I’ve got to buy a CD burner – which one?

Well, I can’t put it off any longer. I’ve got to get something that I can backup my system to. I suppose the only reasonable way to do it now – with drives being as big as they are – is with a cd writer. Anyway, which one!!?? How much does it matter between a $99 and a $400 drive? Any suggestion will be appreciated but please consider that I’m not a full fledged “tech pro” yet so I’m not making the big bucks. Oh yeah, and it’s going on a 2 or 3 year old Dell PII system. what do ya say? thanks!