When comparing Samsung SE-208GB vs Pioneer BDR-XD05B, the Slant community recommends Pioneer BDR-XD05B for most people. In the question“What are the best external optical drives? ” Pioneer BDR-XD05B is ranked 1st while Samsung SE-208GB is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose Pioneer BDR-XD05B is:
The drive will easily fit in your bag - it's less than half the size of an iPad and weighs only 0.5 pounds.
Specs
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Pros
Pro It's small and lightweight
This drive is very thin and its area is roughly half that of an Apple iPad. It's also very light - only 0.45 lbs
Pro It works quietly
You won't hear the drive running during a film or while listening to music.
Pro It doesn't need an external power source
This drive gets all the power necessary from USB connection with a laptop or PC.
Pro Fast read/write speeds
It takes about 16 minutes to rip a DVD and around 21 minutes to burn one.
Pro Portable
The drive will easily fit in your bag - it's less than half the size of an iPad and weighs only 0.5 pounds.
Pro It runs quietly while playing music and films
When you're watching a film or listening to music, the drive will automatically slow down to decrease the noise that could disrupt your experience.
Pro It doesn’t need an external power source
You don’t need to plug the drive into an external power source, it will work from a USB connection.
Pro You can open it even if it's unplugged
You can open the lid and insert or remove a disc even when the drive isn’t connected to a computer.
Pro The housing doesn't collect fingerprints
Thanks to the matte finish the drive doesn't attract fingerprints and smudges.
Pro Fast rip/burn speeds
This drive supports the USB 3.0 standard that is significantly faster - more than 10 times - than the previous USB 2.0 standard. Ripping a DVD takes around 15 minutes while burning one takes around 20 minutes. When it comes to Blu-Ray, ripping takes about 54 minutes and burning around 40 minutes.
Cons
Con Doesn’t read or write Blu-Ray
You can read and burn CDs and DVDs, but not Blu-ray disks.
Con Picks up fingerprints and scratches easily
The housing is made out of glossy plastic that looks good but gets dirty and scratches very easily.
Con Loud at high speeds
The drive can get noisy when reading or writing at high speeds.
Con Slow BD rip/burn speeds
Blu-Ray ripping takes about 54 minutes and burning - 40 minutes.