A few days ago we presented you with our review of the external Plextor PX-W4012TU drive. Today we can find another review of the same drive over at our friends from CDRLabs.com:
 Plextor was one of the first companies to jump on the USB 2.0 bandwagon. Plextor was very aware of USB 1.1's shortcomings, as their first portable drive, the PX-S88TU, did not arrive until it could feature a USB 2.0 interface. Since then, Plextor has expanded their product line to include a variety of USB 2.0 drives, including a new external 40x writer called the PX-W4012TU. |
In this review we'll take a closer look at some of the features found on Plextor's new writer and then put it through its paces to see if it has performance to match. So how does Plextor's new writer stack up? Does the PX-W4012TU share the same level of performance as the internal version of the drive, or does the USB 2.0 interface hinder it in any way? Stay with us as we take the PX-W4012TU for a spin.
Part of the Conclusion:
If the PX-W4012TU was a movie, it would be getting two thumbs up from me. Plextor has proven once again that they know how to design a feature packed writer that not only performs well, but is easy to install and good looking too.
The drive performed pretty well in our tests. As a reader, the drive's seek times were a little higher than some other writers I've tested, but the transfer speeds were very good. In our tests the drive had no problems exceeding 40x with all types of media, including CD-RW discs. Like Plextor's other drives, the PX-W4012TU really excels when ripping audio CD's. In our tests it went head to head with Plextor's 24x writer but had problems in our scratched and dirty disc tests.
Lastly, you have the PX-W4012TU's features. The drive's most attractive feature is its USB 2.0 interface. This makes it very easy to install and its performance is impressive. Of course, you also have Plextor's VariRec technology. Along with the black tray and improved PCB, VariRec's ability to manually tweak the laser power is definitely a step in the right direction to improve audio quality. I was happy to see that the Roxio software finally supported this feature. This was long over due. The PX-W4012TU also has features like Sanyo's BURN-Proof coaster and Plextor's PoweRec II technology, which worked pretty well in our tests.
Overall this Plextor drive gets the maximum score of 10 points. If you've read our review of the drive you will known we fully agreed with this. To read CDRLabs' full review click here. To discuss Plextor drives please check out our Plextor Forum.
CDRLabs.com also discovered an interesting detail just as we did on this thread on our forum. Unlike its internal brother, the PX-W4012A, the external PX-W4012TU can write audio and in DAO-RAW at full speed. The PX-W4012A is limited to 24X recording..
Source: CDRLabs.com
