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The box contents are quite complete indeed; QPS provides everything needed to use the drive (other than the firewire card).
The manual, while not the excellent quality of a Plextor one, is quite good. It walks through both Mac and PC installations so users of both platforms should make out just fine.
As this drive is compatible with both Macs and PCs, included is software for both platforms. For Macs there is the widely used Roxio (Adaptec) Toast and for PCs its, you guessed it, Easy CD Creator 4.0 and Direct CD. These three titles are probably one of the most, if not the, most widely used CD burning titles on the market.
Thankfully, the power cable does not use a wall-wart (I cant stand those things is it just me or should those have been outlawed back in 1987?). Instead, the power system makes use of a standard computer power cable and a separate adapter with a long enough cable so it can rest on the floor.
The carrying bag is an excellent and welcome addition to the package. It can hold everything that you need, from the power supply to extra media with ease in its numerous compartments. Its walls are padded for extra bumpage protection and the outer material is very sturdy so rough rides shouldnt be a problem. There is also a shoulder strap that is included but not being an over-the-shoulder guy I didnt try it out for myself. Options are great though, so if you do have an over-the-shoulder type personality, youll be in strap heaven.
The drive itself is quite a weighty one, tipping the scales at about 1.2Kg (2.64lbs). The casing is made out of tough, yet stylish plastic that is somewhat reminiscent of the Mac G4 perfect for the accessorizers out there.
Installation
As long as you have a (working :] ) Firewire card installed, installation wont be a problem. You plug everything in and go. Im serious. Thats it. Software installation is also a piece of cake, so there are no worries there either.
Installation is actually one of the less touted advantages of external peripherals: they dont require tedious work inside of the case that many people dont even feel comfortable doing in the first place.
Impressions
The Que! Fire drives are quite cool looking, as I mentioned earlier. The slightly transparent casing faintly reveals the actual drive, but it is also fairly bulky, measuring 20cm wide, 24.8cm long, and 6.7cm high. Part of this is due to the slightly rounded nature of the plastic casing that leaves a decent sized gap of air between the plastic and the drive itself. Both the shape and gap provide a little bit of extra structural integrity to the unit, which is important as it will most likely see a lot of traveling.
Test System
Operating systems:
Windows 98SE (v4.10.2222 A)
Hardware:
| CPU: | AMD Duron 700MHz |
| Mobo(s): | Asus A7V rev1.1 |
| RAM: | 128MB Micron PC133 RAM |
| Video Card: | Asus V7100T Geforce2 MX 32MB |
| HDD: | 20Gb IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm, Ultra ATA-100 |
| CD-ROM: | Creative 52X CD-ROM |
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Plextor Hardware:
OS: Windows 95 SE
CPU: AMD Duron 800 Socket A
Mobo: MSI KT7 Pro2-A
RAM: 128 MB Micron PC133 RAM
Video Card: Hercules 3d Prophet 2 MX
Hard Drive: 30 GB IBM Deskstar 75 GXP, Ultra ATA-100
CD-ROM: Generic 32x CD-ROM
CD-RW: Plextor PX-W1610TA
Que! Fire Hardware:
CPU: AMD Duron 700MHz
Mobo(s): Asus A7V rev1.1
RAM: 128MB Micron PC133 RAM
Video Card: Asus V7100T Geforce2 MX 32MB
HDD: 20Gb IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm, Ultra ATA-100
CD-ROM: Creative 52X CD-ROM
While these hardware configurations are close.. 100mhz difference is CPU, same chipset, etc.. there are of course subtle differences. Enough to generate almost a minute of difference in some of your performance tests.
I enjoyed the review up to that point. The scores are misleading. If you do not want your reviewers to rescore the drives they're using in the comparison on their own test systems, you should at least the reader know that the scores they are seeing are not from that computer.
Ian Sadkovich
CDRLabs.com Hardware Editor
This message was edited by IanCDRLabs on Apr 26 2001.
This message was edited by IanCDRlabs on Oct 03 2001.
Just so it is clear, the "Windows 95 SE" for the Plextor test system is actually Win98SE, that is a typo. The two significant differences are of course the mobo and CPU. I was fairly certain that the test scores would be little affected by these differences, although in the name of true empirical results these differences mean everything.
To dispose of the idea that I was trying to mislead anyone, this is certainly not the case. If it were, I would have fudged the system configs to hide any discrepancies.
As I don't like leaving loose ends untied, I will rescore the drive on the same system the Plextor drive was tested on and will post the results for everyone to see.
I appreciate your watchful eye, Ian, and I will be sure to keep test data more pure from here on out.
This message was edited by dgrant on Apr 26 2001.
There's also quite a bit of variation between Firewire cards, so even though you don't usually have to include that in the specs, it might not be a bad idea for this type of review.
QPS said it was the bridge.. I'm hoping future versions of the drive have a bridge that doesn't inhibit DAE.
We've added a Page 4 to the article to display Daryl's Benchmark update which he tested the drive on both the Aten & Belkin Firewire cards he had on hand. He addresses the difference between the internal Plextor & the External QPS drive, now that the systems were the same. Have a look at the results:
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/quefire161040/4.html
Edited for change in URL
This message was edited by Entity on May 04 2001.
I read the article and as I'm on the verge of bying a new system probably w/ an external CR-RW drive 'cos I'll have a lot of fun stuff in the case aleady. The acrticle caught my attention 'cos I was kinda goin' for Plextor's own external 12x10x32-S. Now, I know it's not as fast as the Que! but 'ahelofalot cuter!'(at least that's my opinion)
and it has an UltraSCSI Plug&Play interface. How does this drive compare to an (hypothetical or not) external "12x10x32" FireWire drive?
Thanks for your replies!!!
CID
There are different version of Interfaces/-chips available from different firms (TI, Lucent ...) and to what I've read as a remark different generation, but could not get detailed info which ones are newer.
In HKG and SIN I saw empty IEEE1394 cases for support of IDE-drives made in Taiwan and even Snazzi and Maxtor offer them now.
IMHO the focus should be on the IDE-IEEE1394 interface using a fast HDD reference drive for comparison on the interface to verify its performance, do the same for the actual drive on a 100 controller and then compare it as a set otherwise the review is just a snapshot that may not be reproduceable.
Sony Vaio ILink, Maxtor ext. 80GB HDD with IEEE1394.
I have had the Que!Fire for about 5 months. The first few months it has been working like a charm.
Then on the fifth month I started having problems.
1-it doesn't recognize that i am placing a recordable CD.
2-I get errors while recording and it ruins the CD.
3-Customer service...
The customer service took me about 2 weeks to get in touch with. I have sent many emails with no reply. I have called and left on hold for hours.
and today I have finally gotten through. They tell me that that I have to send them the CDRW to them and they have to test it before they send me a new one. Not only that they said that I have to pay for shipping. I think this is insane. Not only did I buy the product for $399.99 and get a 1 year warrenty, now they want me to pay for shipping?
The Que!Fire 16x10x40x Is a great drive but only until something goes wrong.
I do not recommend this product.
I've tried reloading newest drivers for CDRW, OS, PCMCIA card and nothing seems to work. Any suggestions?
Thanks.
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