Think Computers -- Blu-ray devices are slowing becoming more and more popular, especially as prices come down. Many computer users who are looking for a Blu-ray drive can easily find an internal drive for their desktop, but what if they want one for their laptop? How about one that works on both their desktop and laptop? This is where ASUS’s SBC-04D1S-U External Slim Blu-ray Combo Drive comes in. This slim external drive connects to any computer via USB and allows you to play Blu-ray media as well as burn CD’s and DVD’s. Let’s check it out!

 

TweakTown -- I’m not going to lie to you – I’m a complete and utter Blu-ray fan boy, “down with HD DVD!!”; so when word came that the ASUS BC-1205PT Blu-ray ROM samples were ready to be shipped out it pretty much had the two thumbs up approval from me. What we’re going to look at today is if the BC-1205PT is not only able to replace that DVD ROM of yours but also be welcomed with open arms into your home.

Think Computers -- Blu-ray devices are slowing becoming more and more popular, especially as prices come down. Many computer users who are looking for a Blu-ray drive can easily find an internal drive for their desktop, but what if they want one for their laptop? How about one that works on both their desktop and laptop? This is where ASUS’s SBC-04D1S-U External Slim Blu-ray Combo Drive comes in. This slim external drive connects to any computer via USB and allows you to play Blu-ray media as well as burn CD’s and DVD’s. Let’s check it out!

CDRLabs -- While I didn't get a chance to try any BD+ protected titles, the BC-1205PT played all of the Blu-ray movies I had on hand using the bundled CyberLink software. The drive also did fairly well in our transfer rate tests, reading single layer BD-ROM's and both BD-R and BD-RE media at an impressive 5x. My only real disappointment was with BD-R DL discs where the BC-1205PT's read speed was limited to only 2x.

CDRLabs -- In the computer industry, there are few names as well known as ASUS. A favorite among computer enthusiasts, this Taiwanese company is recognized as one of the world's leading manufacturers of computer components. While best known for their motherboards and video cards, ASUS has expanded into other areas including the optical storage market. As you might expect from a company like ASUS, the result has been some of the fastest and most feature packed CD and DVD writers available.

Lost Circuits -- ASUS has produced another excellent portable accessory in the SCB-2408-D. The drive was quiet and behaved flawlessly in our testing; and as any external drive should, it operated as transparently as though it were installed internally. Comparable models are available on the market with similar specifications, but most are USB-only and limited to Windows. Few (if any) offer Firewire interfacing and claim support for MacOS, while retaining a small form-factor. Anyone searching for a versatile external CD-RW/DVD drive should give this model a serious consideration.

Viper Lair -- Although there was a bit of erratic behavior in some of the speed tests, the ASUS drive still worked like it should, and as far as DL goes it was right on par with other drives we have tested. It's possible that a future firmware update (can be updated using Nero's) could correct these issues, if in fact it is the drive and not the media that caused us problems.