DVD+/-RW Drive Round-up 2007
Introduction
While doing research for this review, we realized that we had to go back nearly three years - an eternity in the PC industry - to find the last HotHardware article on optical drives. For a comparative look at technologies, back then we were using single core Pentium 4s in Intel 865/875 boards, GeForce 6800s and 1GB of blazing fast 533MHz RAM. One of the reasons for the lack of optical drives articles is that not much has rocked this area since that time. There have been minor bumps in speed from 16x to 18x (and now 20x) and swapping of the interface from IDE to SATA, but nothing truly earth shattering has happened. And until the next-gen HD optical format wars are settled and prices come down to reasonable levels, we wouldn't touch the current crop of recordable Blu-Ray or HD DVD drives with a stick.
This DVD burner round-up consists of some of the more well-known names out there: Plextor, Lite-On, and Asus, all of which have produced some fine drives over the years. Plextor has been praised for their technological advancements in the area, Lite-On for their lower prices, and Asus for their quiet operation. But, three years later, is there really any major difference between the three? Is any one drive really that much better than any other? With prices reaching all-time lows, we grabbed three of their latest models for some thorough testing to determine just how they stacked up.
;)
| Make/Model |
Asus DRW-2014L1T |
Lite-On LH-20A1H |
Plextor PX-810SA |
| Write Speed (Max) DVD+/-R: DVD-RW: DVD+RW: DVD+/- (DL): CD-R: CD-RW: DVD-RAM: |
20X 6X 8X 8X 48X 32X 14X |
20X 6X 8X 8X 48X 32X 12X |
18X 6X 8X 10X 40X 32X 12X |
| Read Speed (Max) DVD-ROM: DVD+/-R: DVD+/-R (DL) CD-ROM: CD-R/RW |
16X 16X 8X 40X 40X |
16X 16X 8X 48X 48X |
16X 16X 10X 40X 40X |
| Access Time DVD / CD |
140 ms / 150 ms |
160 ms / 160 ms |
130 ms / 120 ms |
| Lightscribe Labeling | 1.6X | 1.6X | N/A |
| O/S Compatibility | Windows XP/NT/2K/Vista | Windows XP/2K SP4 | Windows XP/Vista |
| Interface | SATA | SATA | SATA |
| Data Buffer | 2MB | 2MB | 2MB |
| Writing Formats: |
DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD-RAM, CD-R, CD-RW, Lightscribe | DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD-RAM, CD-R, CD-RW, Lightscribe | DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD-RAM, CD-R, CD-RW |
| Reading Formats: | DVD-ROM, DVD±R/RW, Photo CD, Video CD, CD-DA, CD-Extra, CD-Text, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-RAM | DVD-ROM, DVD±R/RW, Photo CD, Video CD, CD-DA, CD-Extra, CD-Text, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-RAM | DVD-ROM, DVD±R/RW, Photo CD, Video CD, CD-DA, CD-Extra, CD-Text, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-RAM |
| Disc Diameter: | 12 cm and 8 cm | 12 cm and 8 cm | 12 cm and 8 cm |
| Dimensions: | 148 x 42.3 x 172.4mm | 145 x 41.3 x 170mm | 146mm x 41.3mm x 180 mm |
| Weight: | 690 g | <900 g | 900g |
Looking at the specs from each drive, there really aren't any glaring omissions from any of the entries. Each of them have 2MB of Cache, SATA interfaces, and the capability to write to just about all media types out there. Plextor's drive is the oldest of the three, bringing with it the slowest rated DVD and CD writing speeds at 18x and 40x, respectively, yet it also claims to have the quickest access times. The PX-810SA also is the only one that doesn't support LightScribe, which allows the user to etch an image on the topside of the disc instead of affixing a label. That may or may not be a huge-selling point for some buyers (we prefer printable discs ourselves over LightScribe).
