no-name (house) cd-rw?

[rhett]

hey-
I looked on pricewatch.com and found a lot of no-name cd-rw drives that are much cheaper then brand name ones, are they just as reliable and do the drives with both firewire and usb 2 ports work well?

thanks in advance,

[hwoodwar]

Sorry, I can't exactly answer your question. It looks like you are probably looking for an external CD-RW drive. If by chance you are also considering "internal drives" I would suggest the Lite-On line. They are relatively inexpensive (LTR-4824S 48x24x48 $57 w/free shipping at newegg) and they get very good reviews. Both Dell and HP are now using them in their systems.

Be carefull of the adds at pricewatch. Many of the "good deals" are not that good a deal when you look at the (potentially high) cost of shipping.

[mdm]

Pricewatch isn't that bad - they list the shipping cost right along with the item cost so there is no surprise.

If you're interested in the cheaper models, just do a little research first to find out who actually makes the drive. There are a handful of manufacturers that make all the drives for those no-name brands. Lite-On and A-Open are examples. First compare the faceplates of the no-names and name brand drives. Once you find some that are VERY similar, go to their websites and compare specs (including part numbers). If the specs are identical, they are likely the same drive. To confirm it, check out various "supported drives" lists for CD burning software, they will often mention the OEM of the no-name brands.