DVD/CD-RW combo drive roundup

Optical combo-drives combining the capabilities of CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives are very popular today. Their advantages are numerous. But what are the drawbacks?

Quote from the review:

“LG GCC-4480B and Samsung SM-348B worked with the CD-ROM disk the fastest of all. They prove their claimed high speeds leaving other combo-drives behind. While Philips PBC03210G appeared the slowest.

Samsung SM-348B is the best reading the DVD-ROM disks. Toshiba SD-R1202 takes the second place. Three other drives perform equally fast, while Philips PBC03210G is again noticeably slower than other testing participants..

The two combos from LG and the Samsung work best of all with the DVD-RW media. Toshiba SD-R1202 turned to be the worst here: it even