dvd burner... PLEASE HELP!!!!!

I am a proud owner of a powermac g4, and I am running os x tiger 10.4.0. Anyways, I am really bad at dvd burners and I am looking to buy one for my mac. Here's the problem. I've looked and looked all over google to try to find an inexpensive 100$ or less one that is compatible and worth the money. I'm not sure that I understand the difference between an internal and external drive either. Does external mean that it kind of just sits outside of the computer and doesn't have to be actually installed, but is connected through the usb ports? Also, if you recommend internal rather than external where is the best place to buy/get this installed because as you can see I obviously will not be able to install this myself. Thanks for your time! -Vince

Well... Internals are actually installed into the case. Externals are hooked up via USB or Firewire. In my experience Internal drives are usually less expensive...as for installation I don't really know of a good tech place seeing as I don't know the area you live in, but I would just suggest asking a friend w/ a little more computer knowledge to do it for you. Or even a friend's son or daughter...kids seem to know a lot more about computers...lol.

tigerdirect.com is a good place to look for inexpensive computer parts. Good luck.

Whoah!

As a "proud" owner of a new Mac, I'd suggest you think twice about letting anyone other than an experienced technician do that kind of job. It may well void your guarantee as well. Much safer to buy an external burner with at least Firewire 400, or Firewire 800 connectivity. Watch though: how many Firewire ports have you got in the Mac, and how many are you currently using. Otherwise, you've then got the expense of buying an (external) Firewire Hub, which gives you one or more extra Firewire ports. (A bit like a double adapter for electrical appliances). Don't know how new you are to this, so hope I'm not speaking down to you.
I was talking to someone in the States via these forums, and she just bought a brilliant external burner for her Mac, costing about $120 - brand was Pioneer and it burned dual layer discs as well. With other features, it put my (additional) external burner to shame, and I thought IT was a good brand. Try somewhere like MacSales or even Amazon - I don't know all the online shops over there. I could hunt down the model number of the Pioneer if you wanted - I think it was something like OMW Mercury Pioneer and then the model numbers