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DVD burners
Updated December 14, 2005

While products such as a laptop or a printer are absolutely essential to a home office, don't overlook extras such as DVD burners. These handy devices make it easy to back up your data, record presentations for later, or even transmit data via sneakernet while you're saving up for your networked office. Best of all, you can score yourself a great drive without breaking the bank, so if you have the extra cash, consider one of these burners.

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CNET editor's top DVD drives

CNET's burner buying guide

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Product name	NEC ND-3500A	Plextor PX-716A IDE drive	Memorex 16X16X DL IDE DVD drive	Asus DRW-1608P (beige)	Sony DRU-800A

Review date	March 11, 2005	May 24, 2005	August 2, 2005	August 17, 2005	September 12, 2005

Editors' rating (Editors' rating explained)	6.5 Good	6.8 Good	6.3 Good	6.3 Good	6.3 Good

Buying choices	Prices from online stores: Searching for pricing data...	Prices from online stores: Searching for pricing data...	Prices from online stores: Searching for pricing data...	Prices from online stores: Searching for pricing data...	Prices from online stores: Searching for pricing data...

Review summary	The ND-3500A's fast burn times with certain media aren't enough to make this an indispensable drive.	This Plextor is a fast and versatile internal drive supporting single/dual-layer DVD media--one of the best on the market today.	This drive turned in decent recording and rewriting times and comes with a superior software bundle, but its DVD ripping performance is surprisingly dismal.	The Asus DRW-1608P is a steal: good overall performance at a low price.	The Sony DRU-800A is an overall decent performer in a small package.

Product series	N/A	N/A	N/A	See all products in this series	N/A

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Basic Specs
Enclosure Type	Internal	Internal	Internal	Internal	Internal

Interface	IDE	IDE	IDE	IDE	IDE

Weight	2.2 lbs	2.2 lbs	Info unavailable	2.2 lbs	Info unavailable

Read Speed	48x (CD) / 16x (DVD)	48x (CD) / 16x (DVD)	48x (CD) / 16x (DVD)	40x (CD) / 16x (DVD)	48x (CD) / 16x (DVD)

Write Speed	Info unavailable	48x (CD) / 16x (DVDýR) / 4x (DVD+R DL)	48x (CD) / 16x (DVDýR) / 4x (DVD+R DL)	40x (CD) / 16x (DVDýR) / 6x (DVDýR DL)	48x (CD) / 16x (DVDýR) / 4x (DVDýR DL)

Rewrite Speed	Info unavailable	24x (CD) / 4x (DVD-RW) / 8x (DVD+RW)	24x (CD) / 6x (DVD-RW) / 8x (DVD+RW)	24x (CD) / 6x (DVD-RW) / 8x (DVD+RW)	24x (CD) / 6x (DVD-RW) / 8x (DVD+RW)

Buffer Underrun Protection	Info unavailable	Yes	Yes	FlextraLink	Power-Burn

OS Required	Info unavailable	Microsoft Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP	Info unavailable	Microsoft Windows NT , Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition , Microsoft Windows XP , Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition , Microsoft Windows 2000 , Microsoft Windows 98	Info unavailable


Product name	NEC ND-3500A	Plextor PX-716A IDE drive	Memorex 16X16X DL IDE DVD drive	Asus DRW-1608P (beige)	Sony DRU-800A

Full specifications	Full specifications	Full specifications	Full specifications	Full specifications	Full specifications

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