officemax BM store - cendyne 48x12x48 RW for $10 after rebate

[Juggernaut]

Hi,

For some reason I did not get an officemax flyer in the mail this week(not sure if that is the case for everyone or my newspaper person just forgot it), but there is a cendyne 48x12x48 CD-RW burner for $10 after $40 in rebates (2 rebates).

I've been looking for quite some time now for a cheap and good burner and $10 seems to be the best price I have found. Unfortunately I don't know enough about these drives to be able to tell you if the drive offered is a "lite-on" drive or not.

Hope this helps.
Good Luck!
Juggernaut

[ceeka]

Cendyne has been known to use different OEMs for the same model drives. Lite-on is one that they use.

[ice]

do cendyne rebates ever come?

[ceeka]

I've got a rebate from them. Had Cendyne written on the check even.

[Markel]

If possible, examine the boxes and look at the Model Number on the exterior label. The Lite-On manufactured ones will have a model number beginning with LTR. If you see one of those, grab it!

[bachviet]

Sold out @ Huntington Beach B&M store when I got there (11:30). I bought the Altec Lansing headphone ($7.49) so I could take with me on the trip to Chicago tomorrow (business). So far the headphone doesn't disappoint me.

[ice]

I've got a rebate from them. Had Cendyne written on the check even.
::sigh of relief::


If possible, examine the boxes and look at the Model Number on the exterior label. The Lite-On manufactured ones will have a model number beginning with LTR. If you see one of those, grab it!
hmm too bad i went to get mine the second i saw the ad in the sunday paper. looks like OM is starting to hide these products in the back.. went to look for a 40 dollar (AR) leather chair and it too, turned out to be safely tucked away.

[Juggernaut]

Hi,

I am not home to check the box, but does it really make a difference whether or not it is a Lite-On drive?

If it is not a Lite-on drive, are there any problems I should be looking out for?

Thanks,
Juggernaut


Originally posted by Markel
If possible, examine the boxes and look at the Model Number on the exterior label. The Lite-On manufactured ones will have a model number beginning with LTR. If you see one of those, grab it!

[friscokydd]

:rolleyes: I just ordered this burner and printed up the 2 rebates. Unfortunately, the $10 rebate from OfficeMax says that it's valid for purchases made between 3/30 and 4/5 only. They have different rebate deals for each week, up to 5/2. I'm sending mine in anyways. $20 for a 48x burner is still great!

[Juggernaut]

Hi,

I noticed the same thing right after I brought it home. The rebate from officemax expired at the beginning of the month.

I called and spoke with someone at the store and they said that they have it written down in their policy that they will still honor the rebate even though it has expired.

Otherwise it is false advertising.

For this one I am making sure to keep copies of all the advertisements and the rebate forms as proof, just to be safe.

Yes $20 is a good deal, but then again you could have gotten a 52x24x52 at best buy for $20.
Hehe...I did not really "need" a new burner, but I "wanted" one that was faster (currently hae 4x2x24), so I wanted to spend as little as possible....and I never use RW...and 52x won't be any different than 48x practically speaking for CD-R's, so I was looking to save the extra $10.

Juggernaut


Originally posted by friscokydd
:rolleyes: I just ordered this burner and printed up the 2 rebates. Unfortunately, the $10 rebate from OfficeMax says that it's valid for purchases made between 3/30 and 4/5 only. They have different rebate deals for each week, up to 5/2. I'm sending mine in anyways. $20 for a 48x burner is still great!

[friscokydd]

Cool! Thanks for the info Juggernaut! :D

[ACE]

Just opened my burner and it is a 48x16x48x..not 12x rewriteable. That's what it says on the bezel anyway.

[ceeka]

Originally posted by ACE
Just opened my burner and it is a 48x16x48x..not 12x rewriteable. That's what it says on the bezel anyway.

That means you prob got an asus or cyberdrive drive. You can generally tell which oem made the drive by what type of burnproof tech they use. http://www.cdrinfo.com/ has great reviews on most drives.

[Joshua]

Yup, I bought a 52x cendyne from another deal a little while back and it's an ASUS. Nice drive. I even found the ASUS firmware update and applied it to the drive.

[ACE]

Originally posted by ACE
Just opened my burner and it is a 48x16x48x..not 12x rewriteable. That's what it says on the bezel anyway.

Turns out it's a Benq drive. Not too happy with the speed tests. Cendyne site doesn't have firmware for it, had to find it at the Benq site in europe. Model 4816A, but not an asus. Since I don't htink there's gonna be any on-going support for it I'm gonna rma it for a lite-on.

[Juggernaut]

Hi,

How exactly do you rma it to get a lite-on?

Is it really worth doing?

Is a lite-on drive that much better?

