Lite-On OEM or Retail?

[Sukebe]

Hey all,

Just recieved my Lite-On burner. Problem is, I ordered a retail but was shipped an OEM drive. Price difference is $1. I really dont want to have to wait a week and a half for RMA and re-ship.

What's the difference between the retail and OEM versions? I am pretty sure there's a warrantee difference - anything else? It's not a gift, so I dont really need the box but I still feel like I got gyped. What would you do?

TIA,
Ben

 

[Trashman]

as long as it came with the software, i wouldn't worry....retail version comes with a blank cdr and cdrw, as well as ide cable....oem's could come with ide cable, not sure.....all i want is the software.

 

[sohcrates]

warranty is same, you just don't get a big box and some extra goodies

my lite-on was OEM and i've had it for almost 2 years now, works great

 

[mrchaotica]

My retail Lite-On came with Nero... I think that is worth $1 and 2 weeks!

 

[Kingofcomputer]

big difference!!!
warranty - most manufacturers don't provide direct end-user warranty on oem products.
some exceptions:
1. Epox requires you to return to the place of purchase for warranty, Epox mb is always in retail box.
2. all hard disk manufacturers provide direct end-user warranty on bare hard disk - most vendors call it "oem" which is not right, the one found in Dell is the correct "oem" version that the hd manufacturer won't take care of it.

 

[travler]

my lite-on oem came with EZ cd creator 5 but this was over a year ago, and im sure the drive was even older.

Nero rules. guess it took em awhile to figure that out. I beleive its cheaper too.

 

[spanky]

retail parts come with a longer warranty, don't they?

 

[travler]

it depends on the manufactuer, but all the "OEM" parts I ever purchased had the same warranty except the AMD processor

 

[Kingofcomputer]

retail doesn't come with longer warranty,
it's just most oem stuff don't come with warranty, it's just the reseller's own 30 days or 1 year warranty.

spankyOO7 - I guess you buy a lot retail stuff with 3-5 year or life time warranty, so you'll think that retail has longer warranty than oem.

travler - I guess you buy a lot retail stuff with just 1 year warranty, so you'll think that retail and oem have same warranty length.

 

[RayEarth]

get the retail! you paid for it, OEM = generic, OEM is the same thing except they are not made by the original manufacturer. Do you really want to miss out on a blank cd-r/cd-rw and software? The idea of should i complain about this will scratch at your brain until u do something about it, what if you order from this company again and they give u another OEM product even when u brought a retail because they know u might let them slip by again.

 

[spanky]

i got the idea that retail has longer warranty from cpu's. retail cpu's have 3 year warranties from the manufacturer... but oem cpu's are like 30 days from the vendor. anyway... my point is no longer valid. move along ppl, there's nothing to see here....

 

[Roxxor]

I recently ordered a Lite-On 48x12x48x burner OEM, it came with just the drive and Nero burning software...and that's all I ever need. If you are worried about warranty, don't be, as long as you're careful about your burner, you will have no problems

 

[blackhawk]

My retail was bundled with Nero 5.5, a sound cable, screws, a blank cdr and a blank cdrw with an installation folder.

Nero 5.5 is great and you could maybe get it free via downloads. I know a MaximumPC disk I recently got had it on.