HP USB 2.0 External 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Model dvd1040e LightScribe Support

Pros: Worked with every OS and format I threw at. I made about a dozen data disks, 2 ISO images, and one movie. I used Windows XP, Linux, and Windows 7 (beta). Relatively fast - faster than any fixed drive I own (not saying much). External power means I can use the other sparse USB ports on my ancient laptop for other uses. It doesn't use a wall-wart power supply.

Cons: Its as bulky as others have indicated (it's a desktop 5.25 half bay drive, after all).
It could have the AC/DC transformer/power supply at the back of the case, eliminating the need for a 'brick' mid-chord.
Its moderately noisy (particularly noisy when on my desktop (which acts like a sound board), but when sitting on the the tower 4' to 5' from my keyboard and monitor - I don't hear much (but I don't hear as much as I used to).
I worry about the life-time based on other reviews, but not enough to buy the extended guarantee.
(None of these were significant enough to downgrade the rating from 5 eggs in 3 days of testing & use.)

Overall Review: The cord ran easily from the USB on the bottom of one of my tower cases to the top of the unit. Not as neat as I'd like, it had to drape across the other drives, but it did reach.
This is a good addition to my old laptop which does not have a DVD burner, but it needs to go in checked baggage, not in my carry-on due to the size.
The manual does indicate 'writing' times for Light Scribe (r) labels (full graphics at high fidelity may take more than 30 minutes) - but I wasn't able to test it.

Pros: Works great when it works.

Cons: Have had to throw away many many lightscribe CDs because it only burned a corner of the image/ text it was supposed to. We use this for our company and burn a lot of cds for clients and this burner cannot handle the load (doing 8-20 in a short span). The burning software says everything went find but the cds only have a corner of what was supposed to be on there. I found that restarting the computer helps.

Overall Review: I would say don't buy because it there are so many issues that I have had.