Photograph by: Rick RiznerLite-On 40x12x48At $75, the Lite-On 40x12x48 CD-RW is the
least-expensive drive on our chart by $20. And its fast for the money: In our
tests, this model wrote 650MB of files to CD-R on the fly in 3 minutes, 25
seconds. That's pretty quick, although Pacific Digital's front-running Mach 48
outdid the Lite-On 40x12x48 by a heady 51 seconds (or 24 percent).One setup poster and a tiny pamphlet make up
the printed documentation for this drive. The pamphlet does provide the
basics--how to install the drive--but that's it. The bundled CD-ROM includes
some basic troubleshooting guidance, but we'd prefer to have this information
on paper in case you can't access the drive.Lite-On says the drive supports the Mount
Rainier specification. According to the
Mount Rainier
site, this standard is supposed to enable "native [operating
system] support of data storage on CD-RW," thus eliminating the need to install
hardware drivers and CD-burning programs, like those from Roxio and Nero, for
you to be able to drag and drop files. However, Windows XP doesn't support it,
though Microsoft does plan to add it to the next full upgrade of
Windows.Fairly fast and quite inexpensive, this drive is a
good choice for those who don't need hand-holding or technical
assistance.7540X/12X/48X, IDE, internal, 2MB buffer,
buffer underrun technology, Mount Rainier support, Ahead Nero Burning ROM 5.5
and InCD 3.2, one-year warranty, 9-hour weekday support (calls are not
toll-free).www.liteonit.com408/935-5353
