Customer Ratings & Reviews

It does not come with software for playing Blu-Ray movies and Microsoft does not offer any software for doing so either. So, if you want to use this to watch Blu-Ray movies, you'll have to find a program from a company like CyberLink. That said, the drive reads data off of Blu-Ray discs just fine and transfers data quite fast. I have not tried the burn functions yet though since I don't have any blank discs. CDs play perfectly in Windows Media Player. I was also able to watch a DVD using VLC Player. It acted a bit strangely, but it worked. I imagine I would have fewer issues if I used the official Microsoft DVD player app, but that's $15 I'd rather not spend when I already have plenty of other devices that can play DVDs. In any case, the drive seems to read all the major kinds of disc formats without any issues. It's a great solution to the fact that my computer didn't come with a disc drive. Buy this drive if you want to be able to transfer data to/from Blu-Ray discs. If you want to watch movies, it's probably cheaper to just buy a standalone Blu-Ray player. And if you don't care about Blu-Rays (maybe you only need a drive for ripping CDs), there are much cheaper external drives than this one. The physical build quality of the drive feels about on par with a laptop disc drive. You hit the "Open" button and the lid unlocks. You then need to use a bit of force to attach the disc to the spindle and snap it into place. To remove the disc though, you basically have to pry it off. I'm not a fan of this design. I would have preferred an eject button of some kind, but I guess it's not a big deal. Also, because the lid only opens about 45 degrees, it can sometimes be hard to get your hand in there to pry the disc out. I'm getting used to it, but yeah, it could be better. Also, the "open" button isn't connected to a physical mechanism, so if the drive isn't connected to your PC, you can't get it open. So, don't forget to take your disc out before disconnecting the drive or turning off your PC. Overall, this drive seems to function as I need it to, at least for now. I will be putting it through its paces soon enough.

I am thoroughly impressed with this slim, top-loading USB Blu-Ray writer, which I've tested in Windows 8 and MacOS 10.11. Although I haven't yet experimented with Blu-Ray discs, this drive rips commercially mastered audio CDs at an effective speed of 20X over USB 3, perhaps 5 points slower than the effective speed of a current 5.25-inch drive. DVD burning speed is also excellent. One shortcoming is the lack of a DC-in port; both ends of the included USB "Y" cable must be plugged in for sufficient power. (This is in accordance with the USB spec.) Instead of using an optional external power supply, I had to buy a powered USB 3 hub to have enough ports for all of my accessories.

I have an older hd laptop without an internal blu-ray so picked this up to be able to watch on it. There is no noticeable lag nor is it too loud. Keep in mind you need to USB ports for it to work correctly whether tethered to your laptop or one to an external USB power source.

If you want to add a Blu Ray drive writer to your computer, this is the one. Plays all my discs. Keep in mind you need to have two free USB ports if you are using this on a laptop. On a desktop this works great. It does not come with any software, just the drive.

Bought this to compliment a laptop without an optical drive. Speeds are as expected or a small/portable device. Reads and burns discs without issue. I was able to watch blu-ray movies without issue as well.

This drive works really well on my Mac. It doesn't include BluRay software to watch movies, but you can find that on the Internet. The drive is easy to use and works right out of the box.

Feature for Feature, Spec for Spec, this Pioneer Blu-ray Burner has all the same features as Apple's USB SuperDrive and MORE--USB 3.0 (cable included), no separate power supply needed, burns all disc formats (CD, DVD, Blu-ray,) lightweight, slim, AND cheaper (bought while on sale)! The only 'drawback' for me was that it is not a slot loader like the Apple SuperDrive but very minor 'drawback' and not a deal breaker.

I needed an optical drive for my new Macintosh. This one hit all of the checkboxes. In my use so far everything as worked as advertised. It is also about as small as it can be so it can be placed out of the way when I do not need it.

Bought this because today's laptops are not equipped with a CD/DVD player. Nice and small so it can be taken with you. I use it to transfer movies on DVD to a thumb drive. Good price.

ThePioneer - 8x External Usb 3.0 Quad-layer Blu-ray Disc Dl Dvd±rw/cd-rw Drive - Silver works great with a Mac mini. It's fast, fairly quiet and easy to install. I'm using the Aurora BluRay player with the device for Mac and it works great!

I wanted a portable bluray burner for light use to backup/archive files on fewer discs than dvd's--but I also wanted the option to play bluray movies through the computer, too. This drive works beautifully for both activities!

My computer is unable to play blu-rays by simply plugging in the drive, but I purchased this drive with the intent to back-up my blu-ray movies. I used MakeMKV to convert to a readable format and then Handbrake to compress to a manageable size. The drive has multiple speed settings, but I left it at the default and had no issues with performance or timing. The USB power supply has 2 USB plug-ins, but I was able to power the drive only using one. I found the pop-up lid to insert discs much more convenient than the standard ejection system. The slim design and the pop-up lid allowed me to place the drive in a smaller location. I wish the drive would allow arranging it vertically instead of always requiring it to be flat. Processed many of my movies and have had no issues over the last few months.

I replaced a failing external DVD drive on my old iMac with this Blu-ray/DVD drive. My wife has one for her MacBookPro, and it has worked well for her. I plan to use it with my iMac and MacBookPro. I haven't tried a Blu-ray disc on my newest computer yet, but my wife had to use a third party app to play them with her unit. That may still be necessary. One thing you need to know about. The cable has a little Y connector with two USB connectors on it. If you are using the player with something older than USB 3.0, will likely need to plug both USB connectors into your computer to get enough power for the drive. With USB 3.0, you may get away with using just one connector. Apparently, you can get an external power adapter for the player, but I haven't needed it.

Very nice drive, compact and efficient. I like the flip-top versus front loading tray type. It's also USB 3.0 which is nice. Have read at least 90 different blu-rays with no issues at all.

It works great. Easy setup. Like the easy open flip-up lid. It works for both Apple and Windows even though the packaging doesn't state that and it is located in the Apple store. But in all very happy with the product!

This external drive does everything I wanted fast, quietly, and simply. The surprising top load provides an easy and durable mechanism for the less cautious individuals (such as my grandchildren) using my slimmed down laptop.

I needed a new external burner compatible with Windows 10 and this one worked great. It's really small and lightweight, perfect for packing in my laptop case. Powered by the USB port so no power brick to have to pack.

This is my second one of these drives. I also have one on my MacBook Pro, this one on my iMac. Small compact. Powered by USB. Fast works well,with Roxio Toast. Also a good feature is the flip up top to remove media.

I've only used this drive to import CDs into iTunes and also to play Blu-Ray movies. Works great, speed is awesome. Very nice. Have not burned any CDs or Blu-Rays but did not intend to do so, so doesn't matter to me.

This external BluRay drive is very handy for newer 2014 Macbook Pros Retina without built-in disc drives just as previous older models had. Although it is an OEM drive, one can purchase a 3rd-party BluRay software such as Macgo Mac Blu-ray Player Software to watch BluRays. It is relatively slim and portable for an external disc drive that you can put in a carrying case with your Macbook Pro. Overall, I am extremely happy with this purchase and would recommend it to others who are in the market for external drives.