Three optical combo drives comparison from X-Bit Labs

Once again we return to the discussion of combo optical drives. Someone may think the subject is hackneyed and rather obsolete, since DVD-recorders now rule the market, but undemanding users who do not want to spend a hundred bucks for an optical drive may find a combo the most optimal choice. Even with all the disadvantages of this class of devices, you can find a worthy sample that would match the best CD-RW drives as well as DVD-ROM drives. It is to find such pearls among the crowd of available products that we keep on doing our tests.

The ranks of the manufacturers involved into production of optical combos are getting ever thinner, but the companies who do stay in the field have now more elbowroom. Today, I will discuss three new models from two manufacturers. The first of them, AOpen Inc., is active in every segment of the optical drive market and continues rolling out new combo models, too. The second manufacturer is Samsung, and I guess it needs no recommendations. This company may be better in some spheres and worse in others, but it always puts much effort into expanding and conquering new markets.