And again a new review from the guys from CDRLabs.com. This time they've reviewed the Artec WRA-WA48. A drive that can write discs at 32x, re-write them at 12x and read them at a maximum speed of 48x:
Part of the Conclusion:
I have to confess that this drive was really a pleasant surprised. I have had some bad experiences with drives based on Ricoh electronics before, and when I saw the unbranded v1.00 firmware I did not have the most optimistic outlook going into this review. Well I have to say Artec's WRA-WA48 blew away my expectations. Here is a drive which undercuts most of the competition by quite a bit, and yet it holds its own with the best of them. Its read and write speeds are superb, as are its access times (something which is usually overlooked with budget units). It has all the features you'd expect from a more expensive 32x drive and most importantly, it writes to a high standard with a large range of media.
Pros:
- One of the fastest 32x writers available
- Writes to a wide range of media at full-speed, usually without problems.
- Very fast DAE times
- Very fast CD-RW reading
- Good access times
- Large selection of writing speeds
- Rewrites at 12x
- Very cheap (around $70 in the UK)
- Well built
- Handles 90+ minute media with ease
- Can handle audio protections
Cons:
- Occasional problems with some media types, mainly the obscure ones.
- No manual or blank media included
- Lack of support
- Cannot write EFM correctly
- Not the best with scratched discs
The Artec WRA-WA48 gets an overall score of 9. Interested in reading the complete review? You can check it out here.
Source: CDRLabs.com
