ASUS DRW-2014L1T LightScribe DVD writer

Let's begin by taking a quick look at the drive itself.

All in all, the DRW-2014L1T looks exactly as you'd expect it to - Like a DVD writer.  By default, the drive sports a black face plate, but a white alternative is also supplied to allow it to match your system's chassis (assuming it isn't silver!).

Turning to the rear of the drive, we find both Serial ATA power and data connectors, as befitting of a modern optical drive.

Packaging and bundle

So, that's the drive itself out of the way - Let's now take a look at how ASUS have packaged this part, as well as the kind of bundle on offer.

The focus of ASUS' packaging here is this device's support for LightScribe, which allows you to use the burner itself to label your DVDs (assuming they're LightScribe discs) with text and images.  Beyond that, we can also see those two coloured front panels, and a brief outline of the drive's writing speeds using various media formats.

On the side of the box we find a more in-depth list of the DRW-2014L1T's specifications.

Dual-layer DVD media is supported with write speeds of up to 8x, DVD-RAM support is available up to 14x, DVD + and - R are supported at up to 20x while + and - R/W are supported at 8x and 6x respectively.  Moving on to old school CD support, CD-R writing is available at up to 48x, with R/W support at 32x.  Of course, it's worth remembering that many of these quoted speeds are in fact variable during the writing process, thanks to the use of CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) and the like, so you frequently won't be seeing these maximum speeds throughout the writing process as we'll see shortly.

The rear of the box lists some of the product's features, as well as giving an explanation of exactly how LightScribe works.

Bundled with the drive is that alternate white face plate we've already mentioned, mounting screws, a paper installation guide, and an OEM copy of Nero Burning ROM to handle the software side of your CD and DVD writing needs.