Pacific Digital Mach 52 and Norcent

[xeguy]

No search = little info.

I was over at Office Max and they had the Pacific Digital Mach 52 on sale, etc. Turns out the manufacturer is Top G. The impression I get is that they stink.

Also, the Norcent 52x is onsale at Best Buy, and is actually $10 cheaper. So which one sucks less? I didn't know about the Norcent until I found this site.

I'm kicking myself for not picking up the Cendyne relabeled Lite-On 52x when it was $40.

Thanks.

[dhc014]

Go with the Norcent. Don't expect a Lite-ON, but the Top G. (BTC) is pretty much the bottom of the barrel. If the Norcent is $10 cheaper, at least you have a chance of something better...

[aznjosh]

my norcent 48x12x48 burns perfectly fine..... i burned wc3, need for speed porsche unleashed, jedi outcast, and some other protected cd's perfectly. the only downside i noticed was tat it took about an average of 2min 30 sec - 3min 15 sec to burn a full 700 meg cd.

[xeguy]

Thanks for the info guys. For the record it's the Norcent RW521. Considering that it's $20 after rebates, it would be dumb to keep this Top-G one.

Aznjosh: Who manufactured your drive?

[xeguy]

I returned the Pacific Digital and picked up the Norcent one today. So far, so good. I've tried burning data as well as audio files using CDRWIN and Nero Express (which came with the burner). It's quiet too. I have no complaints.

The drive which it is replacing is an HP-7200i CD-RW that maxed out at 2x. It did its job admirably and gets retired for now. I'm not used to burning whole CDs this fast!

[BillyG]

I have the Norcent 48x12x48x in my father's office PC, and its not a bad drive for general use, but the performance just isnt as quick as a Lite-On drive at the same speed. Im also not sure it can copy most protected discs with Clone CD or Blindwrite.