Readers are advised to first read the original Plextor PX-716A review that contains the full suite of tests.

The Plextor PX-716SA comes with a better firmware. This newest firmware revision adds new media, especially at 16X for both DVD+R and DVD-R formats. After reading the PX-716A review, it's possible that you might think the previous firmware was better, but this is not the case. Media which could only be burned at maximum 12X with great quality, is now supported at 16X with only a small loss in quality in some cases. Originally, these media could not go higher than 12X since the writing quality was not good. However, with the appropriate adjustments in the most recent firmware, this has been fixed.

Less media are now supported at 12X, either because of the reason previously mentioned or because the new firmware slows down the speed to 8X for the safer and more reliable results. Generally, we believe that the overall performance of the drive has been improved.

Despite the fact that Plextor already has a newer burner on the market, the PX-740A, the PX-716A/AL/SA is still a good and reliable solution. There are also not many manufacturers that offer drives in IDE and SATA interfaces, for greater compatibility.

At the time of this update, the price for the Plextor PX-716SA on the e-market (Pricegrabber, newegg, etc), is around US$112 for the bulk version and close to $135 for the retail. The newer PX-740A costs much less, close to US$80 but it lacks the SATA interface and Plextools support. So, if you need a Serial ATA drive, the PX-716SA is a very good choice while providing Plextools support. The new PX-740A does not support Plextools and does not offer a SATA interface. A future release of the PX-740A with SATA is not something you can depend on since Plextor has stopped making its own drives and has opted for an OEM solution, as in the case of the PX-740A which is manufactured by BenQ.