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Final Thoughts... |
And finishing touches |
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GigaRec
and SecuRec Explored:
The
last two features we want to cover before giving our
final thoughts are GigaRec and SecuRec. GigaRec gives
users the ability to burn a Gigabyte of data onto one
single 700MB CD. The PlexWriter Premium automatically
adjusts the speed and power of the laser in such a way
that the size of the pits being created on the disc
during the burn process are altered, without making the
CD unreadable. Unfortunately, due to this "tweaking" of
speed and laser power, burning is limited to 4x. This
may be tedious for the user who is used to being able to
burn a CD in under 5 min, but for those few files that
are just a little larger then a 700MB, this feature
while surely be welcomed.
SecuRec
is a security feature that allows the user to password
protect their media. Before burning the CD, the user is
prompted to select a password, once burned, the same
password must be entered before the data on the disk can
be accessed again. Though this may not be a huge
selling point to the average home user, many
Business/Professional users may find this a very useful
tool in protecting their proprietary information.
Overall, we were very impressed with the PlexWriter
Premium. In our initial paragraph, we noted that
there was nothing that makes this drive standout
visually. That is true, it is a typical looking CD-RW
drive, but its build quality is something very
different. When compared to the other Plextor drives,
this one feels just that much more solid. The CD trays
on some other units seemed a bit flimsy, but the one in
the Premium drive was steady and solid. In addition, the
ejection speed and smooth motion of the CD tray also
instilled confidence. Realistically, recordable CD
drives have advanced just about as far as they are going
to. Thus, speed is not the dominating factor in this
review. Yes, this drive is fast, being able to produce a
CD in less than 3 minutes repeatedly is impressive.
Nevertheless, we can go to the local computer store and
pick up a cheap $50.00 drive that will come darn close
to that. When considering drives these days, you must
also factor in reliability and burn quality. When a
company produces a drive that is able to burn CD's, even
under extreme circumstances, without producing a
coaster, that is a sign of quality. What good is a drive
if it can produce five CD in less than ten minutes, but
only three of those are readable?
Currently
the Plextor PlexWriter Premium is listed for about
$104.00 - $129.00 USD
on various price search engines. The performance,
quality of construction and overall feel this drive will
be hard for Plextor's competitors to surpass.
Unfortunately, for a drive that scores so well, it does
have a small flaw, at least temporarily until perhaps it
is remedied with a firmware patch. That data transfer
drop during SpeedRead did catch our attention just a
bit. Though the drive operated perfectly when SpeedRead
was disabled, if the option is available, it should work
without a hitch. That aside, we still give this drive
praise, and would gladly recommend it to anyone seeking
a new high-performance CD-RW drive.
For its
overall quality, price, performance and features, we are
awarding the Plextor PlexWriter Premium Hi-Speed
Internal CD-RW drive 8.5 out of 10 on the
Heat Meter.
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- Burn-Proof
Technology
-
Mt. Rainier Support
- PoweREC-II
Technology
- GigaRec
- VariRec
- Black CD-Tray
- Very
Quiet
|
- Data Transfer
Problems While Using Speed Read
- EZ CD Creator 5
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Hardware Forum?!
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