CD-RW Dillema:

[ReDVsion]

Here's the situation; I have the following prices on 12x10x32x CD-RW drives from price watch, all w/ burn-proof:

Teac - 172 + 8+ (bare); 189 + 12 (w/ soft)
Sanyo - 188 + 6+ (bare); 189 + 8+ (w/ soft)
Plextor - 209 + 8+ (w/ soft)
TDK - 260 + 8+ (w/ soft)
Creative - 211 + 15 (w/ soft)

Now, I'm pretty damn sure that all these drives were made by the same underpaid oriental folks and a different label was just slapped on. But just to be safe, is there ANY reason I should buy a more expensive drive?

And anyone wanting to know WHY I need a new CD-RW: My current 4x4x24x "Smart and Friendly" (My 1st mistake - but come on, it was only 99 bucks as Best Buy...) will no longer write to CD-RW discs. Pisser, huh? So I need to sell this POS and get something better...

[Kevin]

Everyone I've talked to recommends the Plextor, so that's what I'll recommend as well.

[implode]

If the TDK is the "VeloCD" or something like that, then it's just a repackaged Plextor. I would recommend the Plextor as well (12/10/32?).

[ReDVsion]

Yes, but what about the 1st 2? They have the same specs... And yes, the TDK is VeloCD - I'd get the plextor before getting that. All of 'em are 12x10x32.

I've had 3 different CD writers, a Smart and Friendly 4/4/24 (crap), a Hewlett Packard 8/4/32 (OK but overpriced), and my current Plextor 12/10/32. Go for the Plextor.

(I sold the HP to my brother. It didn't shoot craps. I just have the need for speed).

[John M]

I have an HP cdwriter plus 8000 4x2x20 and need a new (read faster) drive, so i'm watching this with interest.

[Jstalilwyrd]

My friends and I use a variety of burners. I have a Yamaha 4/4/16 external SCSI, and it works plenty fine, but I thought I overpaid (I did save $200 when I bought it). My Dell comes with an LG 8/4/32 and that works great as well... regarding your choices, I didn't know Sanyo made burners, I've thought of them as more for audio than computer stuff. Teac sounds OK. Creative is good, one of my friends has a Creative, and he hasn't had any problems as far as I know. Overall, for peace of mind, go Plextor... my friends swear by them, and they've gotten rave reviews from major publications and sites too... besides, that's a very reasonable price for it. Also bear in mind 16's are out... mmm. Hope this helps.

[Jstalilwyrd]

Just for some quick, shameless advertising... outpost.com is selling a Plextor 12x/10x/32x CD-RW w/software and media(?) for $239.95... click here (I hope it works). Remember, free overnight shipping and no tax (depending where you live)

[edit]I should read Red's post before I do something like this. I feel like a stoof now.[/edit] Oh well, I'll just leave the link there anyway.

[Mr. Ice]

plextor is hands down the best cd-rom company. they slaughter the competition in read speeds, dae speeds, write/rewrite speeds, stability, and reliability. it's definitely worth the extra few dollars in my opinion.

[sgtfuzzbubble011]

I just bought a Pacific Digital external USB 4x4x8 CD-RW drive..... I haven't been able to try the damn thing out because my 'puter doesn't like it. It can read cds fine if I hot-plug the thing in, but..... the drive won't recognize any cds if the computer is rebooted. Oh well, I'm callin' tech support in the morning. I'll let you know if it's any good when I get the frickin' thing working right. But for now, I'll just say, "don't bother."

I have a Smart & Friendly 4x4x24 in my old Packard Bell and absolutely love it. It's never let me down. I don't understand why everone else has problems with them...

[bjay125]

I must go with the masses and say Plextor. I once thought it didn't matter and bought a cheaper one (Memorex I think) and it crapped out in about a year. I've now had a Plextor 8/4/32 for about 8 months and I have had not a hint of problems. The cheaper one started showing bad signs at about the 4 month mark. Except for sound cards, I avoid Creative like the plague. Don't know about the others, but Plextor is known for it's high quality - and has been around for a long time catering primarily to business solutions until recently. It also doesn't hurt that I've achieved DAE speeds of better than 20x !!!!

[Mr. Ice]

smart and friendly drives are basically plextor drives. the only difference is that they failed one or more of the super-stringent quality control tests to become a plextor branded drive. i have several friends with s&f drives and they've never had a problem with them.

[sgtfuzzbubble011]

I guess that's like how Celerons are basically Pentiums of lower quality, huh?

[ReDVsion]

Actually, durons are closer to athlons than celerons are to Pentium II/III, due to the FSB speed. Course there's always overclocking...

Hemmingway, I guess that I just got a bad S&F drive - though they also went out of bidness, and that name, well...

Sgt: Packard Bell, huh? did you get one of the few that actually works, like mine did? (I had a 75mhz PB and it worked spiffy).

Jstalilwyrd: It always helps to read my post. And here's a recommendation: always check pricewatch.com. As far as I can tell they ALWAYS have the best prices.

Well, it looks like I'll be going for the plextor, though if ANYONE has anything good to say about the cheaper drives (which I still believe are the same damn thing as a plextor), post it!

[ReDVsion]

Originally posted by bjay125
bought a cheaper one (Memorex I think) and it crapped out in about a year.

Damn. You and bjay125 (CD-R and DVD Players Topic) are saying Memorex drives suck when I haven't had one that's given me shit yet.

[DEckaRD]

As far as I know most CD-Writers are based on Sony technology. I'm sure that HP uses it and Yamaha doesn't use it.
Go for Yamaha, Teac, Plextor or Sony/HP. The new Sony has a black front! I'll buy that one after Christas I think.

Im happy with my good' ol Panasonic 4x CD-RW... I hear that there are more chances of cd fucking up (skipping etc) if you burn over 4x speed anyway.... hmmm

[sgtfuzzbubble011]

Panasonic is awesome...

DEckaRD-
Does that mean that my HP Pavilion has Sony parts in it? NOOOOO! Not that! Sony bad. Sony very bad. I just hope that you were talking about CD-RW drives only...

Red-
Yep. I have a PB-2100 with a Pentium 233 MMX and 96 megs of RAM in it... Of course, the Voodoo3 2000 that I put in it helped out tremendously when I played Q2 online. I'm gonna give it to my mom, cuz she doesn't have a puter, and I've got a HP now. There is nothing I couldn't do with that machine. It will always hold a special place in my heart..... *sniffle*

Oh, and about that Pacific Digital CD-RW drive that I got yesterday... I tried to call tech support, but the lines were all busy. Sooooo, I e-mailed the tech support guys there. This thing is starting to piss me off..... It works fine and writes/rewrites/erases cds great, but if I want to use it, I have to wait until Windows is finished loading before I turn the drive on... I just hope they e-mail me back soon.

[DEckaRD]

What's wrong with Sony? My old Sony Doublespeed CD drive works better than my Taiwanese 24x.
I'm sure about the HP CD-RW writers. I don't know about any other HP drives.

[sgtfuzzbubble011]

I don't like Sony. They suck. The only Sony product that I ever liked is the Playstation...

Have you seen a Vaio lately? That's the most proprietary hunk of crap I've ever seen in my life... It's not the quality of their products that's bad, it's the company and their ideals that bite.