Conclusions

You might think that the the driving factor in the decision of which device to buy is likely to be price, since many of the external devices look and perform in a similar way. However, Samsung's SE-S204 drive was so much quicker than the others we can overlook its other flaws. Even though we handed the crown to the fastest unit in our test, LG and Lite-On do still impress with models that are cheaper but fast enough.
Lite-On might have expected to go ahead of the pack by including Lightscribe technology as standard, but Samsung stole its thunder by doing the same. Samsung has also put the most effort in with supporting manuals and other material.
What’s harder to decide on are the portable options. LG has a cheap, swish offering that draws its power from the USB port and updates its software automatically. Meanwhile, the Lite-On drive has none of those frills but is the cheapest at a little over £60. If you are tempted by the Lite-On it might be worth holding out until it upgrades its range. Either you’ll get better features for the same price, or you’ll get the existing model at a massive discount. Bargain!