Thanks DB
I think your logic is sound .. and most home puters will suffice with something along the lines of a LiteOn drive, they're cheap and deliver good performance for what the home user would require. And given their pricing, its not going to break the bank to replace at a later date.
Only thing I'm not happy about is the inability to make the LiteOn DVD I've got region free. I buy DVDs from Canada (hey hey DB) due to price and would like to use them on my PC .... but everything I've tried so far has failed :-";"xx