By: jeff64l (29-Aug-08)      Experience with product: 3 Months

Strengths:	Compact, can stand horizontally or vertically, quiet, relatively fast for the price. So far it has been a very sturdy and dependable machine.
Weaknesses:	Directions for use aren't really clear. Takes a little time to figure them out.

Full User Summary
This is the first burner I have ever bought, and ever used. My total cost was $93. I received it the beginning of June 2008. I am using it with an Acer Aspire 3050 laptop. I bought it because a friend recommended it to me. After using it for 3 months I recommend the SONY DRX-840U DVD Writer. Don't be afraid to buy one. If I can figure out how to burn DVDs, so can you. So far I have burned 270, Verbatim, -R, DVDs. The machine would not burn 10 discs. These bad discs were returned to the store where I purchased them. The store replaced them free of charge. Remember when a disc won't burn it is not always because of the machine. The quality of the burned discs has been excellent. No complaints. My average burn time is 10-15 minutes per disc. I have read some reviews that claim the machine is noisy. Not mine. It is so quiet, there are times I forget that it's on. It is compact in a stylish silver case. I use it at my kitchen table. It takes up less space then a dinner dish. It is approximately the size of a hardcover book. I recommended this burner to my friends and family. One friend purchased it and he is very satisfied with it.

By: macbeemer (27-Jun-08)      Experience with product: 1 Days

Strengths:	MacOS compliant
Weaknesses:	Well, it did cost some money....

Full User Summary
Some reviewers mentioned difficulty with the included software: On a Mac running 10.5.3, I plugged it in and started working. The drive was recognized automatically, and no installations were required, Burned a DVD and a CD(music) without a hitch. Sorry my internal quit, but for 89.00 @ CC, this was hard to beat.

By: phieubac (24-May-08)      Experience with product: 7 Days

Strengths:	nice design, speed.
Weaknesses:	a little noisy

Full User Summary
I had couple external dvd (ex. Plextor, panasonic, omega) and they all died after I used for a year or more. I saw my friend using this external dvd(DRX-840U). It look nice so I decide to bought one for myself. When I receive this sony DRX-840U, I test it with Nero burning software but somehow the Nero did not detect this drive. I try to reboot, uninstall and install a few timesbut no go. So I try to use this drive on Ashampoo burning and it works great. I also recommend this drive for my neighbor who try to find a new drive

By: gerryfoo (16-Apr-08)      Experience with product: 1

Strengths:	Beautiful casing, fast writing, reliable burning
Weaknesses:	Noisy

Full User Summary
I purchased this DVD writer last month for about $90 (including tax and shipping)and it has been worth every cent. The fact that it has a gorgeous design makes it appealing since it sits on my desktop. I use Verbatim DVD-Rs with it and I've had absolutely no burning problems yet (burned nearly 50 DVDs so far). The Nero software has not had any problems yet, and it is quite user friendly. I like the vertical design, as it allows for more desktop space. I've learned to adjust to the noise level but I think I tend to enjoy "white noise" anyway. I highly recommend this burner to anyone looking for one!

By: riverseow (26-Jan-08)      Experience with product: 20

Strengths:	Liability, Speed, Shining Design
Weaknesses:	Vertical, Noisy

Full User Summary
I got couple of DVD burners in last 5 years. Some come with the laptop (Toshiba, exchanged twice for the internal DVD burner), the other was an external one (Lacie) just like this product. All of them failed after a year of usage (about 30 to 50 DVDs burning). However, my office desktop SONY 830A internal burner has burned 200 DVDs (~100 of them are 8G DL DVD-R) and still works very well now. 4.7G single Layer works very fast and no problem. 8G DL DVD-R has a failure ratio of 5% depend on the media. Therefore, I decided to buy a SONY burner for my home. I went for this 840U external since it is a new model following the 830 series and has good on-line review for its liability. I got it from Circuit City when it was on sale during the Xmas. By far, it works very well. None of ~10 burning fails when I verified the DVD-Rs on different machine after burning. It took me a while to get use to this vertical design. But it fit my desk at home very well. It can be used horizontally as some users saying it is better to use it horizontally. However, the eject button and power on button are all designed for vertical usage. I will just keep it vertical. When it reads discs, it is quite noisier than other optical driver. However, so long it works, I am not very concern about the noise.