I have a Plextor PX-740A burner and a Lite-On SOHD-167T, which is just a DVD-ROM drive. My Plextor drive is perfectly fine, but my Lite-On is just about beat. It has a very hard time loading discs when I insert them and I don't want to burn my Plextor drive by using it all the time, so I've decided to get a backup DVDRW drive to replace the Lite-On DVD-ROM. Should I get an NEC or a Benq? I know the Plextor drive I have now is a rebadged Benq drive, but I've been reading a lot of the reviews on newegg about Benq drives and NEC drives and the NEC drives seam to be getting very good reviews. Will both of these drives do disc quality checks with Nero CD-DVD Speed? My Plextor does not. Here are the drives that I'm looking at: NEC... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058 Benq... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101002 Both drives are under $40. Newegg also has Lightscribe drives, but I have no use for the Lightscribe drives, so I'm not going to pay the extra money for something I won't use.
I would go with with BenQ, but not that model. Get the BenQ DW1650. I have both the 1650 and the 1655 (lightscribe). Very pleased with both of 'em. they are able to do disc quality checks w/Nero. These drives coupled with the QSuite software (free d/l from BenQ website) are unstoppable. 1650 Beige http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101011 1650 Black (out of stock atm, but if you absolutely have to have black, it's worth waiting for. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101010
@dakotafan definitely stay away from the BenqDQ60, that is not a "true" Benq drive...my friend bought one not long ago since he was impatient and not willing to wait for the Benq1650...he regrets it now~ i've heard a lot of good things about that new nec though, but as neurokasm suggested, i too will recommend the Benq1650~ i personally have 2 Benq 1650s and 2 Benq 1640s, i don't use lightscribe, much like yourself, so i don't have the 1655 (which would be the only one i would consider purchasing if i were interested in lightscribe) you probably already know, but your plextor px-740a is actually a rebadged benq 1640 that i have...i never owned a plextor before, so i can't help you cross-flashing that plextor into a benq1640 if you wanted to...but there are quite a few intelligent and experienced benq crossflashers on here that can be of more assistance to ya~ in terms of disc quality checks w/ nero cd-dvd speed, i don't know about the nec as i don't own that model, but the benq1650 definitely does~ good luck w/ your decision docTy~
The nec 3550 won't do a Nero cd dvd test. But is a pretty reliable burner with the firmware current.But for happiness as stated above go with the Beng 1650 to use the Nero.You've still got the Plextor pro but mostly everybody on the forum uses Nero for comparison.Chris
Get a pioneer. I have burned 2000+ of DVDS of types and CD of all types. Never Had a failure because of a bad burn. Perfect. On a 10 point scale I will give pioneer burners a 15. Thats my input.
neurokasm - You posted the wrong link for the 1650, but I found it. I think I'm going to go with the Benq 1650. Newegg is out of stock right now, but I don't need it right away, so they're going to notify me when they get more in. Thanks for the input.
Newegg just got some 1650s in, so I placed an order for one. Shipping was only $4.89 making my total $40.88, which is a really good deal. That's half the price I payed for my Plextor. lol
i've found a place in the UK to the get Benq 1650, so am gonna get 2 or 3 of them, however i wanna build a new PC so am specc'ing that up first, we can get the 1650's over here for £28 inc vat
creaky and his "deals in the UK" again~ LOL welcome to the Benq band-wagon buddy, i have 2 of them too (well, both 1640 and 1650...i keep the other as replacements "just in case", instant swap if need be...) docTY~
this time i think it's less that they're deals but more like not many places seems to sell the 1650's over here yet. don't need a new PC but have a huge server case sat here empty so might as well fill it up and put it to use
gotta fill those empty slots with SOMETHING useful right creaky? hehe oooh, why not get one of those Liteon SOHW-1693s that you were so fond of before again? j/k! i know how much headache u went thru with yours...mine still runs like a champ, to this day.... docTY~
I was wondering the same. In another thread, I read how some people were waiting for the 1650 in the U.S. even though the 1655 was available. I guess it's because of the price difference.
Yeah, there's about a $10 price difference between the two. Why pay the extra $10 if you're not going to use the Lightscribe feature? That's $10 you could use towards good media.
Picked up the DW1655 a while back, don't use much Lightscribe, but I guess I got it if and when I wanna use it eh? Anywaiz...I'm thinkin' you should crossflash that Plex into a 1640 like kivory said. Did mine a month ago and man lemme tell ya, QSuite rocks! =) You get diagnostic tools similar to Nero's stuff but you also get SolidBurn -BenQ's "Intelligent Self-Learning Writing Technology" so ya get the best burns over time using the same media type. If you're interested in crossflashing, here's how I did mine: You're gonna need the BQFlasher: http://quikee.cdfreaks.com/BQFlasher.zip And this(Save in same folder as BQFlasher): http://ww2.nero.com/nero6/en/WNASPI32.DLL.html And the 1640 firmware (Use BSNB first, then upgrade to BSOB): BSNB: http://support.benq.com/files/storage/Firmware/DVDRW/DW1640/BSNB.zip BSOB: http://support.benq.com/files/storage/Firmware/DVDRW/DW1640/BSOB.zip You can also download the latest PX740 firmware if you wanna flash back later...but why would ya =)
I tried the BQFlasher and it won't work. When I go to open it, it gives me a message saying Error initializing ASPI. When I click OK, it says Host adapter inquiry failed. When I click OK again, it seems to be fine, but I can't choose a drive.
Do you have the ASPI.dll downloaded from Nero in the same folder as the BQFlasher? I just placed all the files on my Desktop and it worked fine. Also, what firmware do you have for the PX740A?