We surveyed hundreds of Wirecutter readers to find out what people care most about in an external Blu-ray player. It’s possible to use an optical drive with an Android tablet, but it’s far more trouble than it’s worth. You also shouldn’t buy an external drive to use with a non-Windows tablet. You shouldn’t buy one of these for a desktop computer that has room for an internal drive, because internal drives are generally faster and cheaper than portable options.

If you're just trying to back up or transfer files, you should probably use a USB hard drive or flash drive instead. But if you have a laptop without a disc drive and would like to back up disc-based music and movies, or need a disc drive for work, you should pick up one of our recommendations. Thanks to streaming media services, cheap flash drives, and cloud storage, not everyone needs a laptop with a built-in disc drive these days. We also have a recommendation for DVD drives, if you don't care about Blu-ray. If our main pick is unavailable, we also have a runner-up choice, plus an upgrade pick for those who want to max out on speed. Overall, it offers the best balance of price, features, and speed. Plus the drive has a helpful LED indicator on top to show when the Y-cable is needed, so you’ll never be left wondering if you need it or not. Unlike the other drives we considered, the Buffalo comes with a built-in Y-cable-a cord that some older laptops require to power external drives-which wraps around the enclosure when not in use, a user-friendly feature. It’s the fastest one for less than $100, and it’s quieter than most of the others we tested. The $90 Buffalo MediaStation Portable BDXL Blu-ray Writer is the best external Blu-ray drive for most people to use with their computers-if you need one at all.

Internal blu ray drive reviews