NEC ND-4550A Super-Multi DVD±RW/RAM

Model: NEC ND-4550A 16x "Super-Multi" DVD±RW/RAM
Manufacturer: NEC Corporation
Provided By: NEC Solutions America

The NEC Corporation is one of Japan's oldest and most respected electronics firms. Founded more than a century ago, the company got its start by manufacturing communications equipment. As time went on, they expanded into other markets, adding electronic components and computer hardware to their product lineup. NEC is no stranger to the optical storage industry either. One of the world's leading manufacturers of optical drives, they offer a wide range of products for the OEM and retail markets.

This fall, NEC introduced their first "Super-Multi" drive, the ND-4550A. Featuring some of the fastest reading and writing speeds available, the drive is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R DL and 6x DVD-R DL writing speeds and has a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. Staying true to the "Super-Multi" specifications, the ND-4550A can also read and write to DVD-RAM media at 5x. This by itself is impressive. However, NEC's new drive also includes features like 48x CD reading and writing speeds, 32x rewriting speeds and support for buffer underrun protection.

With features and specs like this, it's hard not to be impressed by NEC's new "Super-Multi" drive. To give you an idea of what to expect from the ND-4550A, we'll take a look at its features and then see how it compares to some of the 16x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does the ND-4550A have what it takes? Keep reading as we find out.