ASUS SBW-06C1S-U Portable 6x Blu-ray Disc Writer

At first glance, the ASUS SBW-06C1S-U seems to have it all. This compact and versatile Blu-ray Disc writer offers good looks, impressive specs and a number of useful features, including the ability to power itself off a computer's USB bus. Of course, none of this really means much if the drive doesn't have the performance to back it up and unfortunately, in this case, the SBW-06C1S-U came up short in a few key areas.

According to ASUS, the SBW-06C1S-U can write to BD-R media at 6x. No matter what I tried, the drive reached a maximum writing speed of only 4.8x in our tests. As a result, it took more than 23 minutes to burn an entire 25GB disc. Thankfully, the SBW-06C1S-U had no problems writing to BD-R DL media. In our tests, the drive was able to burn a full 50GB BD-R DL disc in a little more than 61 minutes. The SBW-06C1S-U wasn't as fast when writing to BD-RE media. However, its performance was on par with the other Blu-ray Disc writers I've tested.

Using the bundled PowerDVD software, the SBW-06C1S-U played all of the Blu-ray movies I had on hand, including those protected by BD+ and with BD-Live enabled features. In our transfer rate tests though, the drive's performance was mixed. The SBW-06C1S-U was able to read single layer BD-ROM's at 6x and both BD-RE and BD-R DL at 4x but came up short of its rated speeds when reading BD-R discs. 

ASUS's new drive also has the ability to read and write to all standard DVD formats, including DVD-RAM. The SBW-06C1S-U performed relatively well when writing to DVD±R discs, taking less than 12 minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD. The drive also turned in some respectable times when writing to other types of media. However, the writing quality could have been better with Verbatim's DVD-R DL discs. When it came to reading DVD's, the SBW-06C1S-U was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's as well as DVD±R and DVD±RW media at 8x.

Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the SBW-06C1S-U either. While its seek times were a little higher than I would have liked, the drive read data CD's at speeds as high as 24x and ripped audio CD's at 23x. As a writer, the SBW-06C1S-U performed as expected. The drive was relatively quick when writing to CD-R media and its writing quality was quite good.

ASUS's portable Blu-ray Disc writer also has its share of features. Along with a vertical stand design, the SBW-06C1S-U sports a glossy black finish and an external blue light. A truly portable solution, the drive is also powered completely off a computer's USB bus. Without the need for an AC power source, you can watch a Blu-ray movie or burn a disc wherever you go. To prevent buffer underruns, the SBW-06C1S-U has a 6MB buffer that is backed up by ASUS's FlextraLink technology. The drive also offers a good number of writing and rewriting speeds to choose from and supports bitsetting for DVD+R DL discs. To top it all off, ASUS has included a great software bundle from CyberLink.

The ASUS SBW-06C1S-U is available now and can be purchased from Amazon or the retailers listed on Pricegrabber for less than $190.

Highs:

• Writes to BD-R and BD-R LTH media at 6x
• Writes to BD-R DL media at 4x
• Writes to BD-RE and BD-RE DL media at 2x
• Writes to DVD±R media at 8x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD±R DL media at 4x
• Reads single layer BD-ROM's at 6x
• Reads BD-R media at 6x
• Reads BD-RE and BD-R DL media at 4x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 8x
• Reads DVD±R and DVD±RW media at 8x
• Reads DVD±R DL media at 6x
• Reads and writes to DVD-RAM media at 5x
• Features 24x CD-R and 16x CD-RW writing speeds
• 6MB buffer
• Good DVD±R and CD-R writing quality
• Features ASUS's FlextraLink technology
• Very compact and lightweight design
• Powered off the USB bus
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R DL media
• Includes vertical drive stand

Lows:

• Failed to read and write to BD-R media at 6x
• Questionable writing quality with some DVD-R DL media
• Cannot set the book type of DVD+R or DVD+RW media
• High seek times
• Overburns to only 92:57