Buyer's Guide - Entry Level, January 2005

Optical and Floppy Drives

With the price of DVD recorders having dropped to under $70 even for the top performing 16X models, we don't see much point in recommending anything less than a DVD recorder as our primary optical drive. Sure, you could save up to $40 by going with a CD-RW, but in the long run, we suggest that you bite the bullet and pick up a DVD+RW instead. 8X DVD+R models might shave off up to $10, if you really want to cut costs by small amounts. The difference in burning speed between 8X and 16X drives is still relatively small due to the lack of 16X media, but that is improving slowly.

 

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Optical Drive Recommendation: NEC-3500A/3520A 16X DVD+RW
Price: $65 shipped

The winner of the 16X DVD burners in our last roundup, the NEC 3500A, is also one of the cheapest 16X drives on the market. A newer revision, the 3520A, has also shown up, although that appears to be mostly a BIOS update to the 3500A. We would probably spend the extra couple dollars for the latest revision, but depending on where you shop, you may or may not be able to find it easily. In terms of features, the NEC drives offer about as much as it is possible to cram into an optical drive. Dual-layer DVD+R is available at 4X speeds, DVD+R as well as DVD-R support 16X burn speeds - although especially in the case of the latter, finding media that supports that speed is nearly impossible right now - and the +RW can burn at 8X while the - RW can burn at 6X. The only option really missing is DVD-RAM support, and considering how few people actually use that, we don't feel that it's a major omission. Other decent drives exist, but none can really match the overall price and versatility of the NEC 16X models. Remember to match the drive to the color of your case, of course - an attractive black case won't look good with a beige drive and vice versa. You can also find replacement drive bezels on the Internet, so an aluminum bezel to match your case is also an option.

Floppy Drive Recommendation: 3.5" Floppy Drive
Price: $8 shipped

It's not really required, but for BIOS updates and SATA driver installs as well as the occasional quick and dirty transfer of files, the floppy still has some uses. Flash memory sticks are much more convenient for transferring data between computers, but on most computer systems, it is not possible to use a flash drive in place of a floppy drive for BIOS updates or during the Windows Setup program. You don't have to include a floppy drive, but for the small cost associated with it, we would prefer to keep it around "just in case". As with the optical drive, remember to match the floppy to the color of your case.