Testing
After running the LITE-ON eNAU608 and eNAU108 through our drive speed benchmark on both a single layer DVD and a Dual Layer DVD, the results were on par with any other typical drive. For the single layer benchmark, I used a 3GB copy of Windows 7 professional. Despite the fact that 3GB is not not the max of a single layered DVD, the drive came close to running at full speed, clocking in at 7.09x (whereas 8x is the max speed of the drive).
For the dual layer read test I used a retail copy of Mac OSX Snow Leopard which is 7.54 GB in size. The maximum speed for the DL DVDs according to the factory is 6x. The result of this test was 4x for the 7.54 GB run. Higher throughput will be achieved if for higher capacities as the split between 1st and 2nd layer would have been different.
Conclusion
LITE-ON eNAU608 delivers performance on par with similar drives on the market. Similar drives, however, can be found on the net for around $35 the cheapest we were able to find the eNAU608 for at the time of publication for is $47. This means the yes, there are cheaper options are available so what you essentially paying for is looks. The USB cables could also be longer as the secondary power cable is actually longer than the main cable. If the looks are not as important to you as saving a couple of bucks, the I suggest going for the eNAU108 which is a cheaper, equal performing, non adjustable version.
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