Sazar
Rest In Peace
- Joined
- 12 Apr 2002
- Messages
- 14,905
I received a gift certificate from Best Buy after buying a washer/dryer set from there and was pondering getting a new wifi setup or something else.
I had been lacking an internal DVD burner and seeing as there are new wifi technologies on the horizon I decided to go with a burner.
There were 2 I had in mind, a Plextor and a Sony. The Plextor unfortunately was a lot more expensive and out of my price range, so it came down to the Sony.
The DRU-800A has a nice look and an excellent software package so I grabbed it.
Here is a link to the product from the Sony site. Also this review will be a little shorter than my others because its just a drive.
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=DRU800A&Dept=computers&CategoryName=cpu_Sony_PCAccessories_CD%2fDVDBurn_DVDBurners
The Product
As I said, it is an extremely neutral color and if someone buys it and has a dark or black case, there is an enclosed black bezel. A nice touch.
Installing was a breeze since I figured out how to remove the front panel of my case now. It's a simple tug on the bottom of the case and presto, it comes loose. All I had to do then was to install the rails for the burner and voila, it was ready to go.
No software installation was necessary for the system to boot up. Once I had booted up, I installed the massive included software suite from Nero and I was ready to go.
The Pro's/Con's and Rating
The installation of the product was straightforward and I liked the included components such as the extra black bezel, screws, cable and software. The drive is also extremely well packaged in the retail box, a real treat. Sony really earns its reputation here.
The pro's and con's are straightforward so I'm just going to list them.
Pro's
Con's
Final rating
I gave the product a 3.5/5 OSNN star rating. A good product for the price, there are probably better items out there but I quite enjoyed the fact that I got it for free. The best part of the whole thing for me is the software package. That in itself makes up for much of the cost one might assess to this product.
I had been lacking an internal DVD burner and seeing as there are new wifi technologies on the horizon I decided to go with a burner.
There were 2 I had in mind, a Plextor and a Sony. The Plextor unfortunately was a lot more expensive and out of my price range, so it came down to the Sony.
The DRU-800A has a nice look and an excellent software package so I grabbed it.
Here is a link to the product from the Sony site. Also this review will be a little shorter than my others because its just a drive.
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=DRU800A&Dept=computers&CategoryName=cpu_Sony_PCAccessories_CD%2fDVDBurn_DVDBurners
The Product
As I said, it is an extremely neutral color and if someone buys it and has a dark or black case, there is an enclosed black bezel. A nice touch.
Installing was a breeze since I figured out how to remove the front panel of my case now. It's a simple tug on the bottom of the case and presto, it comes loose. All I had to do then was to install the rails for the burner and voila, it was ready to go.
No software installation was necessary for the system to boot up. Once I had booted up, I installed the massive included software suite from Nero and I was ready to go.
The Pro's/Con's and Rating
The installation of the product was straightforward and I liked the included components such as the extra black bezel, screws, cable and software. The drive is also extremely well packaged in the retail box, a real treat. Sony really earns its reputation here.
The pro's and con's are straightforward so I'm just going to list them.
Pro's
- Multiple color selections.
- Extremely fast performance for burning cd's and dvd's as well as playback.
- Lots of extra's included in the package.
- Exceptional Nero burning suite. Allows one to utilize the drive to the max.
- Reasonable price/performance ratio.
- "Free" after factoring in gift card
- A 10 song download card is provided free to get you started burning.
Con's
- Drive is not as quiet as I would have liked it to be.
- Decorative item on front bezel might prevent users of cases with custom drive covers from using them.
- If it is not secured properly, it generates a decent amount of vibrations (as I noticed to my chagrin, disappears after proper securing).
Final rating
I gave the product a 3.5/5 OSNN star rating. A good product for the price, there are probably better items out there but I quite enjoyed the fact that I got it for free. The best part of the whole thing for me is the software package. That in itself makes up for much of the cost one might assess to this product.
