Plextor PX-W1210TA

Plextor's ATAPI contender comes to the table with many of the same specs as the recently reviewed PX-W124TSi SCSI burner. For example, it writes at a maximum of 12X CLV, reads CDs at 14X-32X CAV speeds, and includes the same 1-year warranty with unlimited toll-free tech support as well as nearly identical accessories in the retail package. For details on included accessories, as well as our impressions of the included Plextor Manager 2000 software, please read the Introduction of our PX-W124TSi review. Finally, like the 12/4/32, this drive also includes a digital CD audio out. For full drive specifications, please click here.

Differences include the BURN-Proof technology, 10X rewrite speeds, ATAPI interface, as well as the lack of a fan and only a single LED (cost-cutting choices, no doubt). The LED is set up to illuminate green when the drive is idle with media inserted; yellow when a disc is being read from; and amber when a disc is being written to. This took some getting used to, as every time we saw the green light, we thought the drive was busy when in fact it was idle (just displaying that there was a disc in the drive). Also different are the specified random access times (at 150ms, 10ms quicker than the 12/4/32), the buffer size (2048KB vs. the 12/4/32's 4096KB), and obviously, the price. Typical pricing online for the retail package is about $270, with prices as low as $250 spotted. This is about $60 less than Plextor's SCSI 12/4/32. Finally, Plextor does not include the CD Res-Q disaster recovery/imaging software that comes with the SCSI 12/4/32.