Testing:

White Face Plate and Manual

Nero Included

Installed in the HSPC

    Nero Burning ROM's CD-DVD Speed Tool seems to be the standard program used in benchmarking optical drives. In the real world, the user wants to know how fast an optical disc can be ripped and burned. These series of pictures show the Create speed of different optical discs; also, here is the information of the drive and its capabilities.

All the information on the drive from Nero Info Tool

Here for the CD-R disc the average write speed was 31.09X

Here for the DVD+R disc the average write speed was 11.05X

Here for the DVD+R DL disc the average write speed was 6.65X

Here is the basic setup for the LightScribe features; also, other LightScribe software is available for download at various sites.

Conclusion:

    As far as DVD optical drives go, the Asus DRW-2014L1T is right on par with a lot of the other drives in its class. The LightScribe is a bonus for those who like to label their discs. Most drive noise is created when the optical disc starts to wobble and vibrate. This vibration is transferred to the drive motor and tray, thus making the noise. The QuieTrack feature and Auto Vibration Reducing System seem to work really well, as the noise level from a spun up disc was low. FlextraLink™ prevents buffer under run problems caused by an empty data buffer, thereby eliminating the creation of CD-coasters. This technology is similar to, and seems to work as well as, other companies' buffer under run technologies.

    The drive performed great with little to no errors. There is a newer firmware available and I do suggest that you upgrade the firmware to Version 1.02, as this should clean up any issues you might find you have. The tests I performed were on a few select pieces of media and not the vast array out on the market. The Asus DRW-2014L1T is a solid, quiet performer that will work in anyone's everyday situation. I would like to thank Asus for sending this item out for VH to review.

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