Lite-On CDRW 24x10x40x for 37 dollars OEM...Buyer Beware???

[Mocha]

Pricewatch.com yielded Lite-On 24x OEM drives for 37 dollars. THe prices seem too good to be true. Are there any performance/longevity/quality differences between OEM and retail versions? Looks like if I went the retail routs, then they are offering 40x and faster drives,but for at least 59 dollars. ANyone know when the 24x drives were manufactured? WOrth getting?

[vitualis]

I've got one of those drives -- and mine was manufactured in April 2002 I think. They began production sometime in ??August or September 2001.

Don't know about retail and OEM versions, but they should in principle be identical in hardware.

I think that the drive is fantastic and it got some very good review in its time. If you don't mind waiting the extra minute and a half between 40x versus 24x burning, it may be a good deal. May sure you are getting good quality stock on not rejects or returns...

Regards.

[Faustus]

Considering I got my Liteon 40x for 45 its not totally unrealistic... could be a fine deal.

[kitty]

My own experience (yours may vary): I had a Lite-On 24x 10x 40x model LTR-24102B in my OEM Best Buy Computer. After 4 months it would suck in a disk & spit it back - DVD, CD, CDR, cardboard, dead fish, anything. As I had a computer warranty Best Buy replaced it with a Lite-On 32x 12x 40 x LTR-32123S. No problems with the new unit.

The price for the 24x sounds good but if you have a little more money you might consider a 32x or 40x model.

[crahak]

Considering I got my 40x burner basically at that price, I guess it's not bad, mind you, I'd shell out the extra 2$ and get a 40x personnaly, it'll be well worth it in the long range. I have not tried LiteOn's myself, but they're not bad it seems. (I had LG, AOpen, Ricoh and a bunch...) Good luck.

[jonhildrum]

There is a review at www.storagereview.com about the Lite-On LTR-24102B drive. (24-10-40)

Thier bottom line at the time (1 year ago) was quite postitive.

[YukonXL]

The 24012b is a great great drive. I bought it over a year and so ago and it still works like it did the day I bought it. I recently upgraded to a new drive, the LiteOn 52x24x52 and love it. But I kept the 24x and put it in my file server. It will still be used to spit out movies