What is the best drive on newegg.com thats available, considering the benq 1640 isnt available. * Has to beable to booktype * Has to beable to do all the cd/dvd media tests. * Has to be available retail not OEM * ( I will be using high quality media *T.Y.* -Doesnt have to be from newegg.com* but preferably. Thanks in advance~
It's starting to look like the BenQ DW1655 is going to have to keep the "BenQ Nation" going ... unless you want to wait for the DW1650, I'd recommend the BenQ DW1655 BenQ is the best by test and Plextor is second (I have both)
will have to agree with my buddy catfreak here, ONCE AGAIN~! i am personally waiting for the Benq dw-1650, but the lightscribe version with the same internals is available as catfreak stated in the dw1655~ while i don't own a plextor, it's one of the best burners out there by popular opinion... if you are shopping @ newegg.com exclusively, i know u stated "preferably"...then the other drives i own and like are either discontinued or are older models of the NEWER and BETTER drives out nowadays... i would stick with something recent...i have older models of various manufacturers: Pioneer dvr-109, Sony dru-710a (rebadged Liteon 1633S), Liteon SOHW-1693S, Liteon SOHW-1633S, Nec 3520a, Benq dw1640 and finally a Sony dvd+r ONLY burner for my laptop (4x max speed...yes, outdated, but burns very well) but for your particular situation, i would HIGHLY recommend going with Benq...it's the best "bang for the buck" IMHO...great drives, much better pricing than the Sony's or Plextors... decision should come down to if you want the Lightscribe feature or not..depending on how patient you are to wait for the Benq dw-1650 (i'm trying MY best to be patient too, been anticipating it's arrival here in the U.S. for about 2 months now since i first read about it) i'm sure the newer versions of ALL the drives i currently own are pretty good..but i am a Benq "convert" after catfreak recommended it last year to me...i have been VERY pleased with the 1640's performance and excellent burning capabilities @ faster speeds...and Qsuite is just the icing on the cake~ docTY~ p.s. i am responding directly to this thread as per your PM to me storm1234...there ya have it... p.p.s. @ catfreak, got your PM too about the Benq software prog...unfortunately, i dont' have a tv-video card either...but it does look very promising...i will try it out and let you know what i think of it~
So that other AD'ers won't think that we're keeping all the 'goodies' to ourselves, Doc ... Here's a link to the BenQ QVisde utility: http://www.benq-eu.com/serviceandsupport/downloads/downloads.cfm?product=750&type=A Let's post some results ... enjoy
How can you tell if something is rebadged // refurbished or whatever. Whats the difference between a retail Benq 1640 then a so called rebadged Benq 1640 Magic I/O. Iv'e also seen that the Sony 810a is a rebadge Benq 1640. Any info will be helpful. Thanks Thanks Storm~
Rebadged means that it looks like a Sony .. etc on the outside. Inside however, the guts are something else ... In other words ... BenQ makes the 810 for Sony, the 740 for Plextor and so on ... The main problem is that usually all the BenQ firmware and utilities won't work without cross-flashing As far as being refurbished ... this has to be marked on the package/unit or somewhere where the the consumer can be made aware of the fact that it isn't new Retail means that it is in a fancy box that is clearly marked (like what you'd buy in a store) Where this gets confusing is that when you buy a drive like a Sony, the retail box will have 'Sony' printed on it with a pretty picture ... but, as we all know .. Sony only distributes DVD drives and leaves the manufacturing to BenQ, LiteOn etc...
If you can find a Plextor PX740 that's reasonably priced, get it ... Unfortunatly they run around $60 for an OEM ... the best part of the DW1640 was that it ran around $42 inclusing shipping ... SIGH .. I'm sure that's why they're all gone Plextor has excellent support and utilities for their drives ...
Is there any news or possibilty of a release date on the Benq 1650? And also the Benq 1655 is the same as the 1640, just with the added lightscribe? Will it change as to the quality of burns etc.?
