PERIPHERALS
Name Price Rating Comment Additional Info Supplier Tel Issue Page no Additional comments, notes
CD-ROM Drives (internal)
Aztech CDA 268-03I £88 llllmm Reasonable performance in a simple package. 2x. Aztech 01734 814121 6 56
Aztech CDA 468-01I £119 llllmm Well built and affordable. 6x, 256k buffer. Aztech 01734 814121 14 98 Value
Aztech CDA 668-01I £149 llllmm Cheap though not fast 6 speed drive. 6x, 256k buffer. Aztech 01734 814121 14 98
Aztech CDA 868 £109 lllmmm Poor under Windows 3.11 but a decent performer with Windows 95. 8x. Aztech 01734 820840 20 123
Aztech 1068-01I £102 llllmm One of the cheapest ten speed drives, but few performance benefits. 10x, 128k buffer. Aztech 01734 820840 25 108
Aztech 1068-01IE £76 lllmmm Highly affordable and well built but a poor performer. 8x, 256k buffer Aztech 01734 820840 25 108
Bluepoint ICD-300 £99.95 lllmmm A good but basic drive, but assumes technical knowledge. 2x. Bluepoint 01908 277007 6 57
Creative Labs CD 420E £299 lllmmm Good build quailty, below par performance. 4x, 128k buffer. Creative Labs 01743 344744 14 98
Creative Labs CD 820E £119 llmmmm Simply too slow to be worth considering. 8x, 256k buffer Creative labs 01734 344322 25 108
EliteGroup Vertos 300 SSD £99 lllmmm Inexpensive, but under par performance for the price. 2x Panrix 01132 444958 6 57
Goldstar GCD-R540B £126 lllmmm Inexpensive EIDE drive. Beats many for performance. 4x, 128k buffer. LG Electronics 01753 500426 14 100
Goldstar GCD-R580B £99 lllllm Well built, well featured and a fast performer. 8x, 256k buffer. LG Electronics 01753 500400 25 113 value
Goldstar GC-R580B £129 lllllm Fast access time and good transfer rates. Very good value for money. 8x LG Electronics 01753 500400 20 122 recommended
Goldstar R540B £117 lllmmm Average performance but cheap and easy to install. 4x, Goldstar 01753 691888 12 120
Hitachi CDR-6550 £165 lllmmm Unremarkable performance, good build quality. 2x, 128k buffer. Hitachi 0181 849 2067 1 113
Hitachi CDR-6750 £220 llllmm Great overall performance, high price is justified. 2x Northamber 0181 391 4100 6 58
Hitachi CDR-7930 £110 llllmm Variable performance at a low price. 8x AGP Distribution 01264 336991 23 152
Hitachi CDR-7930 £110 lllmmm Poor build quality and features let down the speed. 8x, 128k buffer. AGP Distribution 01264 336991 25 113
Media Force CDR-688 £75 lmmmmm A low price for a ten speed drive, but an equally low performance. 10x, 256k buffer. Choice Peripherals 01909 530242 25 113
Mitsumi FX 400 £120 lllmmm Sluggish and poor documentation, but a good price. 4x. Mitsumi 01276 29029 14 102
Mitsumi FX 810 £80 lllmmm Dependable, but not the best value drive. 8x, 256k buffer Mitsumi 01276 29029 25 114
Mitsumi FX 120T £120 lllmmm A lot of revolutions for your money, but there are faster drives. 12x, 256k buffer. Mitsumi 01276 29029 25 114
NEC CDR-273 £129 lllmmm Poor performance and documentation. 4x, 128k buffer. NEC 0181 993 8111 14 102
NEC CDR 512 £299 llllmm Performance benefits show when copying large files. 6x, SCSI-2 card, caddy. NEC 0181 993 8111 11 124
NEC Multispin 4X4C £199 lllmmm For those that want more than one CD available at a time. 4x. NEC 0181 993 8111 14 100
NEC Multispin 4XI £365 llllmm Perhaps the best featured CD-ROM on the market but at a price. 4x, SCSI-2, caddy. NEC 0181 993 8111 6 124
NEC Quad-X £199 llllmm High performance, attractive price. 4x, IDE. NEC 0181 993 8111 6 125
Orchid CDS 3110i £109 llllmm A four year warranty and two games come with this average performer. 2x. Multimedia 01483 285000 6 60 value
Panasonic CR-583B £99 llllmm A quick performer but there are question marks over driver stability. 8x, 128k buffer. Panasonic 01344 853913 25 114
Panasonic LF1004BK £599 lllmmm Expensive price denotes optical disc capabilities. 6x. Panasonic 01344 853508 14 106
Panasonic QuadPro £139 lllmmm Solid and dependable. 4x. Panasonic 01344 853508 14 102
