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The Plextor name is synonymous with high-quality optical drives, and if money was no object the chances are that everyone at the TrustedReviews office would have one in their PC.

However, for everyone, money is most definitely an object and how much something costs can have a big impact on our buying decisions.

It’s not just Plextor’s reputation for producing great drives that makes the PX 708A expensive, it’s also the fact that it’s a more advanced product than most of the other units on test. What sets the Plextor apart from the competition is its ability to write DVD+R media at a staggering eight-speed. Unfortunately there is no eight-speed media available at the moment, but that didn’t stop the Plextor impressing us. Using the four-speed media supplied by Verbatim, the Plextor still managed to write at eight-speed, turning in a staggering time of eight minutes 49 seconds for the 4.3GB MPEG-2 file. That’s a whole four and a half minutes quicker than the next fastest drive.

The 4.5GB of mixed files only proved to be about a minute faster than the nearest competitor, but you have to remember that this is using media only rated at four-speed. The Plextor was also considerably faster than the competition when writing to CD media. With rated speeds of 40-speed for CD-R and 24-speed for CD-RW, the Plextor definitely lives up to its specifications.

Talking of specifications the PX-708A will write DVD+R at eight-speed, DVD+RW at four-speed, DVD-R at four-speed and DVD-RW at two-speed. You also get 12-speed DVD-ROM reading and 40-speed CD-ROM reading.

In the world of bland looking optical drives, the Plextor does manage to look a little different. The disc tray sports a slim line of shiny black acrylic that runs along its width. It doesn’t look as good as the Sony, but at least some effort has been made to differentiate it. The fascia sports logos for the DVD+RW, DVD-RW and CD-RW formats.

Plextor has also included a headphone socket and volume dial on the fascia which most other manufacturers seem to have omitted. It’s true that most users ill have their speakers or headphones connected to their soundcard, but it’s nice to have the option of a direct headphone output especially with a hardware volume control. Finishing off the front fascia is a status light, the eject button and a manual eject hole.

In the box you’ll find everything you need to get the drive installed and running. There’s a IDE cable to connect it to your motherboard as well as a set of screws to secure it in your case. There’s even a manual eject tool, in case you can’t find a handy paper clip.

The software bundle is first rate with a copy of Nero 5 taking care of burning duties while InCD handles packet writing. Pinnacle Studio8SE should have you authoring DVDs in no time, while Cyberlink’s PowerDVD will enable you to watch them. Rounding the whole package off is a two-rear collect and return warranty.

Plextor has put together a superb package with the PX-708A and it’s only the LG with its DVD-RAM support that offers more functionality. That said the Plextor is seriously fast in most areas and if you want to spend the least time twiddling your thumbs it makes a strong argument for itself. However, all this speed and quality comes at a price, and it has to be said, quite a high price. At £195.93 the Plextor is the most expensive drive on test by quite a margin.

Verdict

There’s no denying that the Plextor is expensive, but it’s also an amazing DVD writer. If speed is paramount and you have the funds you won’t regret buying the PX-708A.

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