PLEXTOR External 12x4x16 PX-712UF DVD Writer
 

PLEXTOR is well-known for their high-performance optical drives and many of you have probably heard or seen the name PLEXTOR at some point in time.
This puppy is a 8-in-1 combo drive: 12X DVD+R, 8X DVD-R, 4X DVD+RW, 4X DVD-RW, 16X DVD-ROM, 48X CD-R, 24X CD-RW and 48X CD-ROM. It supports both PC and Mac's as it supports both USB2.0 and FireWire technologies.

http://www.bonafidereviews.com/article.php?id=37

Is Plextor still king of the hill? Read it and find out ;)