In a write speed test, the included Nero 9 Essentials was used to burn a 2.45GB ISO to 8x DVD+R media. It took 5mins 53s with verification at 5.5x lasting a further 6mins 01s. Nothing fantastic here, but it’s in line with general expectations.
Although the PX-L611U retails for £49 and the market is flooded with other slimline USB DVD writers retailing in the region of £20 to £30, these drives do not have LightScribe support. For a better comparison, it should be noted that the HP DVD556S and DVD557S, both with LightScribe support, also retail for between £40 and £50.
Thus, it appears to be simply the one feature that commands the higher price of these products. As I personally have no need for LightScribe, I would have difficulty justifying the premium.
Cutting edge: LightScribe functionality sets it apart from cheaper drives
That’s not to say I don’t like Plextor’s latest optical option, quite the opposite in fact. Its compact size and durable plastic and aluminium construction makes it smart, presentable and certain to last through many meetings and presentations.
Verdict
As a portable drive for the user who wishes to bring the LightScribe abilities of their desktop to their netbook or other portable, it’s an excellent choice. However, if LightScribe isn’t an issue for you, there are cheaper options that give a similar performance. ®
More optical gear reviews… |
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 Six… budget
Blu-ray players |
 Samsung SH-B123
BD-Rom combo |
 Lite-on iHBS112
Blu-ray writer |
 PLDS iHES208
BD-Rom combo |
Plextor PX-L611U portable DVD writer
COMMENTS
Re Regioned
As this review does not specify that the drive is region free or otherwise, then the review is a failure. Also, does it work with Linux? I can buy region free drives for a much lower price on ebay, why waste the reviewer's and readers time with this product?
Plextors = Sony
I think they are just re-badged Sony Optiarc drives now.
I know Plextor never actually made any of their drives but they used to write the custom firmware that gave the extra features you were paying for.
They don't even do that anymore.
plextor USED to be good
My original Plex was very good and lasted a long time. The subsequent replacement was not very good (i.e., long lasting AND reliable) so I was pretty much off them after that (not to mention the price premium they always seemed to have). Found it much cheaper to simply buy two different cheaper brands to replace it. Still have my old Plextools though....wish they had kept that up as a freebie...sadly enough for them; they didn't. Just one more reason to NOT buy their product.
Now, they're a MEH!
Not completely trashed
From the looks of it, the thing got the virus maybe a couple of weeks ago, and it had been making merry ever since. Until it was plugged into the net and AVG did an auto-update yesterday, there was nothing outwardly wrong. After AVG quaranteened several files, the thing became a bit dead with lots of registry links to now non-existant files, couldn't start any apps, and didn't come back after a reboot.
PCs always have autorun disabled (but that doesn't stop people using the image viewer on their friends HDD with photos from assignment!)
A nice application from Sandisk is going to have a look over the external HDD later looking for pictures (although I'm not sure if it spots RAWs or only JPEGs).
Still, it would be nice to have a Bluray writer for archive. I used to use DAT, but now an 80GB tape wouldn't even last a week, so need something simple enough for SO to use, and bigger than a DVD.
Inputted title
Looks to me like a regular thinline DVD r/w device in a USB interface housing. A fancy, good looking one, maybe, but still not much more than that.
FWIW, I took the drive out of an old Packard Bell laptop, fitted an enclosure (about £10 off ebay) and Linux4One (based on Ubunti/ Debian) reads it without issue.
So assuming this is effectively the same, you shouldn't have a problem if you're running Deb based linux.
