LITE-ON LDW-851S DVD±R/RW Review

Matthew Hirsch reviews LITE-ON’s LDW-851S DVD burner giving it a 94 point score and an Envy News Value Award:

LITE-ON IT, in its latest attempt at optical drive perfection have re-introduced their 8X4X/4X2X DVD±R/RW with different optics. This new drive carries the incremental model number of LDW-851S as opposed to the LDW-811S of the older version. Some say these new optics were introduced because their old supplier couldn’t keep up with LITE-ON’s production, other are speculating that these new optics will usher in their newer line which will burn 8x on BOTH DVD+R and DVD-R instead of just 8x for DVD+Rs. This will make many people in the DVD-R camp extremely happy as the DVD burning enthusiasts consider DVD-R the superior media form.

..Its price / performance ratio is excellent for a dual-mode burner and it has everything going for it minus the high CPU usage at high-speed readings. Even though nearly all DVD drives tax the CPU, 100% usage at higher speeds is just a little more than we’d like to see. CPU usage aside, it didn’t seem to hamper any of the quality of burning nor reading of any media and its seek times and burst rate are top-notch. It is ultra quiet while running, and I only heard it during CD-R burns, and it was still much more quiet than my LG CD-R/RW burner. The only thing I’d like to see is Mount Rainier capability (which should show up in a future firmware release), drag and drop is just too easy to pass up. The LITE-ON LDW-851S DVD±R/RW burner continues the LITE-ON tradition of a good performing optical drive at a great price. Because of this, it is good enough for a recommendation from Envy News.

LITE-ON LDW-851S DVD±R/RW @ Envy News