CDRLabs.com has posted a first look at BenQ's new 16x drive, one of the first drives that supports 16x writing on DVD+R media. The drive also supports 4x writing on DVD+RW media, 2.4x writing to DVD+R DL media, 40x writing on CD-R media, and 24x on CD-RW media. The drive does not support writing to DVD-R/RW media. So is this drive worth considering? Here's a snippet from the preview:

Of course, the big question here is whether or not to upgrade to a 16x DVD+RW drive like the DW1600. If you already own an 8x DVD writer, don't expect your writing times to be cut in half. The time saved by going from 8x to 16x isn't as great as the jump from 4x to 8x. However, on average you're going to shave a good 2 to 3 minutes off the total writing time. Those that already own a 12x DVD writer are going to have to think very hard about upgrading though. Compared to the Plextor PX-712A, the DW1600 was only 15 seconds faster. Unless you need support for things like DVD+R DL, I don't really see a need to upgrade.

Another hurdle for the DW1600 is the lack of 16x DVD+R media. According to industry sources, discs rated at this speed won't hit store shelves for a few more months. Fortunately, BenQ has prepared for this and has given the DW1600 the ability to write to select 8x DVD+R media at 16x. For the most part, this worked pretty well in our tests. However, there is still room for some improvement as there were a few instances where the writing quality wasn't as good as I would have liked. Nevertheless, BenQ is working hard to improve this while adding support for even more media.