If you have a netbook or your computer has a built-in DVD drive, an external DVD drive is a great solution with the best external cd drive for Macbook Pro.
These are compact and lightweight, so they won’t take up much space in your bag but will be a great bonus for your 2-in-1 laptop or gaming PC. ۔
| Pic | External CD Drive | Shipping | Weight | Check Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | LG ELECTRONICS ULTRA (GP65NB60) | Free | 7 ounces | Check Price |
 | PIONEER BDR | Free | 5.5 ounces | Check Price |
 | ASUS ZENDRIVE | Free | 7.5 ounces | Check Price |
 | DELL DW316 | Free | 8 ounces | Check Price |
 | PIONEER BDR | Free | 5.8 ounces | Check Price |
 | APPLE USB MD564LL/A | Free | 4.5 ounces | Check Price |
 | SAMSUNG (SE218CB / RSBS) | Free | 6.5 ounces | Check Price |
 | AMICOOL | Free | 6 ounces | Check Price |
 | RIODDAS | Free | 7 ounces | Check Price |
Later on, Apple didn’t continue to manufacture Macbook and iMac with optical drives in 2016 and the middle of 2011.
Now, with these new Mac devices such as Macbook Pro, you are not able to run CDs or DVDs, that is why the users of the latest Mac devices now completely rely on external CD / DVD drives.
There are many reasons why a person needs an external CD / DVD drive. With an external drive, you can import movies and music to iTunes as well.
If you are having a Macbook or an iMac which was released after the year 2012 and 2016, then it is recommended for you to buy an external CD / DVD drive.
9 Best External CD Drive For Macbook Pro 2024
LG ELECTRONICS ULTRA SLIM DVD DRIVE (GP65NB60)
This portable DVD drive from LG is said to be the best cheap external DVD drive you can buy. There are a lot of reasons which make this LG Ultra Slim an interesting choice to make.
First of all, this device is designed and introduced by one of the most well known and leading tech companies in this whole world, and it looks super cool by looks.
Other great and fascinating features through which this LG Ultra Slim is on this list of some best external DVD drives are that it comes with 8X USB 2.0 Super Mini Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer Drive, RW external drive with M-DISC support, and other great features like these.
You get to buy a portable, cool-looking, and compact form factor LG Electronics Ultra Slim DVD Drive, all of this under just $30. The price tag and the features that come with this price tag are impressive to be very honest.
When you talk about the design and portability of this LG Ultra Slim DVD Drive, it is just 14mm in height, which means that it is pretty small and good in the portability aspect.
The USB 2.0 interface on this LG Ultra Slim DVD drive still provides you with impressive transfer speed i.e. (480 MBPS).
PIONEER BDR – XD05B
This s a portable Blu ray burner that has a USB 3.0 interface that guarantees fast performance.
It has another bonus which is its power lines. USB 3.0 means that you don’t need a 5 V power adapter or an extra USB connector.
Apart from this, it consumes much less CPU power as compared to the data transferring as it has a larger size of the packet.
The Pioneer BDR – XD05B is offered with a Power DVD, which will save you money and you will not need any of the video player software. By the by, this Pioneer BDR XD05B external drive has a standard USB Mass Storage protocol with an MMC-5 SCSI command set.
ASUS PENDRIVE
This external drive is considered the best external DVD drive for Android.
Image source: here
For a very reasonable price, ASUS ZenDrive offers you 8X DVD write speed and M Disk format support, which is designed to protect you from memory degradation and data loss.
This external DVD optical drive is an ultra-slim and it has a USB 2.0 interface. It has a stylish and attractive design all thanks to a concentric-circle hairline finish.
The ASUS ZenDrive has compatibility with Windows and Mac OS as well as Nero BackItUp for Android devices. It is also bundled with Cyberlink Power2go 8 software which guarantees a simple backup solution and it then provides you with optional encryption of your data to save your privacy.
There is also an online backup solution for these types of devices such as tablets and smartphones.
DELL DW316 EXTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE
This external drive is yet another budget external DVD drive. This is an ultra-slim external DVD drive which is Dell DW316.
It has preloaded CyberLink Media Suite for easy DVD / CD play and burns as well as the installation of disc-based computer programs. It also has 24 x CD and 8 x DVD read speed.
The Dell DW316 external optical drive is powered by your Ultrabook’s or notebook’s USB port. This means that you will not be needing any type of battery or power cords.
This external drive is compatible with Windows as well as Mac operating systems. It has the only drawback which is that this optical drive is not able to play Blu-rays.
PIONEER BDR – XU03
This external drive is a very durable external Blu-ray burner. This blu ray burner supports USB 3.0 which means that it can offer you great fast performance.
The Pioneer BDR – XU03 comprises PowerRead Smooth and PureRead 2 Smarter Media Playback. This external drive is provided with a 128 GB quad layer and 100 GB triple-layer Blu ray media support.
The Pioneer BDR – XU03 has a design that is made of a magnesium body to make it more durable. In addition to that, it also comes with an auto quiet mode for silent performance.
APPLE USB SUPERDRIVE ( MD564LL/A )
This one is considered to be the best external USB drive for Mac. This is one more representative of the best CD and DVD drive which is called Apple USB Superdrive. It has a portable design which is great for a mobile workstation.
With having this external drive you will be able to play and burn CDs as well as DVDs, and also create backup discs and install program software.
This external drive is also highly compatible with and supports MacBook, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac mini, and others as well. Just keep in mind that there is no extra power adapter as all the work depends on your Mac battery power.
