Samsung SM-348B DVD/CDRW Combo Review

For the consumer market, Samsung has long been a dominating force for "combo" drives for as long we've been reviewing optical devices. These drives combine a high speed CD-R/RW drive with a DVD-ROM in a single cost effective, multi-purpose unit.

Samsung SM-332 Combo Drive Review

At home I have a system that can support a limited number of available IDE devices, and I already have 3 Hard Drives and a CD-RW drive. Now the problem is that I have always wanted to watch DVD movies on this system, which has an otherwise good speakers and decent monitor. My friend has a Small Form Factor system, and he's faced with a similar problem: he just doesn't have the room to fit both a CD-RW burner and a DVD-ROM.

40x CD Writer Shootout

2002 is possibly the best year so far for CD burning. Twice this year we’ve seen some serious advances to burning speeds – and now the average drive being pushed by manufacturers is a sizzling 40X (with the 48X speed burners already being released by some pioneers). These new 40X drives don’t come with a huge price premium either – you’ll find them for around $30-50 more then for a 24X or 32X burner.

Samsung SM-308 DVD/CDRW Combo Review

When we reviewed the Samsung SM304 a few months ago it made quite a splash: Its combination of the functionality of a CD Burner with a DVD-ROM drive made it a great all-around computing tool. Now finally Samsung has released its amazing new brother, the SM-308.

QPS Que! Fire External CD-RW 16x10x40 Review

As far as CD Burners go, external drives are where it’s at. Being able to use the drive at home, work, school, a friend’s, and not to mention those “unforeseen” situations, is a real boon. The external drive in question today is the Que! Fire CD-RW 16x/10x/40x which supports both Mac and PC, extending its value even further.

Samsung SW212 12x8x32x CDRW Review

With 16x drives coming onto the market the price of 12x drives will soon be plunging due to the unstoppable forces of market satuaton. Into this fray jumps Samsung with their SW-212, a 12/8/32 CD-RW drive. With this drive, Samsung takes a bold approach; instead of using the delicious new BURN-Prof style technologies they slap on a whopping 8MB of buffer memory. Will this be enough to cover Samsung's gambit? Will their drive rise to fame as the king of 12x Burners or will it plunge into the depths of Buffer Underrun hell? Read this article to find out.

Samsung SM304 DVD/CDRW Combo Review

DVD/CD-RW drives are quickly becoming more prevalent; and for good reason, too. DVD is the new standard for removable data, and most new computers now come equipped with a DVD drive, however a CD burner is still necessary for users who want to be able to distribute large data files and to support the huge installed base of CD-ROM drives. A combination DVD and CD-RW drive like the SM-304 would seem to fit these needs easily in a single, easy to use package.

Plextor Plexwriter 16/10/40A Review

The PX-W1610TA is part of the newest breed of CD-RW drives. Although it still retains the same rewrite speed as previous generations the PX-W1610TA comes with a 40x read speed and a wicked write speed of 16x supported by the incredible BURN-Proof technology. Watch as we explore the features of this new drive.

Sony Digital Relay CD External CDRW/MP3 Player Review

A CD burner is a born match for a laptop computer; sharing files with clients is made much easier, plus the MP3 player functionality is useful for those long plane rides. The Sony Digital Relay (or CRX10U) seems like a perfect match for all of these cases.

AOpen CRW1232 CDRW Drive Review

The AOpen CRW1232A is a 12x10x32x drive – the same speed as the Iomega ZipCD that we recently reviewed. One of the major differences between these two drives is that the AOpen drive uses Ricoh’s “JustLink” technology and the ZipCD makes use of Sanyo’s “BURN-Proof” technology. These technologies may have different names, but they share a common goal: to rid the CD-burning process of the revolting buffer-underrun.

Iomega ZipCD 12x10x32x CDRW Review

The Iomega ZipCD 12x10x32 is similar to Iomega’s other two drives, the 12x4x32 and the 8x4x32 models with the most significant difference being the introduction of Sanyo’s BURN-Proof technology. “BURN” stands for Buffer UnderRuN and the technology is a major improvement to the CD burning process.

Antec Datachute PCI Review

PCMCIA is a standard port available on all laptop computers, but it hasn’t quite caught on in the desktop market. Since the PCMCIA slot is viewed as a sort of replacement for PCI and ISA slots found in the desktop, it would be redundant on a regular computer. With the laptop computer’s “motherboard” safely tucked in the casing, it was no wonder that some sort of compact, secure, and durable alternative arose.

Sony Spressa Professional 12X8X32X CD-RW Review

Sony is making waves again in the CD-RW drive arena with the release of it’s latest Brand of CD-RW Spressa Series drives. Some say it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks –but we think Sony has polished the Spressa drive even more than before and it’s ready to compete in the heavy-weight division with speeds of 12X8X32X! For the most part this drive is identical to it’s older brother, the Spressa 10X4X24X –but the big difference is what’s under the hood!

Kodak CompactFlash to PCMCIA Adapter Review

The Kodak Picture Card Reader is a simple little compact flash adapter that takes your CF card and makes it compatible with a standard Type II PCMCIA slot. When installed, the CF card acts like a small disk, using the high throughput of the PCMCIA bus to make CF transfers a quick and painless procedure.

Plextor 12x10x32x Plexwriter Review

Well it’s time once again to peer deep into the tunnel of technology and glance at a new product that’s storming its way into the hearts of CD-Burning enthusiasts all over! It’s from Plextor and it’s the PlexWriter 12/10/32 CD-Writer.

10X CDRW Shootout: Sony Spressa Vs. HP 9310i

This head to head shootout is going to cover two of the top 10X CD-RW drives on the market today and show you what technologies work –and which ones don’t! The Sony Spressa Professional, and the HP CD-Writer Plus 9310i, both of which can write data at 10X speeds -are going under the microscope, and we are going to drag out the good, bad, and ugly.