SO hard to choose, help appreciated !

[NobodySpecial]

Greetings people !

First, must say I'm quite impressed by your place, the info is quite useful and articles are written very professionally yet in pretty clear language (cheers to Ian )

Finally I have decided to purchase CDRW of my own and now of course I'm facing that serious problem: Which one ??
My dealer suggested 3 models in price range I can afford and those follow :

Asus CRW-5224A
LG GCE-8523B
Samsung SW-252B

To be used on K6-3-400/256/60 machine for daily (maybe weekly) backup purposes, with CDRW Samsung & Maxell x10 and CDR TDK & LG media...

Important: Low CPU resources (and actually whole system) usage, silent, good reading speed, legacy media reading (say couple yrs ago), reliable, not picky with CDR media.

- I Usually never Write/Rewrite @ high speeds, as it affects burning quality (well, that's what ppl say) so maximum of x24 would be best for me.
- Burning soft is not a problem
- Do not want to mess with firmware upgrades

I have passed over many reviews and specs, for now LG seems to be the best option, however 8Mb buffer of 252B makes me think twice before purchasing. Also ASUS is one of my favorites, with all good things we know about it seems to be slightly out of date plus they don't have long time history with optical storage (as far as I remember)

Although I have performed comprehensive market research your advice would be mostly appreciated.
[/i]

Cheers

[CDRecorder]

I have heard of some issues with the recording quality of the ASUS, and I have heard that the Samsung drives may not be as reliable as some others, so I voted for the LG drive. I have never used an LG, but I have heard that they are good-quality drives.

[aviationwiz]

I hear Plextor drives are good

If your on a budget, and your after a good drive, take a look at the LTR-52327S, you can get a good deal on it all over the place.

[CDRecorder]

Those are both very true statements, Aviationwiz!

P.S. Congrats on 1500 posts!

[dolphinius_rex]

I agree with Aviationwiz for the most part, I can't agree 100% because there have been several occasions where my LiteON 48125W has out performed the Plextor Premium in burn quality, but the opposite can also be said!

If you can get the LiteON 52327S or the LiteON 52246S then I would suggest those. If you can't, then go with the LG.

[TheWizard]

Wow, that's good stuff right there. So far, all 6 votes have been for the LG!

[VEFF]

LG has a good reputation among those in the know.
I am amzed that we all voted for the same drive.


LiteOn CD burners are great.
You can save some money over pricier brands, and still get a very high quality burner.

My brother and I have had a number (starting at 32X through current 52X models). No complaints at all so far!

[dolphinius_rex]

I think the vote would have been very different had LiteON been an option, but I think given the three choices there is no real question.

[CDRecorder]

I would have voted for Lite-On had it been a choice, but I voted for the LG because I certainly think that the LG is the best out of the three you mentioned.

[NobodySpecial]

Many thanks for all ppl who replayed this topic. Your experience is most helpful, it's more clear to me to go with LG.

Cheers