Death of my HP300i? Replacement suggestions?

[Richkut]

While burning a 4X DVD+R last evening in my PC's HP300i DVD burner (I know, old technology!), I noticed that while the system buffer was filled to around 95-100%, the device buffer was all over the place and it only was burning at 1.3X. Test with a couple of burning programs and 2.4X DVD+RWs ALSO evidenced themselves at a 1.3X burning speed! So, instead of taking around 13 minutes to burn (.ISO image files--several--, by the way), it took about 40 minutes, not to mention that 2 out of 3 +R burning attempts ended up as coasters!! It appears, then, that the HP300i read buffer is shot, no? If not, what then? Has anyone else experienced this with ANY brand DVD burner? I see that Officemax now has an "every day" price of $59.99 on a Micro Advantage 16X dual format/dual layer DVD burner, and not wanting to spend a lot on a replacement seeing that HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray is just around the corner, what do you think about this one? Do any of you own this Micro Advantage? If so, what are your experiences with it? If not, have you heard any pros/cons about it? I plan to get one later this afternoon if I do not hear anything really bad about it, so your experiences/thoughts right now would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

Rich Kutnick
VIDEO IMPRESSIONS

[Richkut]

New Micro Advantage DVD+-R/RW DL burner installed and working fine, save for the fact that it is a little finicky about which +RW media it accepts--cheapo Khypermedia DVD+RWs cause a power calibration error (previously quite usable in my HP300i), but when I put in some Memorex DVD+RWs it worked like a charm!

[jaxxboss]

Staples and cc are having a sale (staples on sun&mon) on the rebadged BenQ3520-i/o magic 16x. It can be had for around $40.00 and maybe lower if you are willing to run around and do a price match and get rebates.

[Denvers Dawgs]

Ah the good old Hp300i, I am still using it today. I'm in the market for a new DL burner, but confused which to get. I'd likke to stick to hp cause I've had it for years without a single problem burning reading. Heard the new HP5xx/6xx are Benq or Nec. I'm not real sure though?

[RAAGAAman]

Get a Pioneer DVR-108 or a NEC ND-3500. Benq is OK but they don't have the media coverage that Pioneer and NEC have.

RG

[Denvers Dawgs]

I only use verbatim media so, the Benq is fine for me....