I'm about to take the plunge and buy a new cd burner. Does brand name really matter all that much as I'm going to be using EAC anyways? The price differences are huge. I can buy an Ace for about $150.00 but the bottom end Plextor is $250.00 (Canadian dollars guys).
It's not a MUST that you use a Plextor. You can use pretty much any burner with EAC, just keep in mind that you *may* not be able to take advantage of all of EACs features (read: get very fast extractions) such as Surestream and C2 error correction-- which are nicer features, but they must come at some price. I know the Sony doesn't have C2 error correction and if the disc is scratched it will take EAC quite a while to read *some* discs (but I also know someone who uses a Sony together wth EAC with excellant results). When I originally installled EAC I didn't tweak it to my drive and some extractions took a long time. I enabled the C2 correction and EAC does Secure Mode extractions as fast as every other software I've used. Just my 2¢. Hopefully someone who uses another brand that has Surestream and C2 Error Correction will respond to this thread.
Dave - I noticed that on the EAC website they recommend the Plextor drive. I assume the software has been tested and optimized for this drive. If you plan to burn a lot of CD-Rs it might be worth the extra money in the long run. On the other hand I have burned several discs on my sony drive using EAC with no problems. So I guess it's your choice and your money.
As an alternative to Plextor I would consider Teac or Lite-On. Both have had great reviews and user comments. If you shop around online they can be found way cheap. http://www.cdrlabs.com/
I do believe (from some pc tech sites) that the Teac and the plextor are one and the same drive with a different name tacked on.
Certain models, yes. For 2nd placers, I would rank most HP CD Writers as well as recent Sonys to also be very reliable. Keep away from most recent Yamaha, Acer and Samsung (No-name brands, AKA Pacific Digital). I've seen so, so many writers, and the Plextor is tops, generally. HPs and Sonys come as a close 2nd and 3rd, but in most places, you can get a Plextor for the same price as most Hps (non SCSI).
Hi Sckott! When I researched purchasing CD burners I thought one of the things I discovered were that the HPs were made by Sony. But I might be misremembering that too!
Take a look at tomshardware.com under storage. There is an article there comparing different burners. Tom's usually has very reliable articles and comparisons with tough benchmarking.
Hi, Claviusb I know my HP8100 has a Sony mechanism and some other HP's use Sony's too. Probably varies from model to model. If my HP ever dies, I'll probably try a Plextor. -Craig
Dave, I just bought a 12/10/32A about a month ago, and I love it!! I think that you made a good choice! Let us know how you like it! Good luck, Tony