It's been a while since I've taken a look at a Plextor DVD±RW drive, so I was kind of interested in looking at their new Slot-Load DVD±RW drive when it was released a few months ago. Things got behind here, so I haven't been able to evalute this unit until lately. Plextor has pushed the envelope with this product as it is the first half-height slot-load DVD±RW on the market. This may not be gravy for everyone as this drive cannot use 3.5" 'mini' DVD's or CD's. If you don't use those, or don't intend to - read on, as this drive has some pretty nifty features.

This drive is not the fastest drive on the market today, but it comes darn close. It can read and write DVD's at 16x, write DVD+RW's at 8x and DVD-RW's at 4x. It can also read and write CD-R's at 48x and write CD-RW's at a speedy 24x. It can also handle you Dual Layer DVD±R's at 6x. Plextor's "budget" PX-740A can actually write Dual Layer DVD±R's at 8x, but it lacks the professional features of this drive.