Asus USB Blu-ray is Slim, Portable, Good Looking
The new Asus Blu-ray external drive has a spiffy glowing "X" that may provoke Mulder and Scully to search for more answers.
X marks the spot with the new Asus external Blu-ray combo drive... literally. With a shiny black exterior begging to showcase fingerprints like graffiti, the slim SBC-04D1S-U's bright star-like 'X' symbol could provide an interesting 'what the heck is it for' topic while playing Blu-ray movies or burning X-Files episodes on DVD.
Thanks to a special application, end-users can set the symbol's level of brightness in accordance to the inserted media, meaning a CD can be one level of brightness and a Blu-ray set for another. This serves as a cool gimmick to distract end-users away from the fact that this device doesn't burn Blu-ray disks.
Outside the spiffy 'X' symbol, what makes this particular external Blu-ray special is that it connects to and is powered via a USB port, making it ideal for enjoying high definition videos 'anytime and anywhere.' The vertical stand gives it a high-tech, Wii-like feeling with read speeds up to 4.8x for BD-ROM/R/RE; as a burner, the drive features 8x DVD burning and 24x CD burning speeds. According to the product page, Asus' Turbo Engine increases the connection performance between the USB cable and the external drive.
Along with this slim drive, Asus packed in a few goodies into the bundle such as the CyberLink burning software, and Disc Encryption to allow end-users the ability to password protect entire. The drive also features TrueTheater High Definition (TTHD), turning standard definition content into HD-quality images on high-resolution displays. Currently Asus has not confirmed future compatibility with Windows 7 and Mac OS X, however the drive does support Vista, XP, Windows 2000 and NT.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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dman3k "Along with this slim drive, Asus packed in a few goodies into the bundle such as the CyberLink burning software, and Disc Encryption to allow end-users the ability to password protect entire."Reply
WHAT?!? -
igot1forya dman3k"Along with this slim drive, Asus packed in a few goodies into the bundle such as the CyberLink burning software, and Disc Encryption to allow end-users the ability to password protect entire."WHAT?!?hahahaha cliff-han..............Reply -
liquidblue Igot1foryahahahaha cliff-han..............ger!Reply
Had to finish that one, just like I hope the writer of this article can finish complete thoughts. -
tenor77 I think it's wrong that the media imposes arbitrary images of the ideal drive beauty on DVD's and Blu-Ray drives in our society, and force them to aspire to these artificial and arbitrary standards.Reply -
scook9 Wow....this is....not news at all! Guess what I have had for 2 months....a slim Blu-ray drive that sits in a slim drive enclosure... AND IT CONNECTS WITH USB AS WELL! Please remind me why this is being hyped up so much? Is it the light up X - seems to be what got the most attention in this whole a(dd)rticle. I'm sorry but this just is not worth "reporting" on at all, unless you are going to report on all external DVD drives now. Nevermind the fact that Blu-Ray actually moves enough data that USB could actually bottleneck this device for playback.Reply -
jerther Wow, I've seen many people complaining about poor article quality but NOW I think I see their point...Reply