CompUSA Deals From 3/2 To 3/8

[BuddhaTB]

Sony 40x/48x 700MB CD-RW Media Spindle 50-pack
$19.99 - $6 Instant Savings - $11 Mail-In Rebate = $2.99
*Made By Sony*

Imation 4.7GB DVD+R Media 3-Pack
$10.99 - $4.40 Instant Savings = $6.59

Imation 4.7GB DVD+RW Media 3-Pack
$19.99 - $8.00 Instant Savings = $11.99

Imation 4.7GB DVD-R Media 3-Pack
$10.99 - $4.40 = $6.59

Memorex Slim Clear Jewel Cases 50 Pack
$12.99 - $5 Instant Savings - $5 Mail-In Rebate = $2.99 HOT!

TDK VeloCD 48x16x48 Internal EIDE CD-RW Drive
$89.99 - $20 Instant Savings - $40 Mail-In Rebate = $29.99 SMOKIN' HOT!
*Made By Lite-On. Can Be Upgraded To 48x24x48 Through TDK Firmware*

TDK VeloCD 48x16x48 External USB 2.0 CD-RW Drive
$149.99 - $20 Mail-In Rebate = $129.99
*Made By Asus*

Mad Dog Dominator 52x24x52 Internal EIDE CD-RW Drive
$79.99 - $10 Instant Savings - $30 Mail-In Rebate = $39.99
*Made By Many Different Brands Such As Benq, CyberDrive, BTC, Optorite, And Etc.*

Mad Dog Dominator 52x24x52 External USB2.0 / FireWire CD-RW Drive
$149.99 - $10 Instant Savings - $30 Mail-In Rebate - $10 Mail-In Rebate = $99.99

EPO Technology DVD-8216 16X Internal EIDE DVD Drive
$59.99 - $10 Instant Savings - $30 Mail-In Rebate = $19.99

Iomega 40GB USB 2.0 Desktop Hard Drive
$149.99 - $20 Instant Savings - $50 Mail-In Rebate - $20 Mail-In Rebate = $59.99 SMOKIN' HOT!
*Supports USB2.0 & Firewire*

Western Digital Caviar SE 180GB 7200RPM Internal EIDE Ultra-ATA/100 Hard Drive
$329.99 - $30 Instant Savings - $100 Mail-In Rebate = $199.99
*SE Caviar Drive With 8MB Cache*

Western Digital Caviar SE 120GB 7200RPM Internal EIDE Hard Drive
$199.99 - $20 Instant Savings - $50 Mail-In Rebate = $129.99 VERY HOT!
*SE Caviar Drive With 8MB Cache*

Maxtor DiamondMax 200GB 7200RPM Internal ATA133 E-IDE Hard Drive
$349.99 - $50 Instant Savings - $100 Mail-In Rebate = $199.99
*8MB Cache Hard Drive*

CompUSA DiamondMax Plus 80GB 7200RPM Internal ATA133 Hard Drive
$129.99 - $60 Mail-In Rebate = $69.99 FLAMIN' HOT!
*Made By Maxtor. This Hard Drive Has 8MB Cache*

PNY 256MB PC2100 DDR DIMM 184 Pin Memory Module
$59.99 - $25 Mail-In Rebate = $34.99 HOT!

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz 6-Speaker PCI Sound Card
$79.99 - $30 Instant Savings = $49.99

Pinnacle Studio 8 DV Professional Movie Making System
$129.99 - $30 Instant Savings - $20 Mail-In Rebate - $30 Mail-In Rebate = $49.99



Limite One (1) Rebate Per Household Or Address

[1coadman]

How come when I click on the listing for the 40x-48x, expecting to go there for that item, it directs me to the same item, BUT only 12x?? And there is not even 40x or 48x listed on their website for sony/
1coadman

[cfitz]

Many retailers haven't updated their web sites to reflect the increased speed ratings of CD-R. What you find in the store, and what gets shipped if you buy online, is the higher-speed media. Of course, to be 100% sure buy it at your local branch so you can see for yourself what the speed rating is.

cfitz

[Ian]

Anyone do the deal where you buy Easy CD and then get a DVD writer for $99?

