DVD drives - CNET reviews

Editors' Top Storage
updated January 20, 2006

With prices starting at $100, single-format DVD-recordable drives are now a must-have for anyone who wants to burn movies, create weeklong MP3 compilations, or archive important files from their hard drive. Or, for just a few dollars more, you can invest in a fast and versatile multiformat drive that can handle all the flavors of DVD.
-- Felisa Yang, Associate Editor

DVD drives

Storage	Editors' rating	Price	Summary
Plextor PX-712A Released: 03/10/2004	6.8 Good	Email me when product is available	Though double-layer burning is getting all the hype, you're still better off with a single-layer burner: this one. Specs: DVD?RW , 48x (CD) / 16x (DVD) , 48x (CD) / 8x (DVD-R) / 12x (DVD+R) , 24x (CD) / 4x (DVD?RW)

LaCie d2 DL 16X DVD+/-RW Released: 08/30/2004	7.0 Very good	Email me when product is available	This double-layer drive is expensive, but it's one of the fastest we've come across thus far. Specs: DVD?RW (+R DL) , 40x (CD) / 12x (DVD) , 32x (CD) / 16x (DVD?R) / 4x (DVD+R DL) , 24x (CD) / 4x (DVD?R)

Sony DRU-700A Released: 05/17/2004	7.4 Very good	$35	Sony's first double-layer DVD burner does its job well, but double-layer burning itself is a mixed blessing. Specs: DVD?RW (+R DL) , 40x (CD) / 12x (DVD) , 40x (CD) / 8x (DVD?R) / 2.4x (DVD+R DL) , 24x (CD) / 4x (DVD?RW)

BenQ DW1620	7.0 Very good	Email me when product is available	This is a fast, affordable 16X double-layer drive that writes at top speed to both DVD-Rs and DVD+Rs. Specs: DVD?RW (+R DL) , Internal , 40x (CD) / 16x (DVD) , 40x (CD) / 16x (DVD?R) / 2.4x (DVD+R DL) , 24x (CD) / 4x (DVD?R)

Plextor PX-716A IDE drive Released: 09/01/2004	6.8 Good	Email me when product is available	This Plextor is a fast and versatile internal drive supporting single/dual-layer DVD media--one of the best on the market today. Specs: DVD?RW (+R DL) , 48x (CD) / 16x (DVD) , 48x (CD) / 16x (DVD?R) / 4x (DVD+R DL) , 24x (CD) / 4x (DVD-RW) / 8x (DVD+RW)