floppy drives

The "granite" faceplate matches the Antec SLK3700AMB case perfectly. It's more of a bronze color. I never imagined there would be a drive that matched that case, much less a Sony. If you care at all how nice a case looks, or if you're a mom-and-pop PC shop that wants to sell computers in that good-lookin' case, this is the floppy drive to get.

This is the retail box floppy sold by the inventor of the floppy disk - Sony. I agree you can buy these items at 10% less in other online stores. That is, you are getting an OEM from them - bare drives packaged in bubble wrap. That's it. If it were half the price, then sure buy it. But think about the savings you think you're getting from them - you still pay for shipping and/or taxes. This comes with free shipping and no tax, get the unit with something else and you're all set.

Amazon is offering this retail unit at a good price. For a little bit more, you are getting a sealed unit from the manufacturer box which contains a manual and installation instrutions (which some might need) and two extra faceplates and buttons in color granite (gray) and matte black - which they call as the "color kit". This is especially helpful for people who want to customize the look of their PC. What I did was to mix and match the faceplate and buttons. Why stick with one color throughout.

Frankly, I don't believe in the Sony quality brand anymore as I've experienced with their other products. However, I have to admit that the brand still gives a good impression. All the included faceplates have the Sony brand molded which makes it even more classy to look at and when installed in the PC case. This makes it better than getting any floppy that looks as generic as it can be.

Yes, this is just a floppy. But you're only getting one, right? Make it worthwhile and get from the inventor that offers the best extras in the box.

It is a floppy drive. You plug it in and it works. Enough said.