Panasonic LF D311

Advantages: Gigantic storage capacity, long shelf life for stored disks
Disadvantages: Not cheap, bit slow sometimes.

...The Panasonic LF-D201 is a SCSI DVD-RAM drive. Mmmm, I hear you say, what a bunch of lovely acronyms, if only I knew what they meant I might actually bother to read this article. Never fear all will be explained. SCSI is the way in which it connects to your computer, for the pros and cons of this method, e.g. compared to USB, see my opinion on Adaptec’s AVA-2904 SCSI controller card and to a lesser extent my opinion on the Plextor 12/10/32S SCSI cd writer. DVD-RAM is probably going to be the replacement for cd writers. It has an enormous capacity per DVD disk (up to 9.4 GB) and prices are starting to make it accessible to the likes of you and I. I have also discussed DVD-RAM and its pros and cons more extensively in my opinion on the older Panasonic LF-D103. Having covered the basics in earlier opinions, I can now (thankfully... Read review

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Advantages: Gigantic storage capacity, long shelf life for stored disks
Disadvantages: Not cheap, bit slow sometimes.

...as cd and can be bought for around £10 each. Interestingly I am told this is cheaper than the equivalent DVD-R disks. This is apparently because you can’t play DVD-RAM disks in a DVD movie player and the price of DVD-R disks (which will play in a DVD movie player) are being kept high to limit piracy. On to the drive itself, the Panasonic LF-D103 is a little bit old now, alightly new model is available but I don’t think it boasts any major improvements. I can’t remember many problems with installation. The drive is a SCSI device (see my article on the Adaptec AVA 2904 SCSI controller to learn more about SCSI) and so only required connecting to my pc’s SCSI card. The software that came with it is pretty funny, as it has obviously been written by people with a slender grasp of English (and Panasonic obviously didn’... Read review

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Advantages: Tablet style flip screen, built in functionality
Disadvantages: ???

...Well after 3 years of working with the Panasonic CF-34 as an IT consultant with manual workers from another company I finally got to produce a build and play with some Cf-18's. There are many obvious advantages this machine has over it's predecessor, namely the available built in functionality (all at a price of course) plus the ease of use for those with the larger finger. Options include integrated GPRS / GSM slot, WiFi & Bluetooth. Previously you would have to purchase individual cards for these functions which often ends up with a small part of card sticking out of the side of the machine, or an arial in the case of the GPRS / GSM cards. Now all these functions can be integrated within the device by Panasonic. All work well too, with the exception of the GPRS signal. I don't think the arial is very strong for the GPRS signal... Read review

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