Archos MiniDVD DVD-ROM drive

Advantages: Combo drive
Disadvantages: slighly slow CD burn rate compared to others

...I got this drive to eliminate the need for having separate DVD and CDRW drives when I was building a PC for someone. The drive is IDE and lives quite happily on your secondary channel as a master - this is the recommended option to eliminate CD writing failures and DVD playback artifacts. The drive comes complete with CD burning software in the shape of Nero Burning ROM V4, as opposed to the usual suspects of Adaptec Easy CD Creator or CeQuadrat Win On CD. This does not mean that the software is not up to par - far from it! NBR4 can do everything the competition can and more, such as overburning media and bootable CDs. The main reason for this is the DVD read capability. Although the 4x read is somehat behind what most dedicated DVD drives offer nowadays, in reality you only need 1x DVD read to view a movie. Let's face facts - how... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: cool
Disadvantages: Costly

...The iMac is one of the best lookers around but it just hasn’t got the grunt as with a standard PC this becomes quite frustrating when typing and other things because it takes ages to load. The software is good though but it is difficult to swap stuff with friends easily because there is no floppy drive to be seen. All it has is a DVD or DC rom with some upgrade connections. It’s not enough though to make this computer a viable alternative to a normal PC. Still it is good for the internet.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Pentium III, good scanner, ok software bundle
Disadvantages: Poor technical support and limited upgrade options

...This was quite an expensive computer, but it did come with a lot of extras. There was a printer, a scanner and DVD rom drive and lots of software. It is quite good to get all these things in one package but the printer isnt the best and the ink cartrages are quite expensive. The DVD is very good but I find it uncomfortable sitting at my desk watching a film on the 15" monitor Id prefer to lie down on the sofa and put watch on a big TV but there is no way to connect it to the TV. The sofware is pre installed on the hard drive and is mostly for people new to computers but did include the excellent microsoft word. One thing that bugs me is the Packard Bell website has no mention of this model of computer, the club 80. This means I have to search around for drivers myself and the documentation is very scetchy aswell. But on the whole... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful