The Asus DRW-24B1ST has shown to be a very capable optical drive. Not only will it offer you good performance, it will save you money at the same time. The CD and DVD burning times are respectable, and the quality of the burns are exceptional. Really, what more could one ask for out of an optical drive? Don't forget you get the option of using Asus E-Hammer to permanently erase those old CD-RW and DVD-RW discs. …Coming in at less than $20 in most places one really can't go wrong purchasing the Asus DRW-24B1ST.

The Asus drive is noticeably quieter than the Samsung drive as well and would be a solid choice for a HTPC build. The DRW-24B1ST proved to be a solid performer during testing while still running quietly and efficiently. Burn quality is reliable too – I burned everything from movies to data to music with this drive and each and every disc turned out perfect. The price is very easy to take as well. If you're in the market for an optical drive and don't need Blu-Ray, I can't see any reason not to pick up this offering from Asus.

The ASUS DRW-24B1ST is the fastest burner when comparing write times. The ASUS DRW-24B1ST is the fastest reader compared with the other drives. • Very quiet drive • Excellent CD-R/RW as a reader • Very Good to Excellent DVD±R writing quality • Exceptional Quality when writing at 24X • Excellent write quality to DVD±RW media • Very Good to Excellent DVD±R DL media • Excellent drive for Audio Extraction • Excellent build quality. If you are looking to upgrade or just add an additional burner with 24X writing with excellent quality, then the ASUS DRW-24B1ST will nicely fill the bill.”

the ASUS DRW-24B1ST has not disappointed. It performed as well as any drive of comparable speed and type out there. We can't be too surprised that the DRW-24B1ST solidly outperformed an external USB 2.0 burner, but we can be impressed that it performed better than similar IDE and SATA drives. The stuff that really makes the DRW-24B1ST perform above and beyond is the extra technology of OTS and AVRS and the additional programs like E-Green and E-Hammer… although many drives come bundled with burning software, the addition of nero8 Essentials is an excellent compliment to an already stunning optical drive.