SAMSUNG EXTERNAL DVD DRIVE (SE218CB / RSBS)
This is said to be one of the most compact, smooth working, and silent external DVD drives.
I say that if you are a fan of Samsung and have got around 50 bucks or more, then this is the ultra-portable external DVD drive you should probably go for.
Though this Samsung External DVD Drive (SE218CB / RSBS) stands on the little expensive side if you compare it with the drives from LG, you will be getting an exceptional build quality, and most importantly as we are searching drives for the Mac users, so this DVD Drive from Samsung is instantly recognizable on any Mac device.
You will just have to plugin and let it do the job itself.
There are no firmware updates required for boomer technology users, regardless of the device.
As I mentioned before, if you are looking for a sleek, compact, and ultra-portable external DVD drive from a well known and reputed manufacturer like Samsung, this is the option you should go for.
AMICOOL EXTERNAL DVD DRIVE
This DVD drive right here is a solid performance giving and holds great portability at a fair price.
Are you looking for a decent external DVD drive that allows you to watch your favorite DVD title, or you want to burn some memorable pictures and videos of you and your friends together? Well, then Amicool External DVD Drive is just made for you.
Though this Amicool External DVD drive doesn’t offer you any spectacular features, it comes with good compatibility capability and some other nice set of features that have been pleasing a lot of users and will surely please you as well.
One of the great and impressive features of this Amicool External DVD drive is that it supports and offers both USB 3.0 Type-A connectivity and Type C connectivity. It is also backward compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices.
Though we are here to search for some great external DVD drives for Mac, I have a piece of good news for the users of Linux and Windows operating system as well, as this great Amicool External DVD drive supports Linux and Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 too. It offers you with plug and plays functionality.
You get incredible speed on this Amicool External DVD drive. It offers you a maximum of 24x read speed on CS, a maximum 8x read speed on DVD and a maximum 8x burning speed on CD. It supports many formats as well, such as CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW, and many other formats.
As I mentioned in the start that you should always consider a drive that is slim, lightweight, and highly portable, this Amicool External DVD drive is a complete package for you. It is said to be a solid all-around DVD tool that stands among some of the best external DVD drives options out there in the market without any doubt.
RIODDAS EXTERNAL DVD DRIVE
This DVD Drive I am reviewing right now is the most decent in this list of mine, and it has a decent price tag as well.
Another great addition to this list of mine is similar in looks to the great DVD Drives I have already mentioned and reviewed.
This Rioddas External DVD drive is one of those good performing DVD drives which are trying to find their way up to the top but Rioddas have done a great job.
Just like the Amicool External DVD Drive and other drives, this Rioddas External DVD Drive also doesn’t offer anything new or different features except for one thing only i.e. brushed metal finish. A brushed metal finish is not a usual thing to see on any external DVD drive.
The compatibility level of this Rioddas External DVD Drive is wonderful, to be honest. It is compatible with Mac, Linux, and various versions of Windows like Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8.1, 10, and even Windows 2000 which many people don’t even use now.
You get the plug and play functionality with this awesome Rioddas External DVD Drive and USB 3.0 connectivity. What is more, than you are provided with backward compatibility with USB 2.0 and USB 1.0 devices as well with this external DVD drive?
This external DVD Drive supports many formats that we use more often and those formats as well which we don’t even use, some of the supported formats are DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-R, CD-RW, etc.
You will be provided with a maximum 8x read speed on DVD, maximum 24x read speed on CD and maximum 8x burn speed on CD.
Unfortunately, I need to tell you that this Rioddas External DVD Drive also has some downsides like other drives. Downsides include compatibility issues with not all but certain Windows 10 based systems and some users have said it has a noisy performance.
Well, you guys are here to search external drives for Macbook Pro so there is nothing to worry about because there are no complaints filed by the users of Mac in any condition.
This Rioddas External DVD Drive is another good option available for all you guys. It is not so amazing but it is solid and great enough to do the job for you without any problem.
If you want a budget-friendly external DVD Drive that should provide you stable performance then this is the one you are looking for.
Interested Things In External CD Drive For Macbook Pro
SPEED
When someone talks about the speed on an external CD or DVD drive then it means that the person is talking about both, write and read speed. It is much important to look at another feature which is “USB support”.
Buying a CD or DVD drive which supports USB 3.0 is always a better choice to make because such drives are greater and faster than those drives which support USB 2.0.
These drives are also compatible with the older USB version as well and this makes them good in overall aspects.
COMPATIBILITY
Almost all the DVD drives designed by many manufacturers are compatible with some popular operating systems, such as the Windows operating system and Mac operating system.
Still, always remember to check whether the CD / DVD drive you are buying is compatible with the version of your operating system or not.
This is important because some drivers do not support the latest updates of some particular operating systems. So it is better to check if the drive you are looking for is compatible with yours or not.
SIZE
If you inspect all the modern external CD / DVD drives, they all are quite compact and give a portable look and feel as well, but still, some drives are very hardly called portable because of the size and weight of those particular drives.
That is why size is one of the most important features that require to be considered before buying a CD / DVD drive. Always search and go for a slim and lightweight drive that can fulfill the meaning of the word “PORTABLE”.
SINGLE-CABLE OPERATION
This is the last but not least of the most important features in my opinion. The latest DVD drives do not require an external power source, that is why you will need only one cable for its work but there is a situation, if the computer you are using is old, then you may need an extra Y cable.