Philips PCA42CR £134 lllmmm Average performace at a low price. Unsure of itself under Windows 95. 4x, 128k buffer. Philips 0181 689 4444 14 104
Philips PCA62CR £135 llmmmm Not the fastest drive around, and not the cheapest either. 6x Philips 0181 689 4444 20 122
Pioneer DR-A10X £199 lllmmm The fastest 10 speed IDE/TAPI drive around, but at a price. 10x, 128k buffer. Pioneer 01753 789789 25 116 speed
Pioneer DR-U10X £250 llllmm Not cheap, but the fastest drive you can currently buy. 10x, 128k buffer, SCSI-2. Pioneer 01753 789789 25 116 speed
Pioneer DR U124X £220 llllmm Expensive but solid performer with a little extra speed. 4.4x, 128k buffer. Ideal Hardware 0181 286 5000 14 104
Plextor PX43CS £239 lllllm Sluggish data transfer, good seek times. Excellent manual. 4x, 256k buffer, caddy. Tekdata 01782 577677 14 104
Plextor PX63CS £349 lllllm Outstanding performance, though overpriced. 6x, 256k buffer, caddy. Tekdata 01782 577677 14 106 Speed
Plextor PX83CS £349 llllmm Fast, but there are cheaper respectable drives around. 8x, caddy Tekdata 01782 577677 22 152
Plextor PX83CS £299 llllmm Delivers the best 8 speed performance on test, but expensive. 8x, 256k buffer, SCSI-2, caddy. Tekdata 01782 577677 25 116
Plextor 6Plex £469 llllmm Expensive but fast. 6x, 256k buffer, caddy. Tekdata 01782 577677 8 118 recommended
Samsung SCR-830 £129 lllllm Excellent performance and very good value for money 8x Samsung 0181 391 0168 22 150 recommended
Samsung SCR-830 £129 llllmm Good performance and build, but some compatibility problems. 8x, 128k buffer. Samsung 0181 391 0168 25 118
Sony CDU 76E £139 lllmmm Mediocre performance. 4x, 256k buffer. Sony 0181 760 0500 14 115
Sony CDU 76S £169 llllmm Good performance at an excellent price. 4x, 256k buffer. Sony 0181 760 0500 14 115 Value
Sony CSD-88EE £115 llmmmm Average performer with a high street price. Good, not great. 8x, 256k buffer Sony 0181 760 0500 25 118
Teac CD 56E £229 llllmm Fast data transfer at 900Kbps, and well built. 4x, 128k buffer. Teac UK 01923 225235 14 115 Speed
Teac CD-55A £229 lllmmm High performance, and easy to install. 4x, 64k buffer. Teac UK 01923 225235 7 109
Teac CD-58E £129 llllmm Good performance, but not spectacular. 8x Teac UK 01923 225235 22 153
Teac CD-58E £129 lllmmm Top performance, but expensive and not as sturdy as it could be. 8x, 128k buffer. Teac UK 01923 225235 25 118
Toshiba XM3501B £400 llllmm Needs full processor support. 4x. Optech 1 112
Toshiba XM-5602B £129 llllmm Well featured, with reasonable performance. 8x, 256k buffer. Ideal Hardware 0181 286 5000 25 119
Wearnes CDD-120 £119 lllmmm Better packaged than many bare drives, competitive price. 2.5x. Wearnes Peripherals 01256 333570 6 61
CD-ROM Drives (external)
Aiwa ACD-300 £249 llllmm A good drive, but LED on front panel does not justify the price. 2x. Aiwa 0181 897 7000 6 56
Cyberrom CD Quad £399 lllmmm High performance, though setup can be tricky. 4x, PCMCIA type II. Innovative Communications 0181 953 0948 18 106
MediaVision ReNo £255 llllmm Good documentation, engineering, and performance. 2x. MediaVision 6 58 speed
Nakamichi MBR-7 £299 lllllm Ideal for multiple CD-ROM access. 2x, 7 disc capacity autochanger. CD Revolution 01932 562000 4 134 recommended
Panasonic CD/P-525SP £199 llmmmm Poor documentation and performance. 2x. Datrontech 01252 303333 6 60
Panasonic KLX-D720 £299 llmmmm Barely adequate performance, a notebook users compromise. 2x, CD-ROM/CD audio, PCMCIA Type II. Panasonic 01344 853508 11 125
Toshiba CD400-A £360 llllmm Some quirks detract from a simple, otherwise elegant design. 2x Toshiba 01932 785666 6 61
Toshiba CD400-A £360 lllmmm Adequate performance, but large which limits portability. 2x, SCSI-2 interface. Toshiba 01734 845995 3 137
Multimedia Upgrade Kits
Diamond Multimedia Kit 8000 £450 llmmmm Has been rushed out without adequate testing. 8x CD-ROM drive, Yamaha YST-M5 6 Watt speakers, 16 bit, 32 voice wavetable card. TalkData 0171 404 1001 15 104

Last Update: 14/10/96

Name: PC Pro