[1coadman]

Many retailers haven't updated their web sites to reflect the increased speed ratings of CD-R. What you find in the store, and what gets shipped if you buy online, is the higher-speed media. Of course, to be 100% sure buy it at your local branch so you can see for yourself what the speed rating is.

cfitz

After reading the thread on cdr media,,for my lite-on LTR 52246S,,it lists two Sony 80 min,,,one is Sony/SN and one is Sony/TY. I believe I would want the Sony/TY. Is there a way to tell what you are getting online? And if I go to nearest store, how do I tell on the container, if it is TY or SN?
thanks,
coadman

[cfitz]

After reading the thread on cdr media,,for my lite-on LTR 52246S,,it lists two Sony 80 min,,,one is Sony/SN and one is Sony/TY. I believe I would want the Sony/TY. Is there a way to tell what you are getting online? And if I go to nearest store, how do I tell on the container, if it is TY or SN?

In general there is no way to guarantee what you get when you buy CD-Rs online from a brand that sells more than one manufacturer's CD-Rs.
When you buy in store there are clues in the packaging that you can look for. Here is a thread that describes the new TY packaging:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=9455

And here is one that describes packaging for a number of different manufacturers:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=7280

Having said all that, in this case I think you can't get Sony/TY media. I don't think Sony has resold TY media for a while now. In the media compatibility thread you will see that all the Sony/TY media is slower rated, older media. As BuddhaTB said in this post, these discs are made by Sony.

cfitz

[BuddhaTB]

Sony makes all their own high speed media from like 32x and up. Sony used to use TY for their lower speed CD-R. I highly doubt if Sony has an TY CD's left, but I would check your local CompUSA to see.

[1coadman]

but I thought I had read in this forum somewhere that the Lite-on LTR 52246S didnt operate properly with CMC discs, so I was looking to buy the TY's.
coadman

[BuddhaTB]

If you want TY's for sure. Wait until the Fuji's go on sale. Also check out the Memorex deal at Best Buy. Some Memorex CD's are made by TY. Just look for Made In Japan on the label.

[tazdevl]

I like the price of that Maxtor. Been reading up and it sounds like there are some reliability issues with the WD 180GB JB I got in on @ Dell. Had great luck with my D740X with FDBs.

[BuddhaTB]

I personally have been very happy with the last 3 Maxtor drives I've owned and they're all still running. Maxtor and WD are at the top of the Hard Drive world.

[tazdevl]

*grabs keys and thinks where the closest CompUSA is.

Meh I'll go check it out... need my daily Frappacino.

[Joker]

If you want TY's for sure. Wait until the Fuji's go on sale. Also check out the Memorex deal at Best Buy. Some Memorex CD's are made by TY. Just look for Made In Japan on the label.

I've yet to find any of the Memorex TY's.

Joker

[BuddhaTB]

I've yet to find any of the Memorex TY's.

Best Buy does have them. They just might not stock them as much compared to the ones Made in Taiwan. Like less than 10% of all Memorex CD's are made by TY. So you have to look very hard and to have some luck to find them.

[Rufus]

thanks for this post, got the TDK 48x and am LOVING IT

[BuddhaTB]

thanks for this post, got the TDK 48x and am LOVING IT

Another satisfied TDK/Lite-On user.
I love my TDK 48x too.

Also, don't forget to update your TDK 48x to the newest firmware. It can be found here:
http://www.tdk.com/support/cdburners/velocd48xsup.html

[Reg-da-Ripper]

...Also, don't forget to update your TDK 48x to the newest firmware. It can be found here:
http://www.tdk.com/support/cdburners/velocd48xsup.html

...and here.

TDK's Singapore web site tends to provide firmware updates faster than the American web site.

[JRoDDz]

I picked up the Maxtor 200GB today. Sweet deal.

[Ian]

Not CD-RW related.. but CompUSA has some Netgear switches on sale after rebate. If you go to Best Buy, the prices are marked the same.. and you don't have to dick around with rebates. I picked up a Netgear 8 port switch for $30 to replace my aging Intel switch. I couldn't pass it up.

[Tolyngee]

I personally have been very happy with the last 3 Maxtor drives I've owned and they're all still running. Maxtor and WD are at the top of the Hard Drive world.

For the sake of a purchaser's peace of mind, I feel some current info on Maxtor should be inserted here.

Do with this info what you wish.

The CEO at Maxtor recently stepped down.

The reason for Maxtor having one-year and three-year warranties is due to "similar but not identical" parts. (meaning cheaper?)

Now, some info on their weird warranty practices.

Keep in mind, I currently am running 26 Maxtor drives. I am currently running ~$8,000 in Maxtor product.

