Samsung SM-308

Buying a PC peripheral that offers more than just one function is a good way to save money and space. It's one of the reasons why all-in-one printers, scanners and copiers are appearing on the shelves of your local computer shop.

Another good combination idea is to make a DVDRom drive that can also function as a CD-RW drive. As CD-RW and DVDRom drives are essentially very similar in shape and form, it makes sense to combine their functions into one compact case.

The main benefit of a DVDRom drive on a PC is that you can use it to watch DVD movies. You'll be able to use DVD-based software too, but there's little of this around.

We played a DVD movie on the SM-308 and, while it was smooth and jitter-free, that's more a test of the PC than the drive. Samsung states that the minimum specification for using the drive is a 266MHz Pentium II with 64Mb memory, which sounds fine, although we wouldn't like to vouch for the quality of the DVD playback on a system this lowly. With no burn-proofing to grease the wheels either, even CD creation could prove problematic.

It's not Samsung's fault but fitting any internal drive is a fiddly affair that requires you to delve into the murky innards of your computer. The instructions were adequate but absolute novices might want to try simpler upgrades first. We were a little bit concerned that the disc tray seemed a bit shaky and clattered alarmingly when it was in use.

If you intend watching films on your PC, a video card with TV-out socket would be a handy addition, as it will allow you to view them on your television, which is usually a far better option than using your PC monitor.

Our tests showed that the read, write and rewrite speeds all tallied with the published specifications. The Power DVD software supplied for film-watching is excellent and the presence of Easy CD Creator and Direct CD to control CD creation was very welcome, as both are excellent programs.

If you don't have room for a separate CD-RW and DVD drives, or would simply like to save money and upgrade to both at once, this is a solid buy.

Contact: Samsung UK
0800 521 652
www.samsungelectronics.co.uk

Also consider: LG-CED-8120B. CD-RW drives just don't come any cheaper than this. £80.

See also:

Waitec Megalus

A high-speed, burn-proof CD-RW drive for under £100. Bargain.  15 Feb 2002

Evesham Axis 1.4GHz

Evesham presents 1.4GHz of smoking games monster. Anyone for Quake 3?  12 Dec 2001

Plextor Plexwriter 24/10/40A

How does the veteran drive manufacturer's new offering stand up?  21 Nov 2001

Diamond Rio Volt SP100

A nifty CD and MP3 player rolled into one.  11 Oct 2001

LG CED-8120B.

Not the best-looking CD-RW drive around, but it's certainly one of the best  26 Jul 2001

Iomega Predator

A good external CD writer, if a little expensive.  28 Jun 2001

Freecom Traveller CD-RW Premium

A portable CD-RW drive for storage on the move.  14 Dec 2000

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!