Over bij GamePC hebben ze een shoutout geplaatst tussen de Toshiba SD-R1002 en de Ricoh MP9060A, twee CD-RW / DVD combo drives die naast het (her)branden en lezen van CD's ook een DVD filmpie kunnen afdraaien. Veel onderling verschil bleek er niet te zijn, behalve dan dat de Ricoh een brandsnelheid van 6 speed heeft ipv 4x. Voor je echter naar de winkel surft is het handig om te weten dat Ricoh zeer binnenkort met een nieuw model komt (12x10x32x + 8xDVD) met Just-Link, een techniek vergelijkbaar met Sanyo's Burn-Proof.
The shootout between the Toshiba SD-R1002 and the Ricoh MP9060A is fairly even. Toshiba earns points because of a superior software bundle and the inclusion of an IDE cable that Ricoh neglected. Ricoh seems to have figured that most users would already have the required cable, but that is not always the case. However, the Ricoh writes CDs faster. If you care more about speed than the accessories, as many do, then the Ricoh may be your best bet. If you need more burn stability while multi-tasking, you are better off with a SCSI drive, but it is the DVD ability that sets these drives apart.
The introduction of combination DVD/CD-RW drives to the market is important, and these drives do not disappoint. This breed of drive will obviously get faster as the DVD/CD-RW transition technology advances, and we look forward to seeing the improved models. Hopefully combo drives will catch up to the burn speeds of dedicated CD-RWs sooner rather than later.
Ricoh in particular, has a new model on the horizon which boasts more competitive specs. They have just announced the MP9120A, which features 12x write, 10x re-write, 32x reading and a 8x DVD-ROM. Additionally, Ricoh includes their own version of Sanyo's Burn-Proof called "Just-Link". Ricoh has said that the new technology is superior to its Sanyo competitor. The drive starts selling September 1st in Japan, and we can only hope the U.S. release won't be too far behind.