NEW Reviews Beta Feedback

Cendyne 48X/12X/48X Enhanced-ide

-

Pending

Avg User Rating
5 User Reviews | add yours »

$29.95
From 1 Merchant

Cendyne 48X/12X/48X Enhanced-ide Review

by Melissa J. Perenson

Speedy performer with an average software bundle.

WHAT'S HOT: A high-flying performer, the CenDyne Lightning IV turned in impressive burn and read times on our battery of tests. It required 2 minutes, 37 seconds to write 650MB of files to CD-R (1 second faster than the Lite-On 48x12x48 we tested at the same time), and 1 minute, 8 seconds to write 100MB to CD-RW (tying the Lite-On's time). On our CD-ROM read speed tests, the drive needed 3 minutes, 5 seconds to install Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business Edition (disc one)--barely 3 percent longer than the leading drive. And the Lightning IV's digital audio extraction test results put it in a five-way tie for second place among the drives we've seen (just 1 second behind the leading drive).

Got a Hot Tip?

Seen news about this product? Send us a link.

WHAT'S NOT: Tech support calls are not toll-free.

WHAT ELSE: The CenDyne Lightning IV's generic manual is well illustrated and offers useful assistance for the most part, but we noticed a few outdated references (for example, it refers to Burn-Proof as the drive's buffer underrun protection, even though this model uses Smart-Burn). The drive comes with Ahead Nero Burning ROM 5.5 and InCD 3.27--the most common software bundled with CD-RW drives. CenDyne's one-year parts and labor warranty is typical, but the company is one of the few CD-RW vendors to offer Saturday support hours. CenDyne says this drive supports the Mount Rainier specification. The package includes both an IDE cable and a cable for connecting other audio sources to your sound card.

UPSHOT: A quick drive that includes a useful troubleshooting section for CD-RW neophytes.

SUMMARY

CenDyne Lightning IV 48x12x48 CD-RW LTR-48125W

48X/12X/48x, IDE, internal, 2MB buffer, audio and IDE cables; Mt. Rainier support, Ahead Nero Burning ROM 5.5 and InCD 3.27. One-year warranty; 12-hour weekday and 4-hour Saturday toll-call support.

$100
714/556-1020
www.cendyne.com

User Reviews for Cendyne 48X/12X/48X Enhanced-ide

Reviewed by: DefiantDan

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: None, This company has the distiction of selling The definition of crap

Weaknesses: Everything about it. From the reviews here, it appears that the average cost of burning a CD comes in at about $10.00 each (plus media).

Overall Evaluation: Never again; Cendyne Sucks beyond belief. Never worked well, now it just doesn't work. Bought it for one of our employees. Burned perhaps three CDs total, I attributed problems to user error and put it on the shelf for testing. Months passed, I finally got around to putting it into another machine and found it wasn't user error after all. The piece of crap is sitting in my computer as I write, refusing to eject and spinning a blank CD it failed to write 60 minutes ago. You get what you pay for. I highly reccomend TDK Velo writers. The two most reliable, albiet rather expensive, drive I've ever owned.
Reviewed by: MJMORENO

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: PRICE, BUNDLED SOFTWARE, FAST

Weaknesses: WENT BELLY UP AFTER 3 MONTHS

Overall Evaluation: WAS WORKING FINE FOR THE FIRST 3 MONTHS THEN NOTHING. WELL FOR THE PRICE PAID 20.00 AFTER REBATE NOT BAD. RE-INSTALLED MY 3 YEAR OLD TOSHIBA CD-RW SD-R1002 AND WORKS FINE.. EXCEPT IT IS ALITTLE SLOW OH WELL BETTER SLOW THAN NOTHING AT ALL. WELL I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT...I WOULD HAVE GIVEN IT 2 STARS BUT IT WORKED THEN IT DID'NT...

See all user reviews

People who looked at the Cendyne 48X/12X/48X Enhanced-ide also looked at:

More Cendyne 48x/12x/48x reviews from around the web
presented by retrevo.com

Latest Optical Drives News, Reviews, How-To's

Apple's MacBook Strategy: Optical is Over Analysis: SD should be arriving on the MacBook Air and the regular MacBook in the next updates — and it might replace the DVD drive on the next MacBook.
Can't Play DVDs Rommel asked the Answer Line forum why DVD movies won't play on his XP PC
The Computer Hardware Hall of Fame From mainframes and minis to PCs and PDAs, our picks for the greatest, most enduring computer hardware of all time.
Digitize All of Your Old Media Back up a lifetime of memories to digital media so they'll be able to withstand the test of time.
Gmail Labs: 5 Best and 5 Worst Features The new integrated Google Search option in Gmail Labs may prove handy. Here are 5 cool (and 5 crummy) features already in Gmail Labs.