Buyer's Guide - Mid-Range, January 2005

Optical Drive Recommendations

With the maximum speed of dual and single layer DVDR topping out at 16X and future replacements like BluRay and HD-DVDR in the works, not much has changed with our optical drive recommendations. We strongly recommend to anyone investing this much money in a computer to not skimp on the DVD drive and go with a DVD+RW 16X model. They work well for archiving old data and backups, and the price is low enough that we would recommend every new computer now to incorporate the technology.

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DVD+RW Recommendation

Some individuals swear by Plextor drives and will pay more for them, but our pick for price/performance continues to be NEC. The ND-3500A [RTPE: ND-3500A] received our Editor's Choice award in our last DVD+RW roundup based on its overall features, speed, reliability, and media compatibility. The ND-3520A [RTPE: ND-3520A] adds support for 8X DVD+RW and 6X DVD-RW recording, along with some firmware updates. As the price difference between the older 3500A and the new 3520A is only a few dollars, we see no reason to purchase the older drive.

If you actually plan to do a lot of DVD-to-DVD copying - we'll leave the legality of any such endeavors to you - adding in a DVD-ROM drive for $20 or so might also be desirable. For most people, however, a single DVD+RW functions well as a Jack of All Trades. The only real competitor in terms of price/performance is the Pioneer DVR-108 [RTPE: Pioneer DVR-108D] drive, so if you're averse to purchasing an NEC model, go that route.

Another option that a few people have asked about is SATA DVDR. With our talk about how much easier SATA cables are to deal with than the old IDE cables, wouldn't it be great to get an SATA optical drive? When you consider that some motherboards come with a whopping eight SATA connections, what's holding us back? The problem is that you currently have very few options for SATA DVDR, and all of them are from Plextor. The SATA connection will do nothing for actual performance, as even at 16X burn speeds, the maximum data rate is only about 21 MB/s, and compatibility is a bit questionable (check Plextor's compatibility guide before purchasing). Other than those concerns and the price, if you really want an SATA connection on an optical drive, the Plextor PX-716SA and PX-712SA are your two choices.

Floppy Drive Recommendation

While we're on the subject of drives, let's not forget the old floppy drive. If you absolutely cannot stand the thought of putting such old technology into your wonderful new computer, that's okay. For us, however, we like to keep it around just in case. BIOS flashes - or in some case recoveries - can make good use of a floppy drive, and sometimes you'll need one with drivers if you want to install Windows XP onto an SATA drive. A driver disk will also be required if you want to install XP onto any sort of RAID array, so keep that in mind if you're considering that option. With such old technology, we haven't noticed any difference in reliability or quality among the various brands of floppy drive, so just get whatever's cheapest.