Best Slimline Internal to Replace the Matshita UJ-841S

I recently purchased a new Toshiba Tecra A8-S8514 laptop. Unfortunately it came equipped with a Matshita UJ-841S DVD±RW drive. We all know how wonderful Matshita drives are.

Well basically, it was fine for the first while. However now since I've been using the drive heavily, it has been getting progressively worse. Using DVD Shrink to backup full discs, when I first started it would get speeds of like 5,600kb/s. Yesterday it was pulling a whopping 1,500kb/s. I'm assuming the drive is just about to die.

I plan on replacing the drive asap. I need a little advice on what I should replace it with. I want to stay slimline internal. I do not want an external drive, I already have an external HD and its a burden so I don't want to deal with an external DVD±RW drive as well.

I've done a little research, and I've narrowed it down to the following possible models:

PIONEER DVR-K17
Lite-On SSW-8015S
Sony NEC Optiarc AW-G540A-10
Samsung SN-S082D

I could really care less about the $20-$30 price difference between any of these models, I just want to get the best product. Plextor doesn't make an internal slimline drive that I could find or I'd pick one of those up, from what I understand they're the best of the best, haha.

The aforementioned drives all have basically similar features, so its just a question of quality. I want something that's going to last and not die within 3 months like this MatSHITa has. Thanks in advance!

 

Alright, thanks for the reply. I just ordered the PIONEER DVR-K17 from ZZF for $76.99 on my doorstep. I've always been a fan of Pioneer they seem to make some good quality stuff. Anything has got to be better than this Matshita, haha.