Lite-On DX-20A3P
Lite-On's 20x external DVD is a functional slab of white plastic that is not dissimilar in style to the kind of Japanese robots that make great Christmas presents. It even sounded a bit like a droid in our read tests, making the kind of noise you’d expect from a portable hair dryer. It’s almost as if you can feel the power of the motors eking the most out of the disc technology and 20x is about as fast as you want this technology to go. But do you really want the desk to shake with the effort? Perhaps you do... But sometimes you get the feeling if it weren't such a sturdy design the whole unit might pop a gasket.
And yet the DX-20A3P writes quietly enough. It wrote in tests at a little under three minutes a GB, which is perfectly adequate. It also comes with Lightscribe technology as standard. It costs just under £50.

Rating: 7/10