A proper skt 775 chip would be the faster option, but Im mainly after quietness and power efficiency. If I want speed I use my main rig 
But saying that, not noticed any proper lag during general usage. Got SSD's in my main rig so used to that being super snappy, but compared to other systems still using HDD's its fine. But then Im only really using it for web/media things. Going for a 775 board would open up more options for gaming and such, but for general use the Atom is fine.
As for the DVD writer, you need a special cable due to it being a laptop drive, but these are quite easy to find (here for example). Other than that its same as any other disk drive. The drive I used is a Samsung SN-S083C, was basically the cheapest slimline drive I could find lol
But saying that, not noticed any proper lag during general usage. Got SSD's in my main rig so used to that being super snappy, but compared to other systems still using HDD's its fine. But then Im only really using it for web/media things. Going for a 775 board would open up more options for gaming and such, but for general use the Atom is fine.As for the DVD writer, you need a special cable due to it being a laptop drive, but these are quite easy to find (here for example). Other than that its same as any other disk drive. The drive I used is a Samsung SN-S083C, was basically the cheapest slimline drive I could find lol