Top 10 CD-RW Drives

[jadison]

"This month, 20X and 24X drives dominate the CD-RW marketplace, while 16X drives serve as entry-level models. Speedy performance results and daily tech support hours help TDK's $145 24/10/40 VeloCD ReWriter hold on to the number one spot. Nevertheless, coming up strong in second place is Samsung's $85 SW-216, an inexpensive 16X/10X/32X model that ranks as one of the fastest 16X drives we've seen. Two 24X models debut on the chart: Teac's $130 CD-W524E and Sony's $150 CRX175A/A1. The Sony drive is one of the few to include software for backing up data. "

Click Here for the PCWorld Article (http://pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,73851,00.asp)

[Pshawn5]

interesting...
that ranked no.1 tdk was on sale at best buy for 59 bucks, no rebates...
according to some ppl at anandtech who snagged up the deal.

tho circuit city has the same price,but that with rebates and stuff, and you all know how rebates go..sometimes you get them,sometimes you dont.

[otheos]

The highest quality drive at the moment is the Yamaha 3200 drive. It is also the fastest and most feature rich drive.

Strongly recommended if price is not an issue.

I would personally stay away from overpriced 24x Z-CLV drives like the plextor as they offern nothing more than other drives using identical technology (like the Lite-on, best buy in 24x Z-CLV).

For people who dislike Z-CLV (like myself) the Yamaha's are the way to go as they offer great quality and true technology innovation. Otherwise 16x CLV burners are definitely still in the game, they offer low price with tested technology and no linking (Zones). The LG 16x is currently the best all around drive in the category.

[gmgq]

Yeah, Yamaha has definitely turned it around since their 4X CDR drive (sigh).

I've got a Plextor 16X and the LG 16X. The LG drive is definitely great quality. I was really impressed with it's smooooth tray, heh. The only issues I have with it are:
1) It's buffer underrun technology isn't that great. Sure it may work to make your burn successful, but you can forget about doing ANY multitasking. My system slowed to a crawl when burning. It took forever to switch between windows.
Plextor's BURN-Proof really does save the burn, and it allows you to multitask as if the drive wasn't even busy burning. No noticeable slowdowns with the rest of the system.

2) It doesn't support CD-TEXT (which is why I subsequently bought the Plextor drive). CD-TEXT is a tricky issue. Some drives say they do support it, but in actuality, it may only support CD-TEXT READ, and not CD-TEXT WRITE. For those interested, I suggest you check out the reviews at www.cdr-info.com . They include a CD-TEXT READ/WRITE test in their reviews for all the CDRW drives they test. Very handy.


Originally posted by otheos
The highest quality drive at the moment is the Yamaha 3200 drive. It is also the fastest and most feature rich drive.

Strongly recommended if price is not an issue.

I would personally stay away from overpriced 24x Z-CLV drives like the plextor as they offern nothing more than other drives using identical technology (like the Lite-on, best buy in 24x Z-CLV).

For people who dislike Z-CLV (like myself) the Yamaha's are the way to go as they offer great quality and true technology innovation. Otherwise 16x CLV burners are definitely still in the game, they offer low price with tested technology and no linking (Zones). The LG 16x is currently the best all around drive in the category.