Upgrading to burn DVD's

Ok - so...I started with this: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42716

And it turns out that I, in fact, don't have a drive that can burn DVD's.

So - I need to be able to - so what are my options? Order a DVDwritable replacement and have someone install it? (keep in mind I just bought this thing.) And if so - what to do with the old one?
Cost for parts and labor would be $200.00?

OR- is there an external DVD burner that I can use via USB?

I swear that when I bought this thing I looked over my checklist and made certain this was DVDwritable - guess not

I have a mac mini, btw.

I gave you an alternative idea on you other thread, which is where you should have continued this question.

I don't have any external burner experience, but do know you need to watch out which brand you buy because they do differ enough that you could end up with one that does not work with the Mac. My preference is to stay with brands Apple has used, like Pioneer. Hopely someone with real world experience can give a good recommendation.

I'd check you bill to see which Mac yo paid for. If you bought the lower end machine, then I'm afraid it came with a Combo drive that only reads DVDs, and reads & writes CDs.

Indeed - both of your posts have been helpful. And, true, I shouldn't have broken this issue in two.

I've been doing some reading into this issue at Macworld - it seems that Pioneer, as you mentioned, is given fair honors - so I'll stick with that when it comes time to make the final decision.

Thanks for your input - much appreciated, as always.

I use Lacie external, you can hook it up via either firewire or usb. I love it. I guess you can call me a brand loyalist because I use their products at work and I have a portable Lacie hdd. The external writer also comes with Lightscribe which I don't have on mine. It uses special discs(if you choose to use thie feature) but it enables you to burn labels on the disc, unlike the ink printables and paper labels. It also comes with Toast Titanium 7 software which is a nice little gift.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FGJVF4/?tag=macforums0e4-20

Thank you.

I'm looking at the size of all these external ones - I think it's funny that a burner will be the same size as my mini