Samsung SE-S084 proved to be a terrific product for those that bought netbooks that don’t come with an optical drive. The reduced size and weight plus the absence of an AC adapter are its best features. Here is a summary of what we found out about this product.

Strong Points

• Can be used as a boot device
• No device driver installation is needed
• No AC adapter: power is driven from USB ports
• Can be connected and disconnected with PC turned on
• Faster than the internal 8x DVD writer from our laptop (Sony Vaio VGN-N325E)

Weak Points

• Cable is very short for desktop users (good sized for laptop/netbook users)
• You need to buy a cable extender if your laptop/netbook doesn’t have two USB ports side by side.
• Slower than desktop writers