Hey, anyone seen this drive? All I can find is the lightscribe version and I'm not so sure I really want that feature. Mind you if it's going to be the same price to get the 1650 then I guess I'll get the light scribe version. Second thing: what's this I hear about some BenQ drives being 'rebadges'? How does this affect the quality of the BenQ drive?
I searched all over for a 1640. Only place I could find them were on eBay for $80. I ended up caving and getting the BenQ DW1655. Just installed it. Did my first burn and got a 97 quality score with it. Tested some of my older discs, and I was only getting a 94 with them. So far I like the DW1655.
Yeah, it seems that every store I look at has the DW1655 only. Hmmm....and the crappy thing is that I can't get the deals at newegg grr....ah well.
The BenQ DW1650 is due to be released in the USofA, sometime in February ... the line forms to the left
Yeah, but the question is do I wait and pay the price of a brand spankin new one, wait and buy the DW1655 which should be cheaper then, or buy either the 1640 or 1655 now cause both are the same price. Decisions, decisions.
Since the 1655 has LightScribe™ and royalties must be paid to HP, the 1655 will never be cheaper that the 1650 (kinda like the 1620 and the 1625) However, the ONLY reasons that I'm waiting for the 1650 is 1) I haven't found another 1640 for sale at a price I care to pay here in the USofA and 2) I'm kinda curious (like a cat) to see what, if any, improvements have been made by BenQ ... besides, I have 7 burners now, with any duplicates. Why start now?
Seven burners hey? Ever wondered what would happen if you use them all at the same time? *muses to himself* Figure the 1650 is worth the wait? I'm guessing it's just going to be the same thing as the 1655 but without the lightscribe. Figure that'll make a difference?
the 7 burners are installed in 4 computers.. 2 in my main (new) PC, 2 in my backup, 2 in my CD machine (and for granddaughters to burn DVDs with) and 1 for the wife (data only) this is being typed with my 11 month old Russian Blue licking my hand ... slow typing to say the least.. the cat's lucky he's so valuable and that I love him so much !!
So catfreak....why are we up so late? Wife was just pointing out to me that there must be a reason they call this 'afterdawn' Heh heh.
I just saw the Ben Q DW1655 for $58.99 w/5.00 off and $4.89 shp at Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101006. So is this suppose to be the best DVD burner? Reason I'm asking is that after 575 burns, my Pioneer A07 took a dive and am looking for one that might last a little longer than 2 yrs. And where would you download the firm ware - the site was off when I looked. Do you have to use light scribe disk? Found more of those Ben Q drives http://www.cdrdvdrmedia.com/benq-dvd-burner-recorders.html
You only need LightScribe discs if you want to burn LightScribe labels ... Here is the firmware link: http://support.benq.com/front/BenqMain.asp?MenuHead=128&ShowType=program&FileURL=service/driverlist.asp&Dataid=21205&downloadclass=Driver&product=3731&langu=null&ops=null&GenMenu=&RootId=undefined Here is the link for all the cool utilities: http://support.benq.com/front/BenqMain.asp?MenuHead=128&ShowType=program&FileURL=service/driverlist.asp&Dataid=18368&downloadclass=Software&product=3731&langu=null&ops=null&GenMenu=&RootId=undefined Nice drive ... enjoy ... make sure that you booktype, the BenQ excells at it ... By the way, BenQ is pronounced ben-que ... and the Q stands for Quality
Since, DW1650 is on high demand and we don't know how good it is yet. Why don't we buy dw1640 which is known as a stable burner and the price should be cheaper than dw1650. However, I read on other forums, someone said that they dont sell DW1640 any more. Is it right?
I looked for about two weeks for the DW1640. I was able to find them on eBay for $80+ and no where else. Only person I've seen able to find one recently was someone in Germany who said he found a store with two. Figured I'd save the cost of the plane ticket and just get the DW1655. There was one place that still advertised they had the 1640, but I read several posts where the people that bought them got a BQ60 instead.
I would hope that the DW1650 is a slight improvement on the DW1640 ... Let's see ... the DW1620 used the Philips chipset ... the DW1640 also uses the Philips chipset and was a mild improvement on the very good DW1620 ... now we all wait for the DW1650, which also uses the Philips chipset and, logic would dictate that it will be a slight improvement on the excellent DW1640 ...Right? Now backing up slightly ... the DQ60 .. poor bastard child in BenQ's stable ... it uses a Teac chipset and was created to compete with the new generation of RAM burnere .. I suppose the need for a RAM drive was created by the RAM disc manufacturers, I know of no reason to purchase one unless I owned stock in RAM discs (too darn expensive)
WAS cheaper, you can't get one in the USofA except on Ebay (quality and shipping costs, unknown) I doubt that the DW1650 will cost that much ... the DW1655 runs $58.88 OEM (incl. shipping from NewEgg) and $68.88 retail (incl. shipping from NewEgg) and that price includes the cost of an extra laser and royalties paid to HP for that LightScribe˜ thingy ... Since the DW1650 doesn't have LightScribe˜, I'd assume that it will cost less than the DW1655 ... I'm thinking maybe $45-50 ...
and when the dw1650 comes out here in the U.S., rest assured I will be one of the very first to pick one up~ i would be willing to pay $40-$60 for it myself, nothing over $70; but that's just cuz i've been waiting for it's U.S. release for months now~ docTY~
