Do I have to buy new hardware, or is there a software fix?

It is unlikely. If it has a dvd label on the front then it can. There are combined dvd/cd drives, but they almost always have a dvd label rather than a cd one. If you are still nto sure then go into the settings/hardwar profile and see if a dvd drive is listed.

No, it can't (although if you purchased the notebook within the last 3 years, almost all of the notebooks sold have "combo" drives, which do play DVDs as well as burn CDs.) New hardware in the form of an external DVD-ROM will be necessary. It will come with the necessary DVD-playing software, or you can use VLC (link below).

www.newegg.com

DVD is a different format with respect to CD RW. If your hardware supports only CDs for reading and burning, then there's no possibility of it reading the DVD. As you mentioned that you have a laptop, I guess it should be a DVD combo, i.e. DVD read only and CD Read/Write support, because that is the standard in laptops. I rarely have known a laptop model which has a CDRW drive, excepting if it is older than 2 years. You can check the DVD logo on the side of your drive. In case it is a cdrw and you need to play a dvd, you need a computer with dvd drive on your network neibourhood. Just share the DVD drive on that computer, and you can access the DVD drive as your own drive. Best of luck on the experiment.

cs.dal.ca