Best Cheap CD-RW drive w/ burnproof

[Mota331]

Ok I'm building a computer for a friend of mine and I have $500 to spend for him and what ever is left of the money after I get done buying everything I get.

I am up to about $342.00 w/o shipping and I still need to buy a case but I think I am just gonna buy it at a local computer store because the shipping cost online is too high. The big thing now that I need to find a cheap CD-RW drive. I want to get him something fast (at least 16x) and he is gonna need BurnProof or something along the lines. I am looking at a 32x LiteOn for $79 but every 32X drive on the market hasen't really gone over well and they pretty much stink.
Anything else that I find that is really cheap like about $52 doesn't have BurnProof and believe me, HE WILL NEED BURNPROOF.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I need to try and keep it below $60-$70, Because of that case I still need to buy.

Thanks

 

[Mavrick007]

How about the Lite On 24x burner, it's under $70(~$63 on pricewatch). Alot of people have praised this burner up.

 

[Dulanic]

Lite-On is a good choice IMO, I have their 16X DVD myself.

 

[ShadowDJ]

the cyberdrive 16/12/40 is $53 on newegg. It's supposedly nice enough.

 

[Salvador]

Liteon for sure. See if you can get in on one of those Office Max deals. They've had a couple already posted on the deals forums. I just picked up a 24x Liteon (Cendyne) for $35 after a $40 rebate and coupon. They were running a deal on the 32x right after, but I don't think it was as cheap.

Very good drive btw..

Sal

 

[JohnnyPC]

Lite On for sure...best bang for the buck on the market...

 

[gamephile]

I can atest to the sweetness of the Lite-On 24x burner. I've had it for a couple of months now and have yet to burn a coaster, or a bad cd even! (ha-ha) So yes, they are definately worth the money. And the burnproof works great. I've burned cd's over the network where there was so much going on, my burner had to wait for over 30 seconds sometimes before it would continue burning. Definately a good buy. Oh, and if you're considering the 32x version, don't bother. It's not worth the extra cash to save literally seconds of your burn times. (Thank you Z-CLV!)

PS, While we're talking about the Lite-on 24x drive, anyone know if upgrading the firmware is worth it or provides anything new? Thanks.

 

[JoPalm]

I have a Liteon 24x Burner

 

[RanDum72]

Another vote for the Lite-on. Acer also makes cheap burners with burn-proof ( I think what they have is Just-link(?), another kind of "burn-proof" but equally effective).