Benq 1625 Review

The Benq 1625 drive has been a favorite of mine. Benq has been making some really good optical drives lately, and the 1625 adds Light Scribe support. If I were in the market for a drive, this would be at the top of my list.

BenQ has shown us again why they are considered to be one of the optical storage industry's leading innovators. With the DW1625, they've introduced one of the first LightScribe enabled DVD writers. Using the drive's laser, LightScribe lets users burn graphics and text onto the tops of specially coated discs. While this will appeal to many, I won't hesitate to point out the DW1625 isn't for everyone. As a first generation drive, it was designed primarily to showcase its LightScribe capabilities. In the process BenQ has had to make some sacrifices in regard to performance, a fact that probably won't go over well with enthusiasts.

Like the DW1620, the DW1625 is able to write to DVD+R media at 16x. At this speed, it took BenQ's new drive a little more than 6 minutes to write an entire 4.7GB DVD. While this is pretty impressive, the DW1625 wasn't as fast with other types of recordable media. As you saw in our tests, the drive's 8x DVD-R and 2.4x DVD+R DL writing speeds put it at a notable disadvantage. Just don't hold your breath waiting for an upgrade. According to our contacts at BenQ, they currently do not have any plans to increase the writing speed for either media type.

When it came to media compatibility, the DW1625 gave us some mixed results. While BenQ's new drive wrote to most of our test media at its rated speed, it would not write to any 8x DVD+R media at 16x. I have to admit that this was a little surprising considering BenQ's previous 16x DVD writers had this capability. The DW1625's writing quality was pretty good for the most part. However, there is still room for improvement, especially with Ritek's DVD+R DL discs. Knowing BenQ though, they're already tweaking the writing strategy in the next firmware.

The DW1625 performed pretty well in our DVD read tests. It read both single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD-Videos at speeds as high as 16x and had some very good seek times. Reading recordable media wasn't a problem for BenQ's new drive either. In our tests, the DW1625 read DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media at a respectable 8x.

When it came time to read and write CD's, the DW1625 performed as expected. In our tests, the drive was able to read all types of media at 40x and had some good seek times. This level of performance carried over to our DAE tests, where the drive ripped audio CD's at 40x. As a writer, the DRW1625 performed reasonably well. While it had no problems holding its own in our rewriting tests, its 40x CD-R writing speed did put it at a slight disadvantage. Nevertheless, the drive's writing quality was very good.

Like BenQ's previous DVD writers, the DW1625 isn't short on features. Along with Seamless Link buffer underrun protection, the drive supports things like bitsetting and BenQ's Write Right Technology. While Write Right does help improve the writing quality, some of its features can increase the total burn time. Fortunately, you can disable it using the included QSuite utility. To top it all off, BenQ has included a great software bundle containing a number of applications from Nero.

Of course, the DW1625's biggest feature is its LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system. While an alternative to markers and stick on labels, it's still too early to say whether or not this new technology will take off. Two things that might prevent LightScribe from doing so are the long printing times and the lack of color. Fortunately, media allowing faster printing speeds is already in the works and, according to BenQ, the DW1625 should support it. Color LightScribe media is also being developed and is expected to hit the market some time next year.

While affordable for a LightScribe capable drive, the DW1625 is still more expensive than most normal 16x DVD writers. The OEM version of the drive can be picked up for as little as $90 on Pricewatch. Otherwise, if you'd rather go the retail route, prices start at about $120 and go up from there.