Part of conclusion:

The CR-480ATE is also one of the fastest rewriters out there. Thanks to its 12x rewriting speeds, the drive blows past many of the other 32x writers out there. The drive also did quite well when using the Mt. Rainier format. In our tests this feature worked flawlessly and was considerably faster than the Yamaha 3200E. Unfortunately this performance did not carry over to the drive's writing speeds. The drive's slower average writing speed made it one of the slower 32x writing speeds we've tested. When it comes to media, the drive was also pickier than some of the other drives I've tested. As long as you stick to the brands recommended by Mitsumi or wait for media rated at 32x, you should have no problems..

Right now the Mitsumi CR-480ATE has still not hit the store shelves here in the US. Unfortunately I can't tell you when you'll see it or even how much it will be. If Mitsumi can price it like their 24x writer, it will probably be very popular. Is it the 32x writer for you? If you're looking for fast writing speeds and the ability to write at 32x to a wide variety of media, you might want to check out the TDK veloCD 32x or LG's LTR-32123S. If you're looking for fast rewriting speeds and features like a 16MB buffer and support for the Mt. Rainier format, make sure you check out the CR-480ATE when it comes out.