Date: April 17th, 2004
Article by: Roger (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor)
Product was donated by: Plextor

Shop for the Plextor PX-708UF 8X DVD Burner Here---->

CORPORATE PROFILE

Plextor Corp. sell high performance CD and DVD related equipment through retail, leading distributors and world class OEMs in North and South America. Since opening our Silicon Valley headquarters in 1990, we have introduced multiple generations of CD-ROM, CD-R , CD-RW, CD-RW/DVD-ROM and DVD+R/RW CD-RW drives - innovative, award-winning drives and solutions. And that leadership will continue as we expand our family, exploring new technology and new designs to meet and exceed users' ever-evolving needs.

Our parent corporation, Shinano Kenshi Co., Ltd., a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced technology hardware and precision electronic equipment privately owns the company. Shinano Kenshi is best known for its expertise in motor manufacturing.

PRODUCT INTRODUCTION

Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing Plextor's PX-504UF External Firewire/USB DVD+R/RW. I was quite please with the unit and only found a few issues with its overall performance.

Today, I will be reviewing the PX-504UF's big brother, the PX-708UF. The PX-708UF is a carbon-copy of its predecessor in terms of connectivity and style. The unit can connect either via a USB 2.0 port (480 megabits per second) or a Firewire port (400 megabits per second). It can also connect to USB 1.1 but at 12 megabits per second, that is not suggested.

External units are always more expensive than their internal counterparts, however there is a very good reason for that. The convenience of being able to take the unit with you to other systems without having to crack a single case open is fantastic. Plus, cases become full very fast, and some people may not have an open 5.25" bay for a new device. With USB or Firewire, that's not a problem.

In terms of performance, the PX-708UF takes a fairly big leap forward by supporting 8 different formats (8X DVD+R, 4X DVD-R, 4X DVD+RW, 2X DVD-RW, 12X DVD-ROM, 40X CD-R, 24X CD-RW AND 40X CD-ROM).

I used Nero's InfoTool to gather the following information. As you can see, this unit has a fast 8X DVD+R write speed. This is especially useful if you are backing up quite a few movies. As a father of four, I can't tell you how many times I've seen my nice dual-layer DVDs laying around out of their cases. Apparently cases are just a nuisance to 7 year olds.

Read/write access is fast on the PX-708UF (see specs and benchmarks on following pages). Also, Plextor's own PowerRec technology makes certain that you have stable burns using the device's 2MB internal buffer.

Let's check it out.