$20 $18
Newegg has a 2-pack of Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24X SATA 5.25" Internal DVD+/-R Burners (OEM) for $20 with free shipping. Has a 0.75MB cache.
$20 retail: $18
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Comments & Reviews (6)

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CeeDog
Ben's cred: 386
Posted 04/12/2015 at 02:53 AM PT
Posted 04/12/2015 at 02:53 AM PT
Newegg
's return policy stinks. I try to buy everything from
Amazon.
I bought two LG burners from
Newegg
a couple months ago and BOTH were bad. So I had to pay return shipping to have them replaced. What starts out as a "good deal" ends up with me paying more than retail after the return. I've learned my lesson.
common_cents
Ben's cred: 132
Posted 04/12/2015 at 05:05 AM PT
Posted 04/12/2015 at 05:05 AM PT
Average reviews are decent but what bad ones there are, are fairly awful. They clearly cut corners on this drive. I wonder how many pennies they saved by downgrading the standard 2MB cache.
artcab
Ben's cred: 154
Posted 04/12/2015 at 08:43 AM PT
Posted 04/12/2015 at 08:43 AM PT
No question the quality of optical drives has gone down, but not really surprising given the usage they get. Given the dwindling desktop market, and the fact that so much software and entertainment is being delivered by other means, it was inevitable that manufacturers took build cost out of them. I can't remember the last music CD I burned, or DVD I watched. I use them for the occasional software install or DVD rip to my server, but otherwise I think twice about buying one for a build. I have a number of HTPCs in the house, and other than a Bluray burner on the main machine, only 2 of the 3 others have optical drives, and those 2 only have them because I had old DVD burners laying around and I had room in the case for them. Pick up an old optical drive from 10 years ago - it weighs at least 2 times as much as a new one (and probably still works!).
dave_c
Ben's cred: 5862
Posted 04/12/2015 at 11:02 AM PT
Posted 04/12/2015 at 11:02 AM PT
It's the war. We're running low on metal so everyone has to make sacrifices to support the cause.

Kidding aside, it's up to you whether to pick the ones economized to a lower price point or pay more. As geeky as it seems I'd like it if they listed actual weight of things like this - bare product, not shipping weight or including packaging.
suednim
Ben's cred: 446
Posted 04/12/2015 at 11:53 AM PT
Posted 04/12/2015 at 11:53 AM PT
^+1. -do- oil filters (put a Fram on a scale and then put on a Hastings or Wix/NAPA gold. Note the weights.)
dave_c
Ben's cred: 5862
Posted 04/12/2015 at 01:44 PM PT
Posted 04/12/2015 at 01:44 PM PT
^ Maybe but I never use top end filters and never had a problem with any oil filter. IMO they're all good enough these days that timely oil changes make a much larger difference than the filter.