Good point, though I haven't come across any references yet suggesting so.

http://team-xecuter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61768

So what we are doing by decreasing the resistance of current flow to the laser diode, is basically increasing the lasers power. thus making it easier for the laser beam created by the diode to be focused by the laser lens and be reflected back so it can be read by the assemblies optical sensor.

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http://forums.cvxgameconsolerepair.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=196

The purpose of a pot tweak is to decrease the laser's resistance settings in order to 'increase' the current to the laser diode itself and therefore making it 'stronger'. As a result, this 'will' decrease the lifespan of your laser, and you should not be doing this unless the laser is currently not reading the 3 media types.

Click to expand...

So while its always possible that the combo drive in my laptop may have a different circuit design, a manufacture inverting the function of a resistor on something as standardized as an optical drive seems illogical to me. (But then again, humans are renown for doing the illogical. ) )

If you have any suggestions on how to confirm it do let me know.