Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Kogan Agora Netbook Pro with external DVD Drive

After six days with the unit my impressions of the Kogan Agora Netbook Pro are still mostly good. The unit doesn't include DVD drive, so I purchased a $99 external unit. This comes with two USB plugs: one for data and a second one for addiditional power. I found the Agora supplies enough power thwough the first USB plug not to need the second cable.

When I plugged the DVD drive in, it appeared as a device in the file manager and I could make a data DVD simply by dragging and dropping a file to it and pressing "Burn". There was no need to install any software. The Agora includes Braseo Disk Burning software, but it is not really needed for simple functions. Also I found I could create a Zip archive with a few mouse clicks.

There were some frustrations with the DVD, a faulty old disk caused the drive to continually attempt to read and I could find no way to stop this apart from unplugging the drive and ejecting the disk with a paper-clip.

The problems I have had with the DVD need to be seen in proportion, being no worse than a laptop running Microsoft Windows with a bult in DVD and supplied software.

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