Tight new Samsung drive..

Hey guys, im posting this as a heads up for anyone interested in a fast new cdrw drive, along with the fact that this drive also can play dvds

Check this, i was browsing the net for a new drive and spotted some reviews on this drive that was just about to come out: the Samsung SM-348BEA

The reviews looked highly at the drive... the specs are 48x24x48x16
this drive either matched or did better than any other 48x burner, and it also plays dvds superbly, add that, and the fact that its very very reasonably priced.
I only found one place on the net that is selling it so far. Ive called other retailers and they are s'pose to get the drive in a week or so. I was surprised and a bit skeptical that this retailer, Knowledgemicro, got the drive so early. So i called them up; they said they had it in stock and they can ship it asap.

I'm like, cool, they had a price of $85.39 for the drive, lower than at which the other places that did not have them yet were going to list them as. So i ordered it. So far so good, i tracked it and its coming.

Theres my story for ya, but i think this will come out to be a killer drive. It beats the Plextor 48x model, and it acts as a dvd player cant beat that.

Whoa. That's a breakthrough. Look for those in tons of OEM pc's if that's the price! Got any linkage to the review/specs/retailer?

Don't forget to check www.resellerratings.com before you shop with a new online vendor

Here is the link to Knowledge micro: http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1551.html

O yea, forgot to mention, i did check the reseller ratings. Read through it and wasnt that bad, wasnt perfect either. But so far its going smoothly. HEY.. ive gotten an email that its left the day i placed the order and the tracking actually works. The only thing that could go wrong is that they shipped the wrong one But i think i should be fine.

And heres one review ive read on it thus far-
http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=164

Heres another little article-
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.asp?RelatedID=3192

I will keep you guys posted and tell you how the drive is in person. Right now im using an 8/20 scsi plextor cdr, so this is a HUGE upgrade for me lol!

sounds cool but i've liked the idea of having seperate drives for each function u can get a 48x for around 40 bux even at bb (with thte rebate crap) and dvd drives are around the same price. so u get the same fucntionality for the same price and u dont' have to worry about both breaking at the same time, u can alsocopy form cd to cd. but i guess if u have a small case or somthing u'd wanna go w/ that

Hiya!

I'm really seriously considering this drive right now, so I thought I'd check in with you pioneers to see how they're working for you. Any problems?

BTW, I've found it for $67 at googlegear:

http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=172610

Thanks! -- Paul

in the review it says it has an 8mb buffer but on googlegear it only has a 2mb buffer

Hmm, now that is strange. I wonder if it's a case of "cut and paste strikes again." I'll email googlegear.com and see what they have to say. Their review link also says 8MB. The specific model is SM348BEA.

Here's the link from Samsung. They seem to say 8MB for all models, although they have a typo of SW348 at one place.

I'm guessing it's a typo at googlegear. -- Paul

*edit* Although this bea drive is also listed as having a 2mb buffer at newegg, too.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...ctory=1077&catalog=5&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

I wonder if it's a "lite" variant of their other drive. I wrote newegg, too.

*edit* I also emailed Samsung.

I got this response from googlegear:

Dear Paul,

Thank you for contacting Googlegear.com!

Please note that Samsung actually makes 2 versions of this particular drive. The Retail version which comes with the 8MB buffer and the OEM version which comes with the 2MB buffer. The version we carry is the OEM version which is why we advertise the 2MB buffer and not the 8MB buffer.

Sincerely,
Googlegear

Apparently, this is something to be aware of. Can anybody comment on how big a difference the buffer size makes on DVD reads? From what I've seen, 2MB is big enough to prevent buffer underrun on most CDR, although at higher speeds that could be different.

Thanks! -- Paul