Samsung SE-S084B

Product Survey: External optical burners

Samsung says that their new SE-S084B slim external DVD burner, available in six colors (black, white, gray, blue, pink, and red) can go with you everywhere. And, like its competitors, this DVD burner requires no special configuration and no AC adaptor thanks to its Plug & Play technology and the fact that it gets its power through its USB cable. Our data-rate tests showed a slight advantage for the Samsung, but the difference was negligible. On the ISO image ripping test, the Samsung SE-084B was neck-and-neck with the LG GSA-E50. The task took 14 minutes on our Hercules netbook. The Samsung is the most energy-efficient external DVD burner we've tested so far. Multiplying its power consumption under operation by the average time taken to create an ISO image of our test DVD and to burn the image works out to 2.7 Wh. That puts it ahead of the LG and the Buffalo by 0.2 Wh. Not only is the Samsung the fastest burner, it's also the quietest, at 45.5 dB while operating compared to 47.7 and 49 dB, respectively, for the Buffalo and LG units. But while that's the best result we've logged to date, it's still a stretch to call the burner "quiet".