SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model SH-S223Q LightScribe Support - OEM

Pros: Fairly quiet, which is extremely important to me. Read/write CD, newegg just didn't list it as part of the spec. Lightscribe, > have not tested.

Cons: Clunky tray ejection. Might be a problem later on.

Overall Review: I never care much for DVD drive but i've built and overclocked many systems. This drive is by far the quietest to my ears. I think it came out in April, 2008, so it's fairly new tech from Samsung. I would've rated it a 5 had the tray's ejection been smoother, but as it is, it's not perfect.

Pros: I didn't expect this drive to come with anything but it did come with a CD with Nero 8 Essentials on it and a firmware update utility from Samsung. The price was eggcelent and the drive was shipped wrapped in bubble wrap in a box with plenty of peanuts.

Cons: The firmware utility is the only way to update this drive to SB03 (mine came shipped with SB02) because the downloadable rom on Samsung's site is corrupt and won't write to the drive. The utility sets itself up to run in the background taking up memory space and possibly conflicting with other programs and there is absolutely no need for this. E-Mail sign ups with a manufacturer is the best way to be notified of new drivers/firmare for products. HP pioneered this I wonder what happened. Too many apps are setting themselves up to reside in your memory on startup these days and almost NONE of them are absolutely required to run 24/7. Samsungs support site and download speed are slow and somewhat unresponsive at times. Writing a few DVD+Rs I see the actual write speed on 16x Sony media is more like 6x to 14 times with the bulk of the write time under 10x (Mostly data files and app exe's, zero audio or video).

Overall Review: Software that wants to run in memory 24/7 in the background for absolutely no good reason infuriates me to no end- especially the ones that you can't configure to not run in the background without some blind registry editing on most versions of Windows. This is why this drive gets four eggs instead of five even though its performance is acceptable. Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 and Windows XP Home SP3 do not recognize a DVD/RW that has been erased by Nero 8 Essentials as having been erased but all is fine once you quick erase it using Windows.

Pros: Affordable, quiet, and fast.

Cons: Everything I put in runs fine but a couple games that I put in (brand new and clean) would just crash my system when the drive tried to read them. It might be a problem with the driver. I just use my other drive for the few things it refuses to read.

Overall Review: The lightscribe is great, but not as dark as I expected on "best" quality.

Pros: Easy to install and pretty quiet. The Lightscribe works. Comes with Nero 8 Start Smart.

Cons: Well it is OEM so don't expect a fancy package - it's wrapped in bubble wrap. Also, no SATA data cable.

Overall Review: Make sure your power supply has SATA power cables, if not purchase a SATA adapter for the Molex power supply cable. Also make sure that your SATA data cable is long enough to connect the dvd/cd drive to the motherboard, and visa-versa. 8 to 12" should be sufficient.

Pros: - Overall, it works as advertised - Lightscrive is idenitcal in quality to all modern drives I've used (including other Samsung and LG models). - Drive is nice and shallow. It doesn't stick into the chassis very far, which is great for small PC builds. - Reads all types of media I've tried with it so far, including media with various types of dye from different manufacturers.

Cons: - Maximum advertised speed may not be easy to achieve due to lack of high speed media. This isn't a fault of the drive. Also, one may always try to burn media at a higher speed than rated. - Since it's an OEM unit, it doesn't include either a SATA data cable or power adaptor. Just make sure you are aware of this when purchasing the drive.

Overall Review: - It ships with some outdated Nero software. It isn't really a pro or a con, since it balances out in that it's an OEM drive so even if it ships with outdated software, it's probably better than nothing. That said, I never bothered to install it when I saw the version. - Newegg packaged one of my drives such that a little piece of styrofoam got into it the recess where the drive door opens. Seriously, take an extra second and make sure the plastic is folded over if you don't want to spend the extra penny on a little piece of tape. - Although I've had some issues with their hard drives, Samsung seems to make solid optical drives (and televisions). I'd buy them again if I needed to replace them right now. But, as with most of this stuff, what's great today isn't the best a year from now. Do your research when you intend to buy.

Pros: Just installed it - immediately recognized in Vista 64 with no extra drivers required. Played a music CD and movie DVD. Expected a bare drive and no software - got a bare drive with Samsung DVD Writer: Drive user manual (17 Lang) Nero Express 7 Essentials InCD Essentials Nero Vision Essentials Nero BackItUp Essentials Nero Showtime Essentials Nero Recode Essentials LightScribe

Cons: I'll update this if I run into any reliability problems - none so far.

Overall Review: Software was not pictured in the web site photos

Pros: Great drive - installed and setup in minutes. XP recognized it on startup and Nero and PowerISO worked perfectly.

Cons: This is an OEM drive, which means no LightScribe software comes with it, just download it from LightScribe.com for free.

Overall Review: Make sure you have a SATA power connector and SATA data cable available ........or get them from NewEgg at the same time you order the drive!.

Pros: Worked right out of the box, no issues at all. Comes with Nero & lightscribe. So far no coaster in any of my Samsung, that's an incredible record! I have installed them in a number of motherboards and have never encounter an issue with computability like I have with some of my old Lite-ons.

Cons: This is not a con, but I wish it had a 4 pin molex connector. Most Power Supplies have more molex connectors than SATA and it helps to have a choice. Not really a big deal but it could possibly make an installation easier given the right situation.

Overall Review: This is the 5TH Samsung DVD burner in our home, 2 EIDE and 3 SATA. All still working like champs. I love how easy it is to flash these with the provided software.