Drives > Samsung Drives

Advantages: Good quality; quiet operation; very affordable
Disadvantages: Rather high CPU usage

...the drive's cache size? The Samsung has only 256kB of cache (as opposed to the Plextor's 2MB). DAE quality was rated "10" (perfect) with the "Accurate Stream" feature present. CPU usage with CD-R dics was fairly good for a quality drive: 0% at 1x, 1% at 2x, 2% at 4x and 4% at 8x. CPU usage reading DVDs seemed staggeringly high at first glance: 6 % at 1x, 19 % at 2X, 47 % at 4X and 77 % at 8x reading a pressed DVD-ROM, and even higher with a burned ...
...% at 4x and "n/a" (out of range? ;-)) at 8X. Then I measured CPU usage with the (generally acclaimed) Plextor drive: it was just as high. Not being an expert in this field I can only speculate that during normal operation CPU usage won't be a problem; DVD film playback occurs at 1x; audio file playback off DVDs also doesn't require higher read speeds. Aside from file copying, the only circumstance I can think of where thed drive would have to provide ... Read review

Advantages: Reliable. Sturdy, Quiet
Disadvantages: None

...all freely avaliable on the samsung website to for this product and they too are easy enough to use .. Have never had any trouble with this drive and Its played every disc iv thrown at it so far, Also no coasters or burn errors so far out of 100 blank discs, It has a very nice build quality and runs so quietly you wouldnt no it was there or running ... Read review

Advantages: "works" with Mac and Windows
Disadvantages: Too many to list.

...work... (using Taiyo Yuden media bought from Microboards authorised retailers) >Manuals... inexistent! After days of bugging their support, a PDF was emailed over... > Support - rude and unhelpful most of the time. Takes days to get anything out of them In short? Stay well clear from this product! ... Read review

Advantages: Fast Write speeds, wide compatibilty, 20 speed dvd writing and CHEAP
Disadvantages: Not any that i've experienced!!

I found this to be an excellent drive as i picked up one for around £30 and that was when it came out(last year, june). I think that this is an excellent drive for the fact it has a wide range of DVD and CD writing features; 20 speed writing, my favourite feature is the light scribe feature which allows you to design your own cd labels on a special 'lightscribe disc'. The Drive was also quiet, but not too quiet. I found the OEM Box that the drive ... Read review

Advantages: Very Cheap, Changeable cover panels, Fast Speed
Disadvantages: No firmware, Region Locked, Major issues with burning regular cd's

...and thus bought it as LG has become more reputable. The Pros This drive was very easy to install. It was practically a plug and play drive. It also came with different front panels in order to change colors from black and white. Although this may seem pointless it is a factor to take into consideration if you are after certain specification like color for your computer. The drive has never had a problem playing any cd's DVD's and etc. It ...
...this drive as it seems LG has forgotten about this drive and moved on. 3) This final problem is the killer part of this drive and the reason it is ranked so low. When durng xvid files and various other files onto a CD to watch on an xvid player and part of the files which are over 350 mb will not work. Thus typically TV shows are 350 mbs and meaning half the disc is wasted. Despite the cheap prices of CD's these days it still is a waste. Conclusion ... Read review