I bought a black version of the Pioneer DVR111-DBK to replace my aging ASUS CD-RW drive, which couldn't even read DVDs. The Pioneer looked a bargain at just £25 and so I picked it up, not really expecting that much.
Looks
The drive looks great, and fits in perfectly with my black case. Its very simple, with just a green LED to show the usage, the tray itself, a button and an emergency eject hole. This makes the drive look sophisticated and worth a lot more than £25!
Installation
The drive itself does not come with anything - it is simply the drive in with a extremely short manual in a see-through bag. The manual, despite being very thin, is very handy with a detailed guide on how to install the drive and also the pins, so it is very hard to do something wrong - full marks to Pioneer on this! Performance
The drive is an extremely fast burner, finishing everything I throw at it amazingly quickly. It can burn to a really wide range of media and it copes really well with everything from CD-Rs to DVD-RWs. Reading is the same, with the drive being reasonably quiet. It has never burnt me any 'coasters' (unuseable DVDs or CDs) which is always great to see.
Notes
The drive is sold as OEM nearly everywhere - I couldn't find it retail. While this keeps the price down it also means nothing is included, so don't forget you'll need an IDE cable and a preferably some burning software; I find old versions of Nero are very good and can be picked up for a couple of quid.
Pros
Very fast burner Good looks Cheap
Cons
OEM bundle - you'll need to buy your own software No extra features like Lightscribe Not as quiet as some drives
Overall
A great burner for the money, whether you burn CDs or DVDs or neither! Its a pity its an OEM bundle, so don't forget to pick up an IDE cable, an audio cable if you want to be able to listen to music while the PC is off and some burning software (Microsoft's included CD Writing Software is very poor)
More details
Memory / capacity
Good
Design
Excellent
Ease of use
Very easy
Instruction manual
Very useful
Manufacturer Support
Good
Speed
Very fast
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