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Today's daily hardware buys

Our guide to what's cheap and cheerful
Mon May 24 2004, 08:25
USA
Another good place to shop in the United States when it comes to refurbished goods is consumerdepot.com. In our quest for the cheapest DVD writer around, we stumbled on a Verbatim DVD Writer. The VBTDVRW1A is DVD+R/RW only which means that you will have to use more expensive DVD+R/RW media. It has a 2.4x/2.4x DVD Write/Rewrite speed with a 12x/10 CD Write/Rewrite speed. Nothing to write home for but at USD 45.99 at consumerdepot (around GBP 28, EUR 36), you could get much worse. It is a new, factory sealed product and apparently, it carries manufacturer's guarantee. Moreover, it seems to be a kit rather than a bare drive. More photos of the product can be found here while the consumerdepot page is here; the only review I found is here. Sadly, Verbatim's own website has no single clue about any DVD writer manufactured by this brand... µ

France
At €59.80 (Approx $72, £40), France's cheapest DVD Writer is the second least expensive of the lot. Like the Verbatim writer, it is a DVD+R only burner but with a slightly better perfomance (4x DVD write and 24x CD Writer). It offers a 2Mb Buffer cache, Justllink buffer underrun protection as well as some technological advances like background formatting of a DVD+RW or lossless linking technology which keeps the physical gap between data written at a minimum. Note that it is an OEM version with 2 cables and a software CD containing NeoDVD, WinonCD, Drag2disc and WinDVD. A translated german user review is available here. Unlike Verbatim, Ricoh seems to fully support its product; the official product page is here and the latest firmware (v 1.19) is available on this page. The Ricoh DVD writer is on sale in France here. µ

UK
In the UK, the best DVD writing deal is found at ebuyer.com. The Toshiba SD-R5112 has collected rave reviews from ebuyer users with around 90% of positive reviews. With black and beige colors available at GBP 46.99 (around USD 84), this DVD writer has got loads of sex appeal. Furthermore, unlike others, it is a DVD-R/RW burner which allows it to use cheaper DVD-R media. Like the Ricoh DVD writer, it offers a 2Mb Buffer cache, a proprietary buffer underrun protection and 4x/24x writing speeds. Tons of reviews are available here, here, here and here. The official product webpage is here while latest drivers/firmware is here. The Toshiba SD-R5112 is on sale at this ebuyer's page. µ

Singapore
Finally, Singapore prices are far from being expensive. The cheapest writer found is a 8x BenQ (ex-Acer Multimedia) DVD Writer named DW800A. Granted it is only 8x, it does provide with an absolutely first class performance for only SGD 149 (around £49, $87). It is available at The HardwarePlace (+65 63345090). Officail product webpage is here. Reviews are available he re and here. Firmware is available here.

However, if a dual format is your preferencem then Unlimited Electronic offers the TDK AID+440N, a 4x DVD+R/-R writer for the same price as the DW800A. You get the best of both worlds with a slightly lower configuration with some nice software bundled: Pinnacle InstantCD/DVD 7.0, InstantCopy, Expression and InterVideo WinDVD 4. Reviews are here, here and here. The product's web page is available on TDK's website. µ

If you do know about any special offers in any of these countries, please let me know.

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