Techware Labs - Reviews - Plextor 48/24/48A CD-R/RW

Plextor 48/24/48A
Review by David R. Hedges on 11.21.2002

Product Provided by: Plextor
Retail Value: $159.00

Packaging and Accessories
Plextor has maintained a recognizable, classic packaging design since before their early CD burners, and it's worked well for them. The biggest revision I've seen to their packaging came with this model. Their standard foam end-braces for the drives have been replaced with an inflatable "pillow" to support the entire drive. While this should provide more cushon than the earlier foam ends, it has potential to be punctured by either an outside force or a corner of the drive when subjected to force. Although the likelyhood of this occuring is fairly low, the sample sent to Techware Labs did have a deflated support pillow, and was unsupported in the box. Despite this packaging failure, the drive was unharmed, which says something about the quality of Plextor's products.

Plextor hasn't modified its regular accessory package with the 48/24/48A, and like normal, Plextor has the accessories stored nicely in a separate box, inside the main package. Included with the drive is:

Quick Install Guide
User Guide
IDE Ribbon cable
Mounting screws
Emergency ejcect tool
Extra jumper
Software install cd
Blank CD-R

One accessory that might be missed by some is an audio cable to connect directly to a sound card. This won't interfere with audio playback, however, since digital CD audio can be used as an alternative method for playback. The software bundle has been changed slightly since previous revisions, and now includes: Roxio Easy CD Creator, Roxio DirectCD, Oak Technology SimpliCD, Stomp Click 'N Design 3d (trial), and Plextor Liquid Player+. While most veterans to CD burning will already have a preference for CD burning software, and will almost assuredly continue using that software, it's nice to see that some good software is being included for newcomers to CD burning. The software package will not be tested in this review, as it does not directly pertain to the CD burner. And while the emergency eject tool can generally be replaced with a paper clip, it's a nice addition, and can also be helpful in removing jumpers. Basically everything needed to set up the drive, short of a screwdriver and computer, is included in the package.

The Drive
Unlike some drives Plextor has released, the Plextor 48/24/48A is the size of most standard CD drives. (Some Plextor drives featured a rear exhaust fan and had a greater depth than most CD drives.) The drive conforms to Plextor's standard style. It features a flat, beige front bezel (an alternate model is available with a black front bezel), with fairly rectangular corners. Unlike many other comparable CD burners, the Plextor has only one indicator LED. Through a combination of different colors, and different blinking frequencies, the drive doesn't sacrifice functionality by removing the extra LED. Plextor has migrated from matching beige to a black volume dial (since the 40/12/40A), which isn't a big deal, but matches the headphone jack nicely ;-). Although it's completely unapparent from the outside, Plextor has also migrated to a black CD tray (along with the volume dial, beginning with the 40/12/40A).

The top of the drive has the normal informational sticker—nothing special. A notch for replacing the front bezel is also seen on the top of the drive. The back of the drive is arranged in a fairly standard configuration as well. As noted earlier, Plextor did away with the exhaust fan that was seen in earlier drives (at least the Plextor 24/10/40A). One addition to this drive that's different from earlier models is the additional jumper for manually enabling DMA, for backwards compatability with older systems.

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