Blu-ray has come a long way since it emerged as the dominant high-definition format in 2008 and can now be found in most desktop replacement laptops, underneath millions of televisions and in even modestly priced PCs.
While most of those are cheaper drives, though, Plextor’s new PX-B940SA raises the bar with its 12x Blu-ray write speed. That’s the fastest we’ve yet seen, twice the speed of the fastest-rated blank discs on the market. DVD-Rs can be written and read at 16x, and it supports a huge range of formats, including dual-layer and rewritable Blu-ray discs. The Plextor also includes CyberLink BD Suite.
It’s fast in action. While the 12x write speed will only prove its real worth in the future, it filled a 6x BD-R disc in 16mins 4secs. Our previous favourite, the LG GGW-H20L, completed the same test in more than 22mins.
The Plextor returned mixed results with older media. It burned a DVD-R in 5mins 39secs, which is up there with the best, but its BD-RW write time of ten minutes was slower than older rivals. The Plextor’s CD-R write time of 3mins 10secs was also fairly average.
We’re not sure if the Plextor is worth £167 exc VAT, either. The majority of slower Blu-ray writers have been phased out to make way as speeds increase, but you can still save a good £25 by opting for a 10x model, and the difference in real-world use will be negligible. Only those for whom speed is imperative could really justify keeping up with the cutting edge in internal optical drives.
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