Thanks,
Juggernaut


Originally posted by ACE


Turns out it's a Benq drive. Not too happy with the speed tests. Cendyne site doesn't have firmware for it, had to find it at the Benq site in europe. Model 4816A, but not an asus. Since I don't htink there's gonna be any on-going support for it I'm gonna rma it for a lite-on.

[ice]

does anyone know how to tell whether the drive i have is an asus or cyberdrive within windows? i too got the 16x speed.

[ACE]

Originally posted by ice
does anyone know how to tell whether the drive i have is an asus or cyberdrive within windows? i too got the 16x speed.
What does device manager report the drive as, and what firmware does it have?

[Joshua]

Open up My Computer, right click on the drive, choose properties.

Now click on the Hardware tab. You'll see a description of all of the drive in your machine including manufacturer.

As for firmware, there are several ways to check. The easiest is just to download the latest firmware from the manufacturer and run it. part of the upgrade process compares and displays your current firmware version to the one you are upgrading to.

[ice]

in device manager i have the following under the DVD/CD-ROM drives category: CD-ROM Drive; CD-ROM Drive; Lite-On LTN483S 48x Max
i also only have 2 drives filling both bays-48x lite-on cdrom and the burner..
http://adamb10.4mtopia.com/fileman/uploads/iceblue/cdrom-properties.png
:neartears










sorry about the hijack

[ceeka]

Different OEMs different buffer-underruns

Flextralink = Asus
Smart-Burn = Lite-On
ExacLink = Cyberdrive
JustLink = Aopen
Burn-proof = Sanyo
SeamlessLink = ? Benq ?

[Markel]

The Lite-On manufactured CenDyne is definitely the preferred one to get. The other manufacturers they use (Benq for sure is one of them) have a far poorer reputation, but the Lite-On drives are considered to be top-notch.

Sometimes I've seen a number of the CenDyne boxes lined up at OfficeMax, and the Model numbers can be varied within the same batch.

[ice]

Originally posted by ACE

What does device manager report the drive as, and what firmware does it have?
i managed to retrieve a more detailed description of it from nero.. it says "ATAPI CD-R/RW 48X16 V9.EK"

[ACE]

Originally posted by ice

i managed to retrieve a more detailed description of it from nero.. it says "ATAPI CD-R/RW 48X16 V9.EK"

Yep, ICE,,that's the benq drive. Also, it does not support Mt. Ranier, while the Lite-On does.

[ice]

Originally posted by ACE
Yep, ICE,,that's the benq drive. Also, it does not support Mt. Ranier, while the Lite-On does.
screwed. :angry:

if i do RMA this drive how is it possible to ensure that it's exchanged for a lite-on?

[ACE]

Firstly, I'd go back to Office Max and see if you can find a box with LTR in the serial number on the box and exchange it. Having done that without success, you could call them and request a Lite-On in the exchange, but you must convince them that the drive should be rma'd. Be sure to check that they only want the bare drive returned, so you still retain the outside cardboard for the rebate requirements. Remember, you'll incur a tidy long distance bill, unless you live in SoCal (I was on hold for 10 minutes), plus the cost of shipping the drive back to them. Just a couple things to keep in mind.
UPDATE: Yes, they do only want the bare drive for the rma. Additionally, it cost me $10 to return the drive, via USPS, including a proof of delivery receipt, and 30 minutes on hold to verify "bare drive" for the return, long distance naturally. YMMV.

[ice]

Originally posted by ACE
---
UPDATE: Yes, they do only want the bare drive for the rma. Additionally, it cost me $10 to return the drive, via USPS, including a proof of delivery receipt, and 30 minutes on hold to verify "bare drive" for the return, long distance naturally. YMMV.
geez.. what a pain. i guess i'll just wait for the rebates to come instead of paying another 10 bucks. :banghead:

[ceeka]

Yes another $10 and you may as well have gotten the 52x drive from Best Buy.

[Juggernaut]

Hi,

Well, I went back to my local officemax and none of the ~10 drives there had any serial number with LTR in them.

Would I be incorrect to assume that if I did not run specific performance tests of my drive vs a lite-on drive, that I probably would not see any difference between the 2 drives?

Afteral, would it be wise for a company to sell 2 different drives in the same box, where one drive is obviously and clearly superior to the other?

Basically, I am still trying to get an answer as to whether or not there really is any obvious performance detriment to having an non-lite-on drive.
The lack of answers to my question makes me think that the average user (such as myself) won't notice any difference.

hehe...I guess we shall see, as I am not willing to devote all the time and effort and extra money to get a mail-order exchange for a lite-on drive.

