Thank You, CompUSA!!
Written: Aug 22 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great Price, 2MB Buffer, 6x Write, Easy to Install, Great Software Bundle
Cons: Not a Good Place to Put My Pop Tarts...
|
|
|
| RBradford's Full Review: Ricoh 6x4x24x CD-RW (7060) |
When I finally decided to buy a CD-R/RW drive, I never thought I would end up owning one that came in a red and white CompUSA box. What attracted me was the incredible price on this one compared to the others. In fact, the Ricoh-branded drive was substantially higher in price. However, being familiar with the concept of "Private Labeling", I flipped the CompUSA box over to see who actually made the product. I was curious since CompUSA, after all, is just a vendor and not a manufacturer. To my surprise, the drive was made by Ricoh, model 7060A.
Having read the reviews about this particular drive, and seeing a price tag of only $149.00, I bought it (hoping that it really was the same as the one with the Ricoh label). As it turned out, the only difference was the outside of the box. I received all of the same hardware and software as in the Ricoh-labeled retail box. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!!!
OK, now I had a 6x4x24 CD-R/RW drive at a bargain price, but would it perform? To put it simply, Like a Dream!...
The drive comes with a 2MB buffer, which seems to keep it from suffering any "buffer underruns". All this means is that enough data is loaded from a CD-ROM into the buffer so that the computer gets a constant stream of information. You don't have that annoying "hiccup" while your computer waits on the drive to shoot it more data.
It writes at 6x speed, rewrites at 4x speed, and plays CDs at 24x. Not the fastest, but certainly adequate for the normal user. The speed is also adjustable, in case you want to record in a slower mode should you have any problems with data integrity at the higher rates. You can also record a track at a time, or copy an entire CD, both equally easy.
Setup was almost too easy. Install the drive, plug in the power, connect the audio cable and IDE cable, boot up. Literally, no problems at all. I can't remember the last time I had such an easy installation.
The bundled software that came with my drive was the Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4, which is a breeze to operate for making either data or music CDs. It also contains Direct CD, a utility that allows you to write to a CD just like you would a floppy or hard drive. Drag and drop files and they get written to the CD, it's that easy. It also prompts you upon ejection of the CD as to whether or not you want to make the disc readable in all standard drives or keep it "as is" to add more data later. The basic version of Adaptec's software is awesome, but for added functionality I recommend the Deluxe version as an upgrade (also reviewed here on Epinions.com).
Overall, the drive is quiet and dependable. It spins up quickly, so no lag time waiting for the disc to get to a certain speed. Reading and writing CDs is easy and almost always error-free. The only coasters I've produced have been my fault, but luckily they don't cost much. This is my first Ricoh product (even though it came in a CompUSA box), but it will definitely not be my last. And CompUSA, thanks for the discount!
I highly recommend the Ricoh 6x4x24x CD-RW (7060).
And if you want an even better price, see if you can find it at CompUSA in their own private label! They sell hard drives the same way, usually made by Maxtor, as well as a number of other products. Just look on the back for the manufacturer.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
RBradford
|
|
Location: Dallas, TX
Reviews written: 109
Trusted by: 32 members
About Me:
I'm a Computer Hardware, Software, and Gadget Junkie.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.