Recommended burner for under $170?

JimMorrison3169 · Post by **JimMorrison3169** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 1:35 pm

Hi,

I've never bought a burner before (yes, I live in the Stone Age) and have some birthday money to spend. The thing is I don't know much about burning CDs and all that stuff... I would like a burner that is reliable, easy to use, and has a software bundle decent enough that I don't have to go out and buy a bunch of different programs. I went to Amazon to look around but most of the reviews say either "this burner rocks, buy it" or "this burner sucks, had problems with it", so I figured I would come here and get some good input from some people that own a burner themselves. No one ever talks about the 40/12/48 TDK, seeing that it's fast and all, I would think there would be more talk about it, hmmmm. If anyone owns a Plextor, Lite-On, Yamaha, other brands, I would really like to hear about your experiences. Any help is appreciated.

Alex

A_old · Post by **A_old** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 1:47 pm

http://www.newegg.com

plextor or liteon 32x or 40x, both well under 170 (the liteon is much cheaper and a better deal IMHO)

loop2kil · Post by **loop2kil** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 4:44 pm

Best Buy has a 32x10x40 Samsung for $39.99 after $60 in rebates. its quiet and fast. if your going to buy online i'd go to newegg like amro said and get the lite-on.

Rivas · Post by **Rivas** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 5:20 pm

go for plextor,i own 40 12 40A
im burning every day few cds and np with it at all.
if u will need burning software just pm me and ill send it to u

Broadsword · Post by **Broadsword** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 5:36 pm

OMG! Yamaha, 8MB BUFFER! They are VERY cheap! They rule! Never had a problem with it and it... well it RULES! Check this one out.

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 5:53 pm

Originally posted by OptKing
OMG! Yamaha, 8MB BUFFER! They are VERY cheap! They rule! Never had a problem with it and it... well it RULES! Check this one out.

Yamaha makes good burners, I have the 6x4x16 SCSI model and never a problem.

That one you posted OptKing, for $80.00 US sounds like a great deal.

LuiKhang · Post by **LuiKhang** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 6:15 pm

how long does it take the lite on 32x for a full data cd?

neo960 · Post by **neo960** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 8:19 pm

Originally posted by LuiKhang
how long does it take the lite on 32x for a full data cd?

I have a TDK Velocd 32/10/40X burner which takes 8 minutes to burn a 700 MB Data CD(The manual claims it should take 3 minutes, which is false). Liteon 32X may probably take the same time.

HongKongPolice · Post by **HongKongPolice** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 8:27 pm

If it really is taking you 8min to burn a full CD, then something is SERIOUSLY wrong..... My 24x burns a full 700MB in 4min flat. Either you're using CD-Rs that can't burn at 32x, or burnproof is being activated a lot

neo960 · Post by **neo960** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 8:45 pm

According to the manual, I need to enable DMA to get the 3minute speed. But since I use NT4.0, which does not provide any way of enabling DMA, I have to live with this speed.

On a 24x CD-R, I get 8 minutes burn time, even though I set the burner to write at 32x. On a 32X CD-R (which I got free with my burner), the best speed I had was 6 minutes.

The 24X CD-Rs that I use are made by Fuji Film (Taiyo Yuden) in Japan.

I always keep buffer underrun protection on. Could this be causing the slow speed? (Sorry for changing the subject matter of this thread. Should I be asking this in a new thread?)

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 8:53 pm

Neo960, if you're using the PC in your profile it could be your mobo, CDRom, or HD can't keep up at high speed burns. Leave the underrun protection enabled, or burn at slower speeds.

Just because a burner can support high speed burns doesn't mean the rest of the PC can keep up and keep the buffer in the burner supplied with something to write.

High speed burners need high speed systems.

neo960 · Post by **neo960** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 9:12 pm

Thanks for the feedback Norm. Yes, I am using the PC that I have mentioned in my profile (Dell Dimension. Can't believe I spent $4800 on this system when I bought it in '96).

I am trying to learn how to put together a system instead of buying a new PC. A lot of members in thsi forum have provided helpful links/info which I am trying to use.

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 9:32 pm

I think Jim has enough info on what burners are good ones, and hope he doesn't mind us going off topic...

ok Jim?

Neo, we all got suckered into paying too much for a prebuilt at one point. Nothing like building your own from quality parts believe me (and everyone else who builds thier own) It's not near as hard as most people think.
Research the parts you'll need, and compatibility, ask here for advice (as often as you like), and read the manuals you get with your mobo, cpu, and PCI cards for installation instructions, you can't go wrong.

Good luck, and happy building

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 9:38 pm

Yep, and there are always forums like these to ask stupid questions.

I'll be building like my 8th (or something like that) PC shortly, and even I made a huuuuge post double checking everything that I can think of. If you need help, just ask!

neo960 · Post by **neo960** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 10:18 pm

Thanks guys. I will start a new thread when I need help building my system.

Jim,

I bought my TDK VeloCD for $99 (after $50 MIR). Best Buy has this deal once in a while. It is a great burner (not even one single coaster have I made with it) and the software that comes with it is excellent. I bought mine at compusa.

JimMorrison3169 · Post by **JimMorrison3169** » Sat Jun 15, 2002 11:19 pm

Originally posted by neo960

Jim,

I bought my TDK VeloCD for $99 (after $50 MIR). Best Buy has this deal once in a while. It is a great burner (not even one single coaster have I made with it) and the software that comes with it is excellent. I bought mine at compusa.

Hmmm, thanks! I'll look into that, thanks to everyone else who posted, I appreciate it. One more question why do they have 40x writing speeds when I always hear about people burning them at sometimes half that speed?

rickabilities · Post by **rickabilities** » Sun Jun 16, 2002 10:49 pm

damn, can't believe you were ready to drop $170 for a burner when they can be found for around $50 nowadays

What will you do with the left over money!!??

A_old · Post by **A_old** » Sun Jun 16, 2002 11:14 pm

Originally posted by rickabilities
damn, can't believe you were ready to drop $170 for a burner when they can be found for around $50 nowadays What will you do with the left over money!!??

send it to the "Save the Amro's Computer Fund"

Papa needs a new case, 32x black cdrw, 16x black dvdrom, black floppy, and a red cold cathode

!!!!

neo960 · Post by **neo960** » Tue Jun 25, 2002 3:08 pm

Hey Jim:

Best Buy and CompUSA have a deal on Sony 32/10/40X CD-RW drive for $59.99 this week. This is the best deal I have seen so far. I wish I had not bought my TDK at $99 in April..

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Jun 25, 2002 6:15 pm

liton 48x burner, 97 bucks plus shipping, liteon is a great product have a burner of theirs and a regualr cdrom, both run good and lso quiet