Pros: Sleek black faceplate, QUIET, amazing burn speeds, fantastic price for what this thing does!

Cons: Absolutely none.

Overall Review: The fact that this burner is so cheap may make some people shy away from it, thinking that the price reflects the quality. Well, I'm here to tell you NOT TO PASS THIS DEAL UP! Bundled with Nero Express, this burner is the absolute best deal you will find out there. This burned an iTunes CD (20 tracks) in 1 minute. A MINUTE. It burned a small disc image I created in 3 seconds. This burner alone merits the price, but the fact that it is bundled with a burning suite makes it all the better. I will be putting this in every system I create now! 5 eggs for Samsung!

Pros: Fast (18x), cheap, DVD RAM, quiet (but with reduced speed)

Cons: Did not work with Phillips 8X +R discs, quiet mode is default

Overall Review: When I tested this for the first time it only burned at a painfully slow 1x. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. I checked the cable, firmware, etc. It turns out that when this drive doesn't recognize a disk it (and some information on the blank disk is missing) it burns at 1X. But my old drive (external Plextor) could burn the same disks at 8x most of the time. I bought some Verbatim 16x disks and they work perfectly at 18x. It will also burn Optodisc +RW disks (garbage, btw) that my old drive couldn't. I'm using firmware version 4. Be sure to use the Magicspeed utility to unlock normal read speeds. I've learned my lesson about using cheap media.

Pros: See below

Cons: See below

Overall Review: I wanted to add this to my previous review below. Make sure that you understand how their "Magicspeed" Technology works. Your drive will run in "silence mode" which keeps disc RPM down to keep sound levels quiet. In order to get max read performance from this drive, make sure you download their program from the samsung website to enable the "max speed" option. This option is also built into the firmware, so it's "set it and forget it". I just wanted to add that, because upon reading the manual, i dont think many people who purchased this drive were aware of this feature.

Pros: Drive has software to firmware flash this drive automatically as new firmware is released. The drive is extremely quiet compared to my lite-on cd and dvd drives. My drive was manufactured in May 2006 and had the initial firmware release on it. I updated it to the newest version and burned a 16x TDK DVD+R with Nero 7 Ultra perfectly on the first try at 16x.

Cons: The drive tray is flimsy, its plastic and it moves up and down easily while it is ejected. Samsung software has horrible "english" menus and prompts, nothing any semi-intelligent person can't figure out.

Overall Review: The person below who stated that this drive would not read any disks he put in it probably had a defective drive since it's not likely that 3 out of 3 disks from different makers are all consecutively bad. Before giving it a zero rating, get a working drive and update the firmware before test writing cds and dvds.

Pros: Updating the Firmware was a snap and this OEM bundle came with Nero which is very Good. Very Short length drive so fits nice in a case with limited room.

Cons: While the drive claims to be able to burn at 18X I was only able to burn at 8X. I used NeroTool to run Diagnostic on it and it said the the drive could only burn at 8X. I upgraded the firmware and tried burning a movie and it took 14minutes but reported burning at 16X!!! This using MEMOREX DVDR+ 16X discs. Maybe I just got a defective one (it happens), but I think I will just try another drive just the same.

Overall Review: I hate to rate a drive based off one experience but that was what happened to me. I really liked how easy it was to upgrade firmware and the NERO bundle was nice too but I can't handle it burning at 8X while its suppose to burn at 18X.

Pros: Burns @ 18X on good media, Low errors, Ultraquiet, Better priced and better quality than other $90+ drives. AntiError/scratched DVD recovery technologies unbeatable

Cons: Not a lightscriber, but then there is always the 162L.

Overall Review: AGAIN NEW EGG ROCKS! Ordered Monday got Tuesday! Have never recieved bad or defective products in 5 years! Comes with Nero 6. Be Sure to flash your firmware from SB00 to SB02 just for more compatability. For 18x DVD+R speed use Verb.... 16x or 16x Tai.. Yud.. media.

Pros: fast, quiet, high quality, inexpensive, everything it promised. Within receiving this unit, I burned 40 multi-session CDs and 54 (small, <1GB) DVDs without a single coast, on old, cheap DVDs as well as new Verbatim DVDs.

Cons: none

Pros: I used to build boxes with the other brand. Not any longer. This Samsung reads less than perfect DVDs that the N**3550 can't... I have tried both with the same DVDs. This writes beautifully to Verbatim #94852 DVDs that Newegg sells. I use Nero 6.6.

Cons: None

Overall Review: FYI: This is a Samsung/Toshiba unit. I like that this unit is a litle shorter in the back than what I'm used to.