Like the DRW-1814BLT before it, the DRW-2014L1T has had its share of growing pains. Early reviews indicated that it suffered from many of the same performance issues as its predecessor. Instead of publishing our own less than flattering review, we put the DRW-2014L1T back on the shelf and gave ASUS a chance to address these issues. Since then, ASUS has released a series of firmware updates that have greatly improved the DRW-2014L1T's writing quality. However, as you saw in our review, the drive still has a few nagging issues that need to be worked out.
The DRW-2014L1T is the first drive from ASUS with the ability to write to both DVD-R and DVD+R media at 20x. At this speed, it took the drive as little as five minutes to write an entire 4.7GB DVD. The DRW-2014L1T also had no problems holding its own when writing to DVD-RW and DVD+RW media. However, it didn't perform as well as expected when writing to DVD-RAM discs at 14x. The DRW-2014L1T also lagged behind the other drives when writing to DVD±R DL discs, taking more than 20 minutes to write 8GB of data.
With a drive like the DRW-2014L1T, writing quality and media compatibility are just as important as speed. Unfortunately, finding DVD±R media that would work at 20x was not an easy task, even with the latest firmware. Only four types worked at 20x and in some cases, FlextraSpeed would kick in, preventing it from reaching this speed. On the other hand, the DRW-2014L1T's writing quality was fairly good for the most part. However, there is still room for improvement, especially with Ritek manufactured DVD±R DL media.
ASUS's "Super-Multi" drive performed pretty well in our DVD read tests. It was able to read both single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD-Videos at 16x and had some relatively good seek times. Reading recordable media wasn't a problem for the DRW-2014L1T either. In our tests, it read DVD±R and DVD-RAM discs at speeds near 12x and DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at a respectable 8x.
When it came to reading CD's, the DRW-2014L1T's performance was a mixed bag. While the drive read pressed media at speeds near 48x, its CD-R and CD-RW read speeds were limited to only 40x. This was a little disappointing considering most drives can read pressed and CD-R media at the same speed. The DRW-2014L1T also lagged behind some of the other drives when writing CD's. It took longer than expected when writing to CD-R media and its Z-CLV writing method also put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests. Nevertheless, the DRW-2014L1T's writing quality was quite good.
Like ASUS's previous DVD writers, the DRW-2014L1T isn't short on features. Along with a 2MB buffer, the drive includes support for ASUS's FlextraLink, FlextraSpeed and AVRS technologies. The DRW-2014L1T also has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media and includes a great software bundle from Nero. Last but not least, the drive features HP's LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system. An alternative to markers and stick-on labels, LightScribe lets you burn graphics and text onto the tops of specially coated discs.
The DRW-2014L1T is shipping now and can be purchased through some of the vendors listed on Pricegrabber.Prices vary depending on the seller, but the retail version of the drive can be picked up for less than $40.
| ASUS DRW-2014L1T 20x DVD±RW/RAM |
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| Features: Installation: Performance: |
8 7 6 |
| Overall: | 7 |
Highs:
- Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 20x
- Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
- Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
- Writes to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 8x
- Writes to DVD-RAM media at 14x
- Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
- Reads DVD±R and DVD-RAM media at 12x
- Reads DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 8x
- Features 48x CD-R and 32x CD-RW writing speeds
- Low seek times
- Supports ASUS's FlextraLink, FlextraSpeed and AVRS technologies
- Supports bitsetting for DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media
- Includes software from Nero
- Supports 99 minute media
- Serial ATA interface
- Includes both black and beige bezels
- Affordably priced
- High media requirements when writing at 20x
- Questionable quality with some DVD±R DL media
- Slower than other drives when writing to DVD±R DL and DVD-RAM media
- Had a hard time reaching its rated speeds when reading pressed CD's
- Reads CD-R media at only 40x
- Documentation could be better
