
Lite-on SOHW-1673S
Pros
- Great CD performance
Cons
- Slow, somewhat unreliable DVD writing
Bottom Line
We recommend this drive for users who are after excellent CD based performance but aren't too fussed about DVD performance.
-
Price
$ 99.00 (AUD)
LiteOn drives generally cut the mustard quite well in our reviews, even though they can be loud and clumsy looking. They are often the enthusiast's drive of choice due to the availability of a utility that lets users change the book-type of DVD media, forcing DVD-R, DVD+R or DVD+R DL discs to be burnt as DVD-ROM discs in a bid to make them readable in players that generally don't accept those discs.
If you plan to burn DVD+R DL discs with this drive, then you will require a lot of patience. Our 2.4X DVD+R DL discs took over 44 minutes to complete, even though Nero reported a 4X transfer rate during the burn. Single layer burns were also quite slow, and this drive was not capable of burning to our 8X DVD-R discs at 8X; instead the maximum transfer rate it could use on these discs was 6X. Nero CD/DVD Speed reported this drive to be using the CAV method for writing and reading. It also produced a "coaster" during our DVD+R burning test.
A test of dual layer burning produced a disc that could not be read in our old Pioneer 106D DVD burner. It was picked up without problems in our Zensonic Z330 media player, though.
It wasn't all gloom for this drive though, as it produced some of the finest CD burning and reading results in our tests.
Brand Post

Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Dell U3223QE review: A winning debut for an IPS Black monitor
- 2 Netgear Nighthawk M5 mobile router review: Probably too expensive, but nice
- 3 MSI Katana GF76 review: Decent gaming performance for a reasonable price
- 4 Asus ROG Flow Z13 review: A full-fledged gaming PC disguised as a tablet
- 5 iPhone SE (2022) review: An uneven and disappointing ‘upgrade’
Latest News Articles
- This write-once portable SSD can never be erased
- Seagate’s Star Wars ‘Beskar Steel’ SSDs are storage fit for a bounty hunter
- Micron’s microscopic NVMe SSD packs 2TB of lightning-quick storage
- ‘UltraRAM’ breakthrough could merge storage and RAM into one component
- Samsung’s first PCIe 5.0 SSD is here and it’s stupidly fast
Resources
Macworld
What's new, plus best mac-related tips
and tricks

Business Centre
The latest business news, reviews, features and whitepapers

Videos
Watch our video news and reviews from around the world

Guides
Comprehensive buying guides, features, and step-by-step articles

PCW Evaluation Team
Pedro Peixoto
Aruba Instant On AP11D

Set up is effortless.
Cate Bacon
Aruba Instant On AP11D

The strength of the Aruba Instant On AP11D is that the design and feature set support the modern, flexible, and mobile way of working.
Dr Prabigya Shiwakoti
Aruba Instant On AP11D

Aruba backs the AP11D up with a two-year warranty and 24/7 phone support.
Tom Pope
Dynabook Portégé X30L-G

Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.
Tom Sellers
MSI P65

This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.
Lolita Wang
MSI GT76

It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.
Featured Content
- What laptop should I get? Top 12 things to consider
- Best Optus iPhone SE (3rd gen) plans
- eSIMs: The advantages and disadvantages for smartphone users
- Everything you need to know about Smart TVs
- What's the difference between an Intel Core i3, i5 and i7?
- Laser vs. inkjet printers: which is better?