Does the drive manufacturer matter?

[murphed]

Hey all I recently purchased a Dell Laptop and didn'nt get the DVD Burner because I was trying to keep the system at the specified price I was budgeting for - well now as you can guess, I'm having second thoughts about that and I was wondering if it mattered where I bought a DVD Burner from as long as it was a notebook DVD Burner. I'm guessing if I talk to Dell they wont let me send the DVD drive in for a DVD Burner and only pay the upgrade price. So I need to find the cheapest option available.

Thanks in advance.

[drumfu]

1. you can try and make a deal with dell; you never know

2. yes, you can buy an aftermarket burner; try dell's spare parts for a perfect fit... the problem with a non-dell-friendly brand is that the bezel may not fit perfectly, but if you don't care about that, then it's no problem. you can try bensbargains.net for deals on notebook dvd burners, they pop up every few days