Per Maxtor's wording, EVERYTHING I am running that I bought is from "quality" (my words) parts, not the new Maxtor models and such.

I have RMAed I believe a dozen drives in the past two years. (50% failure rate on the 98196H8 model...)

The warranty periods have always been fine on the 98196H8 replacements. Recently, though, the 98186H8 models are now being replaced by 4G100J5 models. (100GB drives, kinda cool, kinda not... if running RAIDs, not necessarily cool at all...) But, the 4G100J5 drives come with their own new 3-year warranty. Hence, the warranty on those drives is now turning into FIVE-year warranty!

Kinda cool!

BUT...

When you get to the more expensive, newer models (not newest models), things start to change...

My 4G160J8 drives (good parts, three-year warranty) are being replaced by 6Y160L0 drives (one-year, lesser-quality drives... perhaps the fact that is has a manuf. date of just three weeks ago is supposed to impress me?) Yes, unless Maxtor corrects this (maybe they will, maybe they won't), I am being shorted on the warranty that influenced my decision to buy the drive...

Either way, superior parts are being replaced by inferior parts it seems to me...

BUT, it led me to notice something even more interesting...

Out of 26 drives, NONE of the warranty periods printed on the drives are reflected accurately on Maxtor's website. NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM.

Some are longer (two give a full extra year!).

Half are being short-changed by 4+ months.

The older a drive, the greater the degree of being short-changed.

I wasn't sure if this nugget of info may influence your "hot deal" perception of Maxtor.

Oddly enough, I can Ebay the 6Y160L0 drive (with one-year warranty) and have enough money (and change afterwards) to buy a NEW 4G160J8 with a 3+-year warranty still on it!

And I have read where the 4G160J8 is outperforming the 6Y160L0 anyway... (5400rpm outperforming 7200rpm? What is Maxtor doing?)

Maxtor no longer makes the specs available on their drives. Some model numbers are built from three different makes. This not only effects performance, but can effect RAID configs if the LBAs of the drives are not identical. (this is the reason I will not slap the 6Y160L0 on my RAID, as I am not certain of its exact LBA without using it... Nothing like rippin' it open and it being worthless for my situation...)

But since there is so much discrepancy in their warranties, and I own so much Maxtor product, I'm going to try and get them to explain what on Earth they are doing...

But I feel they are clearly doing some odd-to-questionable business practices...

[TheWizard]

Interesting you mention that, Tolyngee, because new Western Digital hard drives come with a one year warranty as opposed to a three year warranty which many of their "older" drives come with. Actually, WD gives the option of upgrading the warranty period to three years, if the customer so desires.

Frankly, I have always rated WD at the top of the hard drive market, even slightly above Maxtor. But since you mentioned that Maxtor is using similar, but different parts and knocking down the warranty, I wonder if WD is utilizing the same practices.

[Rufus]

thanks for this post, got the TDK 48x and am LOVING IT

Another satisfied TDK/Lite-On user.
I love my TDK 48x too.

Also, don't forget to update your TDK 48x to the newest firmware. It can be found here:
http://www.tdk.com/support/cdburners/velocd48xsup.html

Hehe, that was the first thing I did when I got home. Btw, is there any hacked firmware for this TDK?

[dhc014]

thanks for this post, got the TDK 48x and am LOVING IT

Another satisfied TDK/Lite-On user.
I love my TDK 48x too.

Also, don't forget to update your TDK 48x to the newest firmware. It can be found here:
http://www.tdk.com/support/cdburners/velocd48xsup.html

Hehe, that was the first thing I did when I got home. Btw, is there any hacked firmware for this TDK?

What kind of "hack" Are you looking for? converting it to a Lite-ON? Overclockint it to 52x24x52? Yes they are available...

[Rufus]

Btw, is there any hacked firmware for this TDK?

What kind of "hack" Are you looking for? converting it to a Lite-ON? Overclockint it to 52x24x52? Yes they are available...

yeah, that's what I'm talking about Where are they available from?

[BuddhaTB]

yeah, that's what I'm talking about Where are they available from?

Go to Lite-On's site and download the 52x firmware. Then use FlashFix on the Lite-On firmware. After that, install the firmware and your TDK will now be recognized as a Lite-On LTR52246S.

Get FlashFix from Dimitri's site
http://digi.rpc1.org/flashfix.htm