CR-593's nuances:

On first glance this looks like any other CD-ROM out there, and on closer inspection it proves it ;-) The only major physical difference with this drive in comparison to the 40X Sony we reviewed a while back is the lack of a skip button on the face of the drive. The point of having a skip button is basically the same as having the head phone jack on the CD-ROM, so CD's can be easily accessed... To be fair when listening to CD's I use software to jump tracks, and have never used the skip button on my CD-ROM so I guess it is a little useless in reality.

Opening the tray is a little slow, taking a few seconds before the door will begin to open. The mechanism opening the tray is gear based, and relatively loud. With the drive operating at full RPM, vibrations are minimal which is nice to see for once. Quite often high speed CD-ROMs vibrate and make a lot of noise when the disc is spinning at full RPM - either due to poor balance, or resonance in the components.

Conclusion:

Is this a good CD-ROM? As 40X drives goes the Panasonic CR-593 is a satisfactory drive in its class. But, for $50 it is currently the least expensive 40X drive we have been able to source out. Speaking from a performance/cost standpoint it's a good choice. Mind you for another $12 you could get the Sony drive we tested earlier....

Guess the final answer depends on how determined you are to keep prices down. We've been reviewing a lot of inexpensive products lately because we have had the task of building a few systems for the absolute least amount of money. We used this Panasonic drive in our systems because of its price, not performance. There are a few situations where price matters more then performance... not many, but a few :-)