Installation:::...

Physical installation of the drive is no different to that of any optical drive. Software installation is equally painless thanks to Plextor's quick and easy front end which lets you simply select the software you want to install at the click of a mouse.

I initially had some problems getting the Plextor and our MSI CD-RW to play nice together and the only solution that seemed to work was to set both drives to "CS" or "Cable Select" rather than set a "Master" and a Slave" no matter which way around I set them.

Once up and running a quick check using Nero's InfoTool utility confirmed that everything was good. It also confirmed something that I found a little strange for a drive of this type....the 2MB cache. No I realise that buffer underrun protection has negated the need for large buffers in order to keep the data stream flowing but even so there are still some additional advantages to 4 or 8MB caches and with memory so cheap it seems an odd decision. It's possible that Plextor have optimised the drive for a 2MB buffer ad that increasing this brings zero benefits but that isn't usually the case.

The Bundle:::...

Although I got a piece of 4x "+R" media supplied with the drive it came outside of the box so I'm not sure the retail product comes with any at all. I believe it does but if it matters then ask to be certain. It does however come with some rather nice software.

Pinnacle Studio 8

The Pinnacle studio range has always managed to combine powerful features with a relatively easy to use format and Studio 8 is a perfect example of this despite now being over 12 months old. From creating classy titles to adding narration and background music. Wipes, fades and transitions Studio 8 does it all. Plus it's backed by Pinnacle's comprehensive website which offers everything from add-ons to training. You can find more on this product from Pinnacle's site HERE, and while you're there take a look at the price and bare it in mind when you think about the PX-708A's selling price. This is a genuinely impressive title that greatly adds to the value of the product rather than just padding it out as so often happens.

Like most products of this underlying complexity there are a few flaws in there though most of these are addressed in the patch available HERE.

Nero Burning Rom

I've used Nero for years and it has become probably the most prolific burning software on the planet, and rightly so. Although Nero 6 is currently scooping the plaudits across the industry the supplied version is the slightly less impressive though still perfectly capable v5.5. Ahead Software are offering a free upgrade from v5.5 to v6.x but only on full retail purchases, sadly OEM bundled versions don't qualify.

Plextor PlexTools Pro v2.06

Many people love it, one or two people claim to dislike it, but what ever your standpoint on it Plextor's PlexTools is a very impressive utility that lets you set, tweak just about every aspect of your drive.

From its built in multimedia player to formatting, testing and burning it's all included making this one valuable app to have.