Plextor PX-504A DVD+R/RW CD-R/RW

For many years now, Plextor has maintained its reputation of having high quality and top performing optical drives. After receiving many awards for its CD-RW drives, Plextor has decided to enter the DVD recording market with a DVD+R/+RW drive. The PX-504A offers much more than just DVD recording abilities though. It's actually a 6-in-1 drive, offering the following functions: 4x DVD+R, 2.4x DVD+RW, 12x DVD-ROM, 16x CD-R, 10x CD-RW, 40x max CD-ROM. Pretty much everything you need is there, eh? Only thing missing is DVD-R/-RW and DVD-RAM.

Here's a little blurb from Plextor about the PX-504A:

The Plextor PX-504A delivers blazing-fast 4X DVD+R writing and 2.4X DVD+RW and 12X DVD-ROM read speeds. In addition to recording, rewriting and read DVD discs at multiple speeds, it also supports 16X CD-R write, 10X CD-RW rewrite and 40X CD-ROM read. Create a 4.7 GB disc on DVD media in less than fifteen minutes for work and play. The Plextor PX-504A will deliver top performance no matter how you spend your time, project after project, year after year.

Features & Specs:

• Part # (retail kit): PX-504A/SW (internal), PX-504A/SW-BL (black bezel)
• 6-in-1 drive: 4X DVD+R, 2.4X DVD+RW, 12X DVD-ROM, 16X CD-R, 10X CD-RW, 40X max CD-ROM
• Buffer Under Run Proof technology prevents errors in CD-R/RW writing
• Lossless Linking prevents errors in DVD writing
• High capacity - Holds 4.7 GB of storage on DVD media
• 120ms Average CD Random Access
• 140ms Average DVD Random Access
• 2 MB Buffer
• Black tray minimizes jitters
• Flash ROM allows for easy upgrade over the Internet
• Supports DVD+RW background format
• Useable DVD Formats: DVD-ROM, DVD Video, Multi Border (closed disc read only), multi session
• Useable CD Formats: CD-DA; CD-ROM Mode 1; CD-ROM Mode 2; CD-ROM XA, CD-I; Photo CD; Video CD; CD-Extra; CD Text; Multi-session, UDF
• Recording DVD+R/RW Modes: Sequential write, Random access write and Disc-at-one
• Recording CD-R/RW Modes: Track-at-once, Disc-at-once, Session-at-once, Multi-session, Fixed and Variable Packet Writing
• Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP Compatible
• One-Year Full Warranty and Unlimited Toll-Free Tech Support
• For more detailed specs, go here

I'm listing these mostly for you to note Plextor's recommended processor speed -- Pentium 4 1.6GHz or equivalent! Minimum requirement is a PIII 800MHz or equivalent, which didn't surprise me, but I found the suggested processor kind of surprising. (By the way, it performed just fine with the 1.2GHz AMD processor I was using.)

Minimum System Requirements:

• CPU: Pentium III 800 MHz or equivalent (minimum)
• CPU: Pentium 4 1.6 GHz or equivalent (suggested)
• RAM: 128MB
• HDD: 800MB-1GB free space for copying CD to CD image
• HDD: 6GB-10GB free space for DVD authoring
• Monitor display resolution: 1024 X 768 16-bit color (requires a graphics card with minimum 16MB of memory)

Retail Box Contents:

• PX-504A drive
• Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 DVD Edition
• Roxio PhotoSuite 5 SE
• PowerDVD by CyberLink
• Dantz Retrospect
• 1 Verbatim blank CD-R
• 1 Verbatim blank DVD+R
• Drive manual
• Quick Start Guide
• IDE cable
• Mounting screws
• Emergency eject pin

Plextor PX-504A (click thumbnail for bigger pic)