Review for Lite-on 6x External Blu-ray Disc Combo

It doesn't seem all that long ago that people were declaring DVD disks to be the storage invention of the future. Not anymore. Now it's all about the Blu-ray! With approximately 50GBs worth of space on one disk it is hard to argue and to many people watching a film on Blu-ray is almost as good...if not better... than watching in the cinema.

Now before you get too excited about this Blu-ray combo drive (and I'll get to why you should in a second) first things first. This is not a Blu-ray writer. The drive is strictly a DVD and CD writer and so please be aware of that when purchasing. However, if you don't have a writable drive (especially those with Netbooks) this is possibly the best drive for you.

So where should I start?

First up, there is no external power supply. It is all run on USB and so that makes it even more of a plus for those on the go. The weight is approximately 350 gramms and about 21mms thickness. So for those unable to fathom that, the drive weighs less than two bags of Starburst and is probably as thick as a Blu-ray case.

And how well does it work?

The Blu-ray player is perfect and depending on the specs on your computer will determine whether you get the most out of it. On the go (personally) the drive lasted for about five to eight hours with one charge of my Netbook's battery. This gave me enough time to watch The Dark Knight and most of The Godfather Trilogy on the go. Quality of the picture was great as was the sound and though of course the quality is not the same as playing on a big screen TV, for a portable player it was great. However, if you do have a system setup that connects your computer to your TV, then this drive is an ideal way of upgrading to Blu-ray in the home.

The CD and DVD Writer are fine. With writing speeds of 24x for CDs and 8x for DVDs it works well and though the addition of a Blu-ray writer (even just a basic one) would make this even more of a must have item, but for a writing drive it is fine. The addition of Lightscribe which allows you to create designs on compatible disks is a nice addition and certainly for those looking to create professional disks is a wonderful idea.

The most important thing for me is how easy it is to install and use. The answer. Very Easy. I expected to be stuck installing for hours and then having to read a manual to work out what to do. It wasn't. Within the hour I was installed and sat in a Subway watching a Blu-ray. This was outstanding and a definite plus in my book.

The Lite-On 6x external slim Blu-ray COMBO is only missing a Blu-ray writer to make it perfect. But maybe that's me being greedy. As a Blu-ray player it is as good as a stand-alone machine and as a CD and DVD writer it is as good as anything else out there on the market. If you are looking for a portable Blu-ray player then this is the one for you.