad-layer Blu-ray media. You will probably find that the price of a BDXL drive is fairly reasonable. Might be worth getting a BDXL drive to "future-proof" your laptop and allow you to playback and burn all types of Blu-ray media, not just the original single-layer and dual-layer Blu-ray media. 5. Your mileage may vary, but whenever I want to buy a Blu-ray optical drive, I always buy one whose model number starts with "UJ" (it will be "UJnnn" or "UJ-nnn" - the hyphen is optional - where the "nnn" is three digits). These drives are made by Panasonic (aka Matsushita or Matshita). They are probably the most popular optical drives on the market. They seem to have most types of Blu-ray optical drive you could want, you just need to pick the right one that will work in your laptop (see below). An aside: One would think that somewhere on the Internet there would be a list of all the "UJnnn" drives and what their various features are (thickness, tray/slot loading, BDXL or not, eject button or not, location of eject button). I have looked and looked and never found such a list on the Internet, even on Panasonic's own web site. Instead, I just stumble around on Amazon and elsewhere looking for a "UJnnn" drive that has the specifications I need for the laptop I'm working on. See below for specifications that you need to consider. 6. The replacement drive needs to have the same thickness as your current drive, which can be 12.7mm (1/2 inch) or 9.5mm (3/8 inch). 7. The replacement drive should be the same style (tray or slot loading) as the current drive. "Tray loading" means that you press the eject button and a little tray pops out that you put the disc into. "Slot loading" means you just slide the disc into the slot and the drive "sucks it in." 8. All tray-loading drives, and some slot-loading drives, have eject buttons on them. If your current drive has an eject button, make note of whether the eject button is toward the left side of the drive or toward the right side, and order a replacement that has an eject button on the same side. The exact positions of an "eject button on the left" or "eject button on the right" seem to be standardized, but you do need to use a replacement drive that has the eject button on the same side as your current one (left or right). And again, if your original drive is slot loading you may find that it doesn't have an eject button at all, in which case you can use a replacement drive with or without an eject button, and if it has an eject button, it doesn't matter whether it's on the left or right, because it won't be used on your particular laptop if your original drive did not have an eject button to start with. 9. Just order a "bare" replacement drive. You don't need a bezel or any connection hardware. You are going to use the bezel and other pieces from your existing drive and transfer them to your new drive. 10. The "bezel" is the piece of plastic that is on the "front" of the drive that the user sees. It has the slot or door for the disc, it has the eject button (if any), and it has a place for the LED light to shine through. All bezels are different! I don't think I've ever seen two bezels alike on two different models of laptops. The bezels are specially designed to fit the shape of the particular laptop. That's why you need to transfer the bezel from your old drive to your new drive. 11. It's sometimes a little tricky to figure out how to remove the bezel, and the user manual for your laptop might not be very clear on this point. Here are a few tips: If it's a slot loading drive, it probably won't have a bezel at all. If it's a tray-loading drive, it's usually much easier to remove the bezel if the tray is open. To open the tray, unbend a paperclip and stick the end of the paperclip into the tiny hole on the bezel that is right beneath the tray. The tray will pop open. Once you have the tray open, very carefully find the places where the bezel clips onto the drive, and gently pull and prod the bezel off. The bezel is delicate and it's easy to break the little clips off it, at which point you are kind of hosed. Be gentle. I hope this info helps someone. I've spent MANY hours figuring this stuff out, and I've purchased an incompatible optical drive more than once. I wish someone had mentioned this stuff to me, so I wanted pass it along. And get yourself a Blu-ray drive for your laptop. Definitely worth it. Hardly anyone buys movies in DVD format anymore...Blu-ray is the way to go.

The drive worked fine but it was not brand new as advertised. Looked like a refurbished one. Had I known this I would have got it elsewhere. Shipping was good.