In House Review - Plextor PlexWriter PX-W5224TA 52/24/52A

[Ian]

To start off the week, we've taken a look at Plextor's new budget priced CD-RW, the PX-5224TA. Designed with the cost conscious consumer in mind, the PX-W5224TA reads and writes at 52x, rewrites at 24x and rips audio CD's at a blazing 52x. The drive also has many of the features we've come to expect from Plextor including technologies like PoweRec, VariRec and BURN-Proof.

Can the PX-W5224TA deliver the type of performance Plextor is known for? Is it the best drive for the user on a budget? You'll have to read the review to find out.

[url=http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=199]

Plextor PlexWriter PX-W5224TA 52/24/52A CD-RW[/url]

Comments? Questions? Please post them all in the forum using the link provided below. And yes, a review of Plextor's new DVD writer is in the works. We got the drive a little later than expected, but you can rest assured that our review won't leave any stone unturned.

[Bhairav]

Thanks for the review Ian. One gripe: Are Plextor becoming so cheap that they don't even include blank CDs with the drive? I know that this is supposed to be their budget drive, but still!

[Ian]

Thanks for the review Ian. One gripe: Are Plextor becoming so cheap that they don't even include blank CDs with the drive? I know that this is supposed to be their budget drive, but still!

Yeah, they stopped including CD-RW media while back. This is the first drive I've seen with no media at all.. not even a CD-R disc.

[Bhairav]

Ah,economy of scale, the great equalizer! My new 52327S just had a blank multispeed CD-R bundled. No CD-RW media, and 24X/32X RWs are as rare as hen's teeth around here.

[Scour]

Hello!

Again a great review, Ian

But you wrote that it has high media-requirements; but it burns all media in less than 3 minutes. I think it´s better than my MSI CR52-A2 and that´s not bad

[RoyHarv]

Thanks for the review.

Can anyone explain the relative merrits of the PlexWriter 52/24/52A and the PlexWriter 48/24/48A? Both are still current according to the Plextor site. When I check on-line retailers, the slower 48/24/48A is more expensive. Is there some feature of the 48/ that I have missed which explains this? Or is it just a matter of newer -> cheaper?

Thanks!

[vsekh]

The 48/24/48a is more expensive because Plextor is offering a $30 mail-in-rebate for this drive. In the end it will come out cheaper than the 52/24/52a drive.

[RoyHarv]

$30 mail-in-rebate

I guess that could explain it. Thanks!

[Scour]

Hello!

Has anyone experiences with the 5224A?

[RMerlin]

I have one. Burned maybe 15-20 CDs with it so far, works reliably. Only gripe is with the very slow MRW performance, I end up using plain old UDF 1.50 packet writing instead (my MP3 player doesn't handle MRW anyway).