Bear in mind it's after 6pm on the East Coast and I can't check the OD B&M until tomorrow.
On the last page of the Office Depot circular, it makes mention of a "Business Edition" Yamaha 44/24/44 burner. My eyes might not be the best in the world, but if you read closely enough, I think in the bottom left hand side of the picture on the box I can make out the words "Exclusive DiscT@2 Technology." Initial price is 119.84 - 20 dollar OD rebate and 20 dollar Yamaha rebate - 20 dollar instore Staples coupon or online Office Depot coupon = 59.84 before tax and after rebates. I know OD is usually excellent with rebate submissions - but I'd give them some slack, what with this being the month of giving and all.
If this is true, it's a SCORCHING deal for what's probably essentially a CRW-F1 - I don't know specifics simply because Yamaha doesn't even have it listed on their site yet (OD neither).
If I had to take a wild guess, I'd pretty much say the most probable thing missing from this thing is the audio enhancement circuitry, simply because I don't see what good it would do in a business setting. DiscT@2 is worthwhile since it would add flair to a presentation CD at a meeting. I've oft emblazoned my company's logo on the bottom of discs I give out to coworkers and customers - few people notice, but those who do are genuinely impressed. Another possibility could be a lighter buffer size - retail CRW-F1s sport 8MB - Yamaha could have bumped it down to 2MB to save on part costs - but I fail to see the logic in having two assembly lines - one making a full product, the other making a neutered one.
FW (a.k.a. HeftyWallet) has a good number of 20 off 100 Staples instore coupons, and there are two valid online 20 off 75 coupons if you're an Able Shopper (sans space) and .come to know where to look - you just have to order on the site using the OD SKU, which is 643-222. Usually they'll take coupons over the phone as well if you nag them enough.
I swear on my being an ATHDer that that box says DiscT@2 on it. The bottom left even looks like a CD-R that's been tattooed.
This burner has an edge over LiteOns simply because it carries not only an 8MB buffer but also buffer overrun protection. And if the "Business Edition" still has the Blue LED, it'll look pretty sweet on any case.
Hell, for this price, it'd be a hot deal to buy an enclosure when CompGeeks gets them back in, or contact Yamaha to buy a CRW-F1 SCSI adapter for a 44X SCSI burner for less than 200. All told, even if this is a neutered drive, the DiscT@2 gives it a little edge over a LiteOn 48X.
EDIT: I've done all I can looking for the 44/24/44 Business Edition and only found details about the 24/10/40 - and that seems like it's a perfectly good drive. If I had to guess, I'd simply venture to say the Business Edition simply means less software. Probably all you get is the Yamaha-specialized version of Nero that supports DiscT@2. The other thing that leads me to believe this is a true non-neutered drive is that the only existing 20 dollar rebate is for the RETAIL CRW-F1. Pretty decent.
On the last page of the Office Depot circular, it makes mention of a "Business Edition" Yamaha 44/24/44 burner. My eyes might not be the best in the world, but if you read closely enough, I think in the bottom left hand side of the picture on the box I can make out the words "Exclusive DiscT@2 Technology." Initial price is 119.84 - 20 dollar OD rebate and 20 dollar Yamaha rebate - 20 dollar instore Staples coupon or online Office Depot coupon = 59.84 before tax and after rebates. I know OD is usually excellent with rebate submissions - but I'd give them some slack, what with this being the month of giving and all.
If this is true, it's a SCORCHING deal for what's probably essentially a CRW-F1 - I don't know specifics simply because Yamaha doesn't even have it listed on their site yet (OD neither).
If I had to take a wild guess, I'd pretty much say the most probable thing missing from this thing is the audio enhancement circuitry, simply because I don't see what good it would do in a business setting. DiscT@2 is worthwhile since it would add flair to a presentation CD at a meeting. I've oft emblazoned my company's logo on the bottom of discs I give out to coworkers and customers - few people notice, but those who do are genuinely impressed. Another possibility could be a lighter buffer size - retail CRW-F1s sport 8MB - Yamaha could have bumped it down to 2MB to save on part costs - but I fail to see the logic in having two assembly lines - one making a full product, the other making a neutered one.
FW (a.k.a. HeftyWallet) has a good number of 20 off 100 Staples instore coupons, and there are two valid online 20 off 75 coupons if you're an Able Shopper (sans space) and .come to know where to look - you just have to order on the site using the OD SKU, which is 643-222. Usually they'll take coupons over the phone as well if you nag them enough.
I swear on my being an ATHDer that that box says DiscT@2 on it. The bottom left even looks like a CD-R that's been tattooed.
This burner has an edge over LiteOns simply because it carries not only an 8MB buffer but also buffer overrun protection. And if the "Business Edition" still has the Blue LED, it'll look pretty sweet on any case.
Hell, for this price, it'd be a hot deal to buy an enclosure when CompGeeks gets them back in, or contact Yamaha to buy a CRW-F1 SCSI adapter for a 44X SCSI burner for less than 200. All told, even if this is a neutered drive, the DiscT@2 gives it a little edge over a LiteOn 48X.
EDIT: I've done all I can looking for the 44/24/44 Business Edition and only found details about the 24/10/40 - and that seems like it's a perfectly good drive. If I had to guess, I'd simply venture to say the Business Edition simply means less software. Probably all you get is the Yamaha-specialized version of Nero that supports DiscT@2. The other thing that leads me to believe this is a true non-neutered drive is that the only existing 20 dollar rebate is for the RETAIL CRW-F1. Pretty decent.