External CD-RW, USB 2 or Firewire

[oguevarra]

I'm looking at getting a external CD-RW for my gf this X-Mas. She has a IBM Thinkpad series A thats a month old. I noticed that recently USB 2 has come out on some of the CDRW should I go with that or go with a firewire. Which is better?

[spigidygak]

Well I'm assuming since she has a laptop, there is no way to upgrade to usb 2.0. And I don't know if the IBM's have a firewire port. . . you better look into what ports you can work with first since it is a laptop.

[Devhux]

I'm pretty sure vendors will be coming out with USB 2.0 PC Cards, and I also know that Firewire PC Cards do exist.

I myself don't see any major benefits between one and the other (USB 2 vs. Firewire). Both should easily handle CD-RW's up to 24x.

I "did" have a USB 2.0 card for a while in my desktop, but never had a chance to take a look at USB 2.0-based peripherals.

[spigidygak]

Well it may be firewire or usb 2.0 compatible with a pc card. But the pc card does not have as much bandwith which would be a problem for a burner.