The Plextor PX-708UF is totally feature packed. We even get Mount Rainier support, something we've been anticipating for a while now. Mt. Rainier is a new, open-industry standard being supported by the Mt. Rainier Group (Compaq, Microsoft, Philips, and Sony) with the stated goal of making CD-RW easier to use by enabling operating system support and increasing the compatibility and performance of CD-RW recorders. Microsoft plans to include this technology in their "next generation" operating system (currently code named "Longhorn"). You can read more about Mount Rainier here.

     The drive's front bezel is pretty much identical to the last Plextor external burner we reviewed called the PX-504UF. Why change a good thing right? The only difference is we have a choice in colors this time around.

     Other than the pretty colors, we have the ever-present/ever-needy "I'm busy" LED. Green is the color of choice telling you when any of the drive functions are in use -- DVD/CD-R writing and reading, and a steady flashing when the Buffer Underrun Technology is in use. Not to mention a pretty blue LED to let you know that the drive is powered up. Also here is the emergency-eject pin hole so you can get that disc out in the event of power failure.

     At the rear of the drive is where you'll find all of your connectors...obviously. However, this drive is unique from many that I have seen as it offers BOTH Firewire and USB 2.0. You even have a couple RCA style audio outputs. One thing I love about external drives is that you can turn them off when you're not using them. And because of USB, you can turn it back on at any time and not worry about having to reboot. True plug & play at it's best. Clearly, these external burners have many advantages over a hard installed drive.

     There is even a handy switch to swap from USB 2.0 to Firewire, or visa versa. Everything is clearly labeled, so even your parents who have yet to set the clock on their 1985 model VCR, can plug this drive in and get it working with no trouble at all. Thanks to good old Windows XP, installing the drive requires no special drivers. Simply plug it in and power it on.