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Hello. I can't choose between these two. The latest 716UF from Plextor and the d2 (?) from Lacie. The Plextor might have a better writing quality, which is essential here, but Lacies look so much nicer. I wonder what people think - is there a great difference in DVD-writing quality between these two? Which one would you recommend for DVDR writing work?

Also, has anyone experienced any stability problems with external DVD drives (firewire/usb issues)?

I can't comment on LaCie except they normally rebadge someone else's drives (at least in the past). A quick Google search shows it's an NEC which some people swear by....

That said, I just picked up a 716UF in sterling silver yesterday (the only colour my BB stocked). It's really pretty; from the picture I saw the d2 looks like a normal black NEC in a case. The 716UF definitely is made to look like an "external drive" and not just an internal shoved in a case.

Plextor's been really iffy with their DVDRW drives, but it seems like the 716 finally got it (mostly) right. I don't know the price difference between the two but I think they're both pretty good burners. The Plextor's probably a tiny bit more capable as a unit (DAE, Plextools for disc quality checking, etc), but the quality difference probably isn't huge. I would assume the LaCie will be fairly equivalent priced (they've never seemed to be an inexpensive brand). That said-- you'll find as many Plextor fanboys as NEC fanboys, so I'd suggest you read as much as possible to try to get a good picture of the tradeoffs for each.

I've been running a Sony DRU500a in an external firewire case for 2.5 years and have never had a problem (I've been able to upgrade firmware and such, too). I HAVE heard of issues with internal drives mounted in cases (by the end user, I don't mean a drive sold as an external like the LaCie) of late, which is part of why I just got the 716UF and not a 716A and mounted it myself. I would DEFINITELY use the firewire and avoid USB2 for optical drive use-- firewire works really, really well.

If you want a sweet looking external drive, check out Memorex's new 16x16 FireWire/USB DVD writer. Like the LaCie, its based on the NEC, but it has a blue LED and one of the nicest cases I've seen in some time.

The downside of the LaCie is the fact that unless you firmware hack it to run the retail firmware, it will be stuck using the OEM firmware released by LaCie, which takes FOREVER to get updates (yes, even worse then NEC's slow updates!) and usually comes out for the Mac only for quite some time, before getting around to being updateable on the PC.

Other then that, it's a good drive!

I honestly have not had any issues with my Plextor 708UF at work, so I don't think Plextor has had an extremely iffy track record as some would suggest; rather they've sometimes had issues that took a few firmware updates to work out, mainly concerning media compatibility. That, and other people currently have better internal burners on the market for less (NEC and Pioneer)

If an external is your only way to go, I'd go Plextor. Otherwise I'd choose an internal NEC or Pioneer. USB has yielded mixed results for people, what with a higher CPU usage (I wouldn't multitask while burning, that's for sure) and slow transfer rates. I use firewire with my Plextor, which has worked quite well so far.