I had the same question myself "get a rw7120 or spend $19.00 more and get the mp7120, I called one of the places that pricewatch.com had listed for the drive and they told me it was the also the firmware, also that the mp7120 is the retail version of the drive, as for firmware upgrades there was a site somewhere listed on one the the posts that has a firmware upgrade for both drives that which was the newest 2.0 for both drives, so you might get the rw and update the firmware. Personally I'm getting the MP version saves me the worry or hassle of updating and crossing my fingers that its gonna work right.....$139.00 on pricewatch (not bad!)