Instead of allowing you to read from, but not write to, a minor-league DVD format, HP decided to throw in LightScribe to spice up this burner. That's no surprise as HP invented the cool disc-labeling technology.

The dvd740i whipped Pioneer's DVR-110 in just about every event, most notably writing 4.25GB of data to a 16x DVD+R disc, completing the task in an astonishing 5:35 (min:sec), and beating Plextor!|s PX-716A by a hearty 15 seconds! Burning 7.5GB to a double-layer DVD+R disc was accomplished in a tidy 16:01, easily reaching the upper echelons of double layer-burning optical drives, and the drive was also particularly swift ripping a DVD-Video.

Although LightScribe is a notoriously time-consuming method of labeling your discs, HP has reduced the time it takes to print a complex image at the best quality setting; the dvd740i forked over our disc in 28:48, 10 minutes less than it took to do the same with our first LightScribe drive. And because LightScribe doesn't require babysitting, you can just pop the disc in and go out to lunch