LiteOn eTAU108 External Top-Load DVD/CD Writer Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. The Drive4. Closing Thoughts5. View All Pages

At KitGuru we review a plethora of different products but it's not often that we look at things like optical drives which are reasonably homogeneous in design and don't differ greatly in terms of performance.

Today we are going to look at LiteOn's latest external DVD/CD writer, the eTAU108, which is designed with portability in mind.  It draws all the power it needs from a single USB port meaning it can be used with a laptop on the move.

Specification

DVD Family:	Write	Rewrite	Read	Access Time
	DVD+R 8X DVD-R 8X DVD+R9 6X DVD-R9 6X DVD-RAM 5X	DVD+RW 8X DVD-RW 6X	DVD-ROM 8X	1/3 Stroke:180ms Full Stroke: 310ms Random Access: 180ms
CD Family:	Write	Rewrite	Read	Access Time
	CD-R 24X	CD-RW 24X	CD-ROM 24X	1/3 Stroke:180ms Full Stroke: 310ms Random Access: 180ms
Interface:	High Speed USB 2.0
Data Buffer:	2MB (MAX)
Compatibility:	Microsoft Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista & Linux
Dimension:	142.1(W) x 19.4 (H) x 143.8 (L) mm
Weight:	<0.35kg

The drive is supplied in a substantial cardboard box that is decorated in an attractive-looking red livery.  This should provide the drive with more than enough protection during shipping.  The front of the box contains a lone product photo with a small amount of information about the drive.

Turning the box over reveals a more detailed breakdown of the drive's features along with its detailed specifications.  For some reason, LiteOn has chosen to colour the back of the box blue which isn't exactly complementary to the otherwise red finish.

Inside the box we find the drive within a substantial cardboard carton which adds an extra level of protection.  Aside from the drive, we find a quick-installation guide, a USB cable and a copy of Nero 8 Essentials (for Windows).

Our sample of the eTAU108 is finished in gloss-white plastic but it is also available in black.  This looks very sleek now but is likely to attract grime and scratches over time. Thankfully the gloss-white surface doesn't show up fingerprints as readily as most gloss-black surfaces we've experienced.  Build quality is reasonably good but the entirely plastic construction isn't likely to stand for much abuse.  It does have its advantages, though, as the lack of a metal backbone means weight is kept to a minimum.

In terms of design, size and weight, the drive is very similar to one of Sony's old Walkman personal CD players (yes one of those devices that we used before iPods were invented).  This means it is very portable and should fit easily into most laptop or netbook cases alongside the machine.

The USB cable supplied is obviously designed for use with laptops, being only around 12cm in length.  LiteOn have carved a section into the base of the drive to store the USB cable in when travelling.  This is a very convenient addition that should also reduce the chances of losing the cable.

There aren't really any specific benchmarks we can use to judge the performance of this drive, and if we did there would be little to compare it against.  But we did test its basic functions, playing and writing both CDs.

For testing we used our Macbook Pro 13″ which has a built in 8x Slot-Load CD/DVD Writer (Hitachi GS23N).  In our DVD playback test, we found the external drive to be audible over the movie (playing through the Macbook's speakers at maximum volume), whereas the inbuilt drive was inaudible over the same movie.

We also decided to test the write performance of the external drive against that which is built into our Macbook.  Using iTunes, we burned the same 20 tracks to identical blank CDs and measured the time taken with a stopwatch.  The LiteOn drive took 6 minutes and 16 seconds to burn the CD whereas the Macbooks drive took only 4 minutes and 48 seconds.  During the burn test, the Macbooks drive was noticeably louder than the LiteOn as it seemed to spin faster and caused the whole machine to resonate slightly.

The Liteon eTAU108 is an impressive drive on the whole.  The build-quality isn't the best we've experienced but for the price it's quite acceptable.  The lack of a pull-out tray means there are fewer parts in the drive, allowing LiteOn to keep the weight to an absolute minimum and making it as easily portable as possible.

Our performance tests showed the eTAU108 lagging behind the Hitachi drive in our Macbook in the write tests but we suspect this is a result of the limitations of a single USB connection; the drive didn't seem to reach as high a maximum speed which is a likely result of power limitations.

At a price of around £30 at Ebuyer, the eTAU108 provides reasonable value for money.  Although the drive isn't specifically listed as compatible with OS X, we found both read and write functions to work perfectly, making this drive perfect for use with a Macbook Air as it is approximately half the price of the Apple-branded alternative.  It will also make a perfect companion for someone wanting to watch DVDs on the move with a netbook or a laptop without a DVD-drive.

KitGuru Says: A stylish drive that is perfect for people on the move.

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