The retail version of the drive has a large 8MB buffer that helps prevent errors when writing at high speeds. But the OEM or bulk version of the drive ships with only a 2MB buffer, so be sure to check the fine print if you're ordering the drive online.

Installing the SM-352B was like installing any optical drive--we powered down our system, replaced our current drive, connected the cables, and rebooted. The overall manual for the drive is on CD, so it wasn't much help during install, but Samsung does include a quick setup guide with lots of illustrations to walk new users through the install process.

Installing the software for the drive took about the same amount of time. Samsung has bundled Ahead Software's Nero Burning ROM (the full version--not just Nero Express) with the drive, a powerful tool for creating a wide variety of burned CDs. You'll also get InCD for packet writing, which lets users drag and drop files to a CD-RW as if it were a floppy disk. And then there's the new Nero Vision Express, for editing video and then creating video CDs.

Writes and rewrites were swift with the drive--we were able to burn a complete CD-R in less than three minutes. But it's the long list of media that this drive is compatible with that really impressed us. In addition to CD media ranging from Photo CD and CD Text to CD-RW, the drive can also read DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD video discs.

Unfortunately, Samsung doesn't include any blank media with the drive, so you'll have to go out and get your own to get started. But we were able to find this diverse drive for very low prices, so you can afford to pick up a few blanks on your own dime.

Pro: Multi-read capability, fast burn speeds.

Con: No blank media included.