ND-3500A Dual Layer 16x DVD±RW Writer Internal ATA NEC $99.99 Click Here Sean Gibson - email

INTRODUCTION

Now that the Dual Layer 16x DVD±RW Drives have hit the market, everyone under the sun who loves their PC has been running to get one. Since the market is flooded with the promise of copying 8.5GB DVDs, it's important to get a drive that isn't "cheap in price" but something that is reliable, performance driven, and offers the total package that PC users should get.

NEC's latest offering for this arena is the ND-3500A and the first from the company to offer high-speed 16x DVD recording speeds. In addition, the drive also supports 4x Double Layer recording, as well as a very slick 48x CD-R writing. This drive allows users to record a one hour DVD video in approximately 4 minutes, and record up to 4 hours of video on a single 8.5GB disc.

key features / specs

The features of the unit:

• Access Time: 140 ms (DVD), 120 ms (CD)
• Buffer Size: 2MB
• Compatibility:
  MS-Windows 98 / NT4.0 / ME / 2000 / XP
• ATAPI/ E-IDE Half-Height internal DVD+R / DVD+RW / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+R9/ DVD-ROM / CD-R/ CD-RW / CD-ROM combination drive
• Support: 16x/4x/16x DVD+RW, 16x/4x/16x DVD-RW, 4x DVD+R DL, 48x/24x/48x CD-RW
• Methods: DAO (disc at once), SAO (session at once), TAO (track at once), variable or fixed packet, multisession
• Weight: 1.0 Kg

The access time is very impressive and the lowest (that's better) in the class that NextGen has seen to date. The buffer size is the industry standard 2MB, and the wide range of support for both DVD and CD writing technologies is also impressive - and exactly what you want when shopping for a drive.

installation

For those of you that have installed a CD or DVD RW drive into your computer you know how easy it is and how little hassle there is involved with the process. With modern BIOS technologies being what they are, there's no need to mess with it as it will automatically detect the burner and Windows XP will do the same.

Performance

I compared the drive to a Pioneer 4X Single Layer DVD burner and the LiteOn 16x DVD±RW drive. The results came from Nero ...

DVD RESULTS:

CD RESULTS:

The ending transfer rates for both CD and DVDs were rated highest with the NEC drive. The NEC ND-3500A held up well and led in some ore most categories for both CD and DVD tests. The performance rating for the drive gets excellent marks.

Overall Impressions

With an MSRP of $99.99, and being able to find it well below that on sites like PriceGrabber.com, the NEC ND-3500A 16x Dual Layer DVD burner is an excellent product and definitely deserves to be strongly considered for your next CD/DVD burning solution. The performance of the drive was pretty impressive, and outperformed the other drives we tested against in some key areas - such as the "final" transfer rates, and the CPU usage. The drive burns 8.5GB DVDs, which is enough to put 4 hours of digital video, or your entire collection of "files" (whatever they might be).

The value of the drive is tremendous, since it's very difficult to find more for this kind of street price. The model comes in both beige and in black, so chances are it'll fit in nicely with whatever type of case you have. For those of you with small form factor PCs, this is a perfect drive to have as the solo CD/DVD solution since it does it all.

The coolness factor gets a very high score, since the drive performed so well, and being able to copy a full dual layered DVD (at 8.5GB) is an amazing thing to have - whether you're backing up all your critical files, burning a home movie, or just copying one given to you.

Since this drive is so highly useful and should last you many years since it offers up such amazing speeds for both CD and DVD burning, the drive gets a very impressive overall score and comes highly recommended for your upgrading dollar.

9 / 10 OVERALL SCORE 94% 9 / 10 10 / 10 10 / 10 9 / 10 9.4 / 10