Acer CRW2010A CD-RW

Review Pages

1. Introduction
2. Data Tests
3. RW/CloneCD Tests
4. DAE Tests
5. CDR Tests - Page 1
6. CDR Tests - Page 2
7. RW/Packet Writing Tests
8. Conclusion

Acer CRW2010A IDE CDR-W - Page 8

Conclusion

Positive (+):

Negative (-):

- "SeamLess Link" anti-coaster technology
- Includes system for recognize low quality CDR media
- Good reading performance with pressed CDs
- Very good reading performance with CDR media
- Very good reading/writing packet writing performance!
- Very good writing/erase time with HS-RW media
- Very good access times
- Supports HS-RW standard (10x re-write)
- Supports DAO-RAW
- Supports CD-Text (reading/writing)
- Can backup SD2 protected CDs
- Includes Nero 5.5
- Supports Overburning (with Nero 5.5.3+)

- The drive is almost fast as a 16x CLV recorder - even at max (20x) speed!
- Doesn't support reading/writing of SubChannel data
- Failed to recognize 99min CDs
- Bad CloneCD overall reading performance
- Low DAE ripping speed compared to the competition
- DAE quality needs improvement
- Limited support for 20/24x certified CDs
- Doesn't support UltraDMA-33
- When writing uses high CPU Usage!
- Drive needs to be installed as SLAVE
- Loud noise while reading at full speed
- Higher price than competition (around 170$)

Acer is another company that follows the Zone-CLV writing technology in order to achieve ultra high speed recordring speeds. The final result however is much different that what we had tested in the past. The drive even it supports 20x writing speed in specs, behaves like an 16x CLV recorder in real life tests! The drive's overall performance with CDR media is not good, since it failed to regognize most of our 20x/24x CDR media. You can forget reading/writing SubChannel data and burning 90/99min CDs, since Acer missed to include them. (Update: Acer 2010 supports overburning with Nero 5.5.3.0, which haven't yet published officially).

The drive's price also is another negative. A quick look over pricewatch showed that with 138$ you can buy a bulk MP7200A drive, which is faster in most reading/writing tests. Maybe the price of Acer 2010A drops also in near future but this is something we cannot predict for sure. Of course there is a important feature that will attract users eye: SD2 support. The Acer 2010 is the fastest SD2 recorder ,at least for now, and that gives an extra advantage over the competition. If you need SD2 support and can live with the drive problems then go for it. Else look elsewhere...