Slot Loading CD/DVD-RW install in the Dell Inspiron 1525

I'm probably not alone in thinking that the CD/DVD tray installed on the Dell Inspiron 1525 is horrible.  With age, it becomes flimsy and sometimes unresponsive.  Even to the point of ejecting the tray completely at will.  I felt a slot loading drive would be the solution, but could never find a site or anyone who has tried to perform the modification.  I decided to try it myself.  And as you'll see, Dell should have made this type of CD/DVD drive standard.  And if you use the SuperDrive like I have you'll retain drive speeds and Dual-Layer burn/read.

The most common slot loading CD drive equipped laptop on the market is an Apple laptop.  With that in mind, I took the opportunity during a recent breakdown of an Apple iBook G4 to do some testing.  GOOD NEWS!!! The drive swaps over with very little effort! So, lets get to it.

Video at the bottom of the page!

What you'll need:

-Phillips screw driver

-Any IDE 12.7 mm Slot loading CD/DVD-RW drive with ALL of the hardware, i.e. metal bezel and dust shield. 

-Epoxy resin (I used JB-Weld)

-Super Glue

-A Dremel tool

-Masking tape

...Patience

And of course, your old CD/DVD drive from the Dell, as we'll be using the rear bracket and face plate.

I'm using the SuperDrive version of this drive, however either iBook G4 drive is fine.  You can find these readily available on eBay or Amazon for $20-30.  You MUST find a complete CD/DVD drive as you'll need some of the hardware later on.  I'm sure others from Apple are compatible. You'll need to do that research on your own to find out. Remove everything until you have a bare drive. Set the drive aside, but keep the face plate and front hardware.  We will reuse much of this.

Remove the Phillips screw located here on the under side of the laptop. 

Remove the drive from the laptop, and swap this bracket from the old Dell laptop over to your new Apple CD/DVD drive.

Carefully remove the front bezel from the old drive. We'll use this bezel for the nice, flush OEM look. ;)

This is where you'll need some patience.  Shave and grind the metal bezel from the Apple drive until the fitment with the Dell bezel is flush with the lower cover of the laptop.

Some points of notice here... Be careful to not lose the plastic tab located front and center on the inside of the drive.  We'll use that, too. And be careful that you do not break any of the tabs on top of the metal bezel.

After inserting the new Apple drive into the laptop, you'll need to determine what material and where to remove from the old Dell CD drive bezel.  Mask off, and use your Dremel tool, carefully removing the needed material.  Remove small amounts between test fitting.  I used a CD to test clearances until I had around 2 mm on top and bottom.

This is what the rough product looks like.

I used electrical tape to mask off the holes, then filled the holes with JB-Weld.  After the epoxy set, I used black nail polish to "paint"  the epoxy.  Shortly before the polish dried I used a piece of screen polished material (received with iPhone screen protectors) and pressed it against the polish.  The pattern was nearly a perfect match.

Remove the dust shield from the Apple bezel

I used small amounts of Super Glue to apply the dust shield to the Dell bezel. You'll need to play with fitment a bit, but I placed the dust shield opening slightly higher on the Dell bezel

Here, I used a black Sharpie to color the dust shield and coat the places on the bezel for touch-up purposes.

You'll need to test fitment by ejecting the CD.  As soon as you find a location for the bezel that doesn't hinder the CD ejecting, apply JB-Weld in small amounts strategically underneath the bezel and on the metal bracket.  Tape off, and leave for 12 hours.

As for ejecting the disc, I followed this guide to create a hotkey (Cntrl + F12) to eject the cd.

Now, after some clean up, and touch up, you'll have a slot loading CD/DVD drive. 

Very excellent. :) 

Good luck!