DVD problems ... replacement cost?

I was wondering what might be cheaper. My optical drive, like many others, has died. I could go to the Apple Store and get it replaced or I could get an external drive. Mobility isn't really an issue, so it wouldn't kill me to have the external drive so that won't factor too much. I just need to know which option would be cheaper I guess, because I don't want to spend double on replacing the drive when I could get a better drive thats just external. Also, is that even a good idea? I know a lot of posts I've read on forums suggested to just get it replaced at the apple store, but I never thought it would make much of a difference...

...and if, in fact, getting an external drive is what you suggest, might you give me a suggestion or two on which one I should get? While I'm at it, I'm open for suggestions for an external HD which is another purchase that will be made pretty soon.

I would suggest getting an external drive, and I say why not the MBA external drive??

And welcome to the M-F community!

I completely forgot to mention, I'm going to need the drive to work for my Windows partition too...which shouldn't make much of a difference I wouldn't think but I have no experience with external drives of any type.

LG actually makes a nice slim DVD Drive/burner. I can't remember the model number off hand. You might also want to check that out. I think it is very competitively priced compared to the MBA USB Superdrive.