A name that used to crop up when talking about elite optical products years ago has made a comeback! Plextor has come out of the woodwork, announcing a new lineup of optical drives after lying low for a while.

The new 2008 lineup from Plextor offers 6x Blu-Ray combo drives, 22x Super Multi DVD±RW drives, and 8x Slim External USB DVD±RW solutions for PC and MAC. Along with the new drives, Plextor includes their new PlexUTILITIES Advanced Application & Diagnostic Sofware. So let us take a look at each individual new offering.

Plextor PX-610U 8x slim External USB Super Multi Drive:

One thing we like about the new PX-610U is that it does not require an external power source or multiple USB ports, which make for very messy mobile computing. This new unit makes use of onboard battery power and a single USB port for power, very attractive for people that are on the go. There are two flavors of the PX-610U, PC and Mac – The PC version comes bundled with Roxio Creator 10 CE and the MAC edition comes bundled with Toast 9 Titanium.

Plextor PX-B310SA (6X Internal SATA) and PX-B310Q (6X External USB) Blu-Ray Combo Drives:

Both of these new offerings give the user an all-in-one solution for Blu-Ray playback as well as archival / storage on CD or DVD, including Dual Layer – no Blu-Ray write function available on these models. The do however come bundled with Cyberlink BD Suite.

Plextor PX-850SA (22x Internal SATA) and PX-850A (22x Internal PATA) Super Multi Drives:

While PATA is pretty much going obsolete, Plextor appears to find it worthy of breathing some extra life into with the PX-850A model, offering compatibility to those with older systems or a strange desire to live in the PATA world a little longer. Both new models offer Dual Layer (which is the norm with all writers these days), and both come bundled with Roxio Creator 10 CE like the PX-610U model.

All new models, with the exception of the PX-610U Mac edition, come bundled with PlexUTILITIES Advanced Application & Diagnostics tools. PlexUTILITIES gives the users extra support for your products allow easy review of basic and advanced device information, control specific device functions, and customize device operations.

So what is it that Plextor REALLY offers with these new products? With the exception of the PX-610U being super cool with its lack of power adapter and use of multiple USB ports for power, the rest of the new devices don’t really offer anything, specification wise, over other products. Plextor support has been known for being top notch – something you do not really get with brown box deals or $20 baggy deals at the local computer store. Plextor has also maintained a very good name for reliability over the years.

No firm pricing is currently available as the products have not yet begun to crop up on major sites yet. Even Plextor’s online shop does not list prices yet – hopefully the pricing in competitive, which would make these new products a definite hot buy.

More information is available at the Plextor Web page.

Source : Tom's Hardware