In-Coder Slim Metal Combo Drive
24X-R / 10X-RW / 24X-RW / 8X-DVD
Reviewed by Shadrach 7.21.2003

How it works:

Take a laptop CD drive, surround it with a case, figure out how to get it some power and communication and you have a portable CD combo drive. A man, however,  can not live on bread alone. Well, this drive is a four course meal!  The casing bleeds style, most of the parts are chromed.  What is not chromed has a nice glossy grey powder coat. The USB and FireWire cables are covered with braided mesh and finished with a clear soft plastic.

So it's Perfect?

Well, not exactly. Newton showed us that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The same holds true for personal preferences. The ease of dropping a CD on an gear driven tray versus manually pulling the tray out and "snapping" a CD securely in place could keep some people on the less than perfect side of the battle. Purely a preference, but isn't that the basis of marketing? The Incoder drive is a handy addition to the mobility concept, but there is a downside to this freedom.  Once you hit the eject button, the tray pops.  Extending the tray is up to you. Likewise, inserting the CD requires some effort.  The CD is held in place by a common snap in spindle that is found in all laptop drives. This is a tried and true solution to holding the disk in place. As previously stated, what you gain in mobility, you pay for in effort.

Software Bundle

 The package includes:

• Nero 5 Burning ROM
• Intervideo WinDVD 4
• 2 blank media CDs (1 CDR, 1 CDRW)