With those performance specifications, the new Boa drive can burn a 74-minute CD in less than two minutes; about 20 percent faster than a 40x drive and can rewrite a CD-RW in about 6.1 minutes, according to EZQuest. The drive sports a 2MB buffer and buffer under-run technology to help eliminate wasting CD-R media in fast-write modes.
The Boa itself comes in a light-gray streamline case that’s metal-shielded, and comes equipped with a built-in universal 50-watt auto-switching power supply, a data cable and software. The Boa is bundled with CharisMac’s Discribe software. It’s compatible with Mac OS 8.6 and later, including Mac OS X. Suggested retail price for the new drive is US$219.
EZQuest noted that they’ll be showing off the new drive at next month’s Macworld Conference & Expo in New York City. Look for them in Booth 359.