Digital Trends

Plextor PX-504A April 20th, 2003 | by Ian Bell

Use and Testing:

Installation of the PX-504A drive is as basic as any other CD-ROM or CD-Writer drive. For best performance we recommend installing the PX-504A on its own IDE cable if available or as the master drive if there is more than one drive sharing the same IDE cable. We also recommend downloading any updates to the included Easy CD Creator software to help improve stability and performance. If you are unfamiliar with Plextor products, the slow shutting drive bay door may throw you off. Rest assured the drive is operating normally as all Plextor drives feature the same slow moving drive bay.

Our buffer underrun tests were unfortunately able to stump the PX-504A a couple times producing unusable discs. Our testing provides a typical work environment with multiple applications open and surfing the internet while writing a CD/DVD. Some may argue that this is not ideal for testing but we have found that most people do multitask while recording a disc. In our test we found the Plextor PX-504A to perform at or below average in the majority of our tests. Traditionally Plextor has performed at or above most competing products in the same category, the PX-504A performed differently. Click on the performance tab above and below this review to see test results and graphs.

*Edit 7/25/03 - We have had a few complaints about the PX-504A having trouble reading older 2X and 4X CD-R/RW media as well as some regular retail CD media. Please check Plextor's site for any firware updates which may fix this issue. As of this writing, there has been a new firmware update. - IanBell

Conclusion:

The Plextor PX-504A is a relatively solid performing drive provided that you minimize multitasking while the drive is writing data. The overall performance of the PX-504A is average to below average in most of our tests. We would have liked to have seen better performance out of this drive as well as the inclusion of an audio cable and a DVD+RW disc in the overall package. We hope that the PX-504A is just a minor blip and that future drives continue to follow in the high standard which Plextor has set. The Plextor PX-504A is not a bad DVD writer by any means, but there are better options available on the market today.