It just works! (Teac CDW54E)

Member Name: pkendell

Product:	Teac CDW54E
Date:	17/04/01 (289 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, easy to use, good bundle

Disadvantages: Slow, ATAPI only, no S/PDIF

Sometimes it's great not being the leader. The Teac CD-W54E is far from being the hottest thing in CD rewriters. But what it concedes in speed and features it makes up in other ways.

Lets consider what it offers.

OK, it's a 4*4*32 rewriter, so it can read CDs at a nominal (very nominal, as with just about every CD drive on the market) 32 times the base speed of 150 KB/s. It can write CDRs and CDRWs at 4 times 150 KB/s. It plugs into a regular ATAPI channel and supports DMA access under Windows 98 and Windows 2000.

And what's missing:

No BURN-proof technology. So if your PC can't keep its record buffer filled with data then that's it - you've got a coaster. This can happen for all kinds of reasons to do with MS operating systems' inability to manage real-time tasks. It's pretty slow, too - 16x drives are out there for when speed really matters. And there's no S/PDIF digital audio output, only analogue.

So, why should you buy one?

It's like this. This drive is so far behind the leading edge that it is both cheap - I paid £70 + VAT for mine - and reliable. I would argue that a relatively modern (up to 2 years old) PC will have no trouble keeping up with a 4x writer, making BURN-proof technology irrelevant. It comes with Nero 5 CD authoring software which in many people's opinion is one of the best packages available but also works with other CD authoring and copying apps such as CloneCD.

In other words, it's your bog-standard, mature technology product with wide compatibility, a good software bundle and a great price. You really only have to look elsewhere or spend more if you want more speed, need SCSI or prefer alternative CD authoring software.

Summary: