Which CD-RW should I buy?

[loukey]

I am planning on buying a 52x CDRW reather soon. (I have hear they will not be going any high, any truth to this?)

I am trying to choose which brand to get... I ahve owned a Plexwriter 8432 since they were released and have been extremely pleased with it. What should I get now?

I keep hearing Lite-On is the ebst, but the only thing I found remarkable about the liteons is that they can be upgraded to teh next highest burner commonly... is this the only reason they are recommended? Here is what I am looking for in order of importance to me: 1. Features (must support Mt. Rainier, have decent and controlable burn-proof... would prefer greater cache, but not essential) 2. Preformance (this included how fast it can write, what media it accepts, AND how loud it is. I already have one of those delta black-lable fans burning through my ears (and cooling my poor oced athlon), dun want another ear-sore. 3. Upgradability.

Soooo should I still get a Lite-On considering I don't really care so much if I can upgrade it or should I consider one of the other brands? Also any recommendations on where to get it cheap are appriciated.... I missed the 15$ officemax deal 2 weeks ago :-(.

TIA

 

[grrl]

The general consensus of forum members seems to be that the Plextor is still one of the best if not THE best, especially when reading damaged disks. But for a solid machine at a considerably lower price the Lite-on is a good deal, but a bit loud. LGs are supposed to be good machines and much quieter (but they don't come with Nero, which may not matter to you). Others swear by Yamaha (also quite expensive). I don't know all the specs, but I'm pretty sure the Yamaha supports Rainier.

If you are looking for the lowest price, you can wait for one on Hot Deals forum or check out www.pricewatch.com

 

[Doh!]

If you want to save a few bucks but don't mind the noise then get a lite-on 48x24x48 and upgrade the bios to make it 52x24x52.

If you care more for low noise, nothing beats LG CD-RWs. Plextors and Yamahas are nice but they're way too expensive for me. But if you can afford them, they're very dependable and most likely will have all features you want (then again, both LG & Lite-On have Mt.Rainer & burn-proof features). In terms of performance, a difference of less than 10 sec. wouldn't hurt you, right? For media compatibility, lite-on appears to update its bios more often than other mfgs. to accomodate newer media.

I've owned & used HP, Sony, LG, Samsung, Lite-on, Yamaha, Plextor, Aopen & other brands in the past. For the machines I've built in the last 6 months, I only used either Lite-on or LG since the features/performance/dependability between these brand and the high-end brand such as Plextor/Yamaha have become very close (while the price gap still exists).

 

[QueBert]

Even though they stopped making CDRW drives, GET a Yamaha! they still fully support their existing line. Plextor this, Plextor that. Plextor is good, Yamaha is better imho. But... Yamaha cost even more. The f1's are incredible, right down to the blue LED. which doesn't do anything, but the coolness shoots up

 

[yodayoda]

don't the yamahas have that CD tattoo thing? that is cool. i am doing just fine with my Liteon over here, but if were in the market for a new CDRW, i will get the yamaha with the CD tattoo feature. if you are a hard core CD-R junkie, get the plextor. but if you want something that works great for cheap, you can't go wrong with Liteon. i spend my time with DVD-R anyways =)