Talk to you later,
Juggernaut


Originally posted by ACE
Firstly, I'd go back to Office Max and see if you can find a box with LTR in the serial number on the box and exchange it. Having done that without success, you could call them and request a Lite-On in the exchange, but you must convince them that the drive should be rma'd. Be sure to check that they only want the bare drive returned, so you still retain the outside cardboard for the rebate requirements. Remember, you'll incur a tidy long distance bill, unless you live in SoCal (I was on hold for 10 minutes), plus the cost of shipping the drive back to them. Just a couple things to keep in mind.
UPDATE: Yes, they do only want the bare drive for the rma. Additionally, it cost me $10 to return the drive, via USPS, including a proof of delivery receipt, and 30 minutes on hold to verify "bare drive" for the return, long distance naturally. YMMV.

[ceeka]

Lite-on built a rep for itself a couple years ago by being one of the few oems to have a drive that could make exact backups of copy protected games using a program called clone cd. Then last year it added to its rep when it was discovered that some of their drives were OC'able. As of now Sony uses them fir their drives. Performance wise the drives are just above average. The average user prob won't notice the diff.

[ACE]

Juggernaut... The benq drive was quite, good tray operation, and with luck, a decent drive. The Benq drive does not support Mt. Ranier, while the Lite-On does. I've seen reports where they have a higher than average failure rate, but that could happen to any drive. The main reason I opted to get the Lite-On drive is future support. It took me awhile to find the proper firmware to upgrade the Benq drive, and the cendyne site did not have any upgrades for that drive. They, in fact, had a Lite-On firmware that was supposed to be for the drive I received in the box. Obviously that wouldn't work. It's a matter of preference, I guess. Hope that drive works out for you and at the same time..."Whaddaya want for $10"? ;) ;)

[ju421019]

i bought the cendyne dvd burner earlier this year and was wondering if i can get the rebate for this drive.

[Juggernaut]

Hi ACE,

What exactly is Mt. Ranier?
What is firmware?
Are these things that I want and need? :)

I have had a cd-burner for about 2.5 years and I never downloaded or upgraded any software for it...

The only reason I ask is that I like to use my burner to make back-up copies of my system, and I am concerned that a "non-lite-on" burner might not make a faithful copy. That being said, I have no idea if my current burner is a lite-on or not (philips 4x2x24), and I have had the occasion problem of a file getting corrupted during the burn.

Thanks,
Juggernaut


Originally posted by ACE
Juggernaut... The benq drive was quite, good tray operation, and with luck, a decent drive. The Benq drive does not support Mt. Ranier, while the Lite-On does. I've seen reports where they have a higher than average failure rate, but that could happen to any drive. The main reason I opted to get the Lite-On drive is future support. It took me awhile to find the proper firmware to upgrade the Benq drive, and the cendyne site did not have any upgrades for that drive. They, in fact, had a Lite-On firmware that was supposed to be for the drive I received in the box. Obviously that wouldn't work. It's a matter of preference, I guess. Hope that drive works out for you and at the same time..."Whaddaya want for $10"? ;) ;)

[notallan]

You don't need to upgrade your firmware if you are happy with your burns. There is always the potential for bad things to happen and you end up with a dead drive.
The nice thing about the Lite-on is that it is compatible with very cheap and crappy CD-Rs. Often times, if you bought some CD-Rs that you are having problems with in your burner, flashing the latest firmware for your drive can fix the problem.
With that being said, a non-lite-on drive will likely do just fine if you buy major brand media and don't care so much about speed.

[ACE]

Juggernaut.. I pm'd you, check your mail. This thread is getting out of the "Got Deals" realm.

[ice]

i noticed that my PLAY/SKIP button is kinda popped out from one end.. anyone else have it?

[ChIcKeN_HaWk]

Went to a garage sale today and saw this guy selling these drives for $25 with the bar codes ripped off the back...Thought it was kinda funny.

[sachin tendulkar]

Well i guess today's free cdrw drive certainly beats this deal. anyone anything about the kyphermedia drive?is it a rebadged liteon?

[ACE]

Originally posted by sachin tendulkar
Well i guess today's free cdrw drive certainly beats this deal. anyone anything about the kyphermedia drive?is it a rebadged liteon?

I can't find any reference to Kyphermedia for cd-rw drives at all. I'd check serial numbers on the box. Look for LTRxxxxx's for a Lite-On.

[civicdidex]

serial for khyper is 99b0f1205231147943swd000

[Markel]

I was at an OfficeMax today and the guy was pulling out one of the Khypermedia drives for another customer, so I asked him if he had any more. He did, so I figured I might as well pick one up (since it's free after rebate).

The picture on the front of the box shows the words "seamless link" on the drawer, so I figure that this is a Benq drive.

The serial on my drive ends with PWC000.