BenQ DW1650 OEM Beige, 1 more in stock
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827101011

how do you know how many are still in stock???

i think i took the last dw1650 black, btw =P

do you think a refurb dw1655 retail (possibly with missing accessories, though) is worth ~$50 shipped from a reputable dealer?

In your shopping cart, enter the quantity something like 99 and you will know.

Wow, they'are all gone....that was fast! Glad I got one.

Just received mine (DW1655 Black - retail) from Newegg this past Monday. I used their email notification, and ordered it the minute I got the notification (on 9/28).

So I believe there are still some around, but you have to be quick. The trick is to find the product page and request the notification. (I couldn't even find the page now.)

Hi all. Newbie here.

I popped into the local Compusa and popped open a couple of boxes. There was a Norwood Micro DW1650 selling for $79 and a CompUSA DW1650 selling for $69. Both boxes had DW1650 written on the back of the box in the lower right corner. I opened the boxes and verified the contents. (Note: There was one Norwood Micro in the stack with slightly different packaging listed with the same SKU. This one box contained a LiteOn drive.)

After install the CompUSA drive showed up as: ATAPI DVD DW 8X16X8X16X VGCFC. I haven't had the chance to flash it yet.

Good luck.
tk

Yey zevia this tric is smart way of finding the quantity available in their stock.

My new retail 1655 arrived from Newegg. It's interesting that the manufacture date is April, 2006. I thought it would have been a newer build than that.

Mine was April as well, BCGB firmware. So far I've burned about 5 media codes, the performance with BCGB has been virtually identical to my 1640 BSLB.

BCGB firmware has been given the best performance of 1655 so far atleast for me.

Some member have spotted I/O Magic on sale for #29.99 @ Staples and Norwood and Compusa brands both from Compusa all to be BenQ 1640 or 1650, 1655 and 1670 which is still good news for BenQ seekers.

Its sad. Put up with a liteon and a nec 2500 wit hhorrific burns for months. Then flashed the nec to a 2510 and got better. MEanwile started looking for a "good" drive the 1640 seemed to be the perfect drive but by jan 06 they had vanished. Naturally the only drive I was confident in was sold out. Benq had a new 1655 for $50 at newegg at the time but it was brand new. I found 1 prelim review that looked good so I bit. When I tested it it was like the heavens opened and gods finger burned my 1st few disks. I had no idea a burn could look like it did in cdspeed. The cheapest media could burn with error rates 1/4th to 1/8th the liteon with the best media. I was sold forever on benq. I guess forever isn't as long as it used to be. Maybe other drives are catching up in quality but I sure hope my 1655 never burns out.
I'll miss you benq. xxxoooxxx

With modified firmware in particular, the NEC 2500/2510 can hold its own against many of the best drives around. And this is coming from a very happy Benq 1640 and 1655 owner. While my current Liteon 160P6S performs well, early Liteon drives were no match for any decent current drive, seems they've finally gotten the hint with their last couple of generations of drives. As you mention, other drives are catching up in quality but alot of people still look at Benq 1620/1640/1650/1655 as sort of a benchmark to compare the performance of newer drives to.

I also have NEC 3500A and 3550@4551 with very good performace both in writing and in riping and reading.

I went down to my local Compusa this afternoon to check out the rebadged drives.

This is what I found:
1. COMPUSA 16x brand dvd burner is a rebadged BENQ 1650
2. CONNECT COMPUTER 16x dvd burner w/Lightscribe is a rebadged BENQ 1655
3. CONNECT COMPUTER 16x dvd burner is a rebadged LG H10N
4. HIVAL 16x dvd burner is a rebadged LITEON 165P6S
5. NORWOOD MICRO 16x dvd burner is still a rebadged BENQ 1650.
6. COMPUSA TRIPLE 16x dvd burner is a rebadged LITEON drive but there was no model number on the drive.
I opened up each of the boxes to see the sticker on the drives even though the NORWOOD MICRO boxes said DW1650.

The CONNECT COMPUTER brands were on sale w/instant savings of $10.00 for each drive. The instant $10.00 savings is not listed on their website so I'm assuming it's a instore special. For now Compusa seems to be the only store that still stocks rebadged BENQ 1650/1655 drives. So if anyone is still looking for BENQ drives go to your nearest Compusa.

Seems to be same in Europe when looking amount of shops listing BenQ drives.
http://www.geizhals.at/eu/?cat=dvdram
Good that I bought 1655 at same time when I ordered CPU cooler for Conroe.


Then I would suggest keeping care of case cooling and preferably leave one empty 5.25" bay on both sides of drive and drive stays much much cooler compared to densely packed drives and even discs won't get hot in drive.

That's one of the reasons why I prefer big tower cases.

Seems you already have an H22N. What's the price of Connect Computer's H10N after $10 instant savings? Since H10N with H12N firmware is a bit faster than H22N at 18x DVD-R writing.

My favourite shop (reichelt.de) sells LG H10N bulk for ~33 €.

If you add the shipping, the price is f... up.

Some of these online they advertised reasonable price but then get you with shipping cost and ultimately you end-up paying high price for the drive.

The Compusa instore price for the Connect Computer H10N w/the $10.00 instant savings is $49.00. I have the LG H22LI drive which I'm debating whether or not to keep it. I may just pickup the Connect Computer H10N or order the H22N from Zipzoomfly. I haven't made up my mind yet.

Shipping costs to Hawaii are expensive for me so buying the rebadged drives from Compusa is reasonable & I'm impatient at times that I may want the drive now and not wait 3 days for it to be delivered!

I posted those rebadged drives so if anyone can't find BENQ drives at online stores they have the option to walk into a Compusa store if they have one in their city.

I bought my H22N from Zipzoomfly, very happy with it!

I went down to the CompUSA on Nimitz and South Street today
and looked at their Connect Computer DVDs. The box was not
taped shut, so I opened it and there was a retail 1655, with BCDB
firmware, in the box. 49 Dollars, so I bought it.

I will just put it on a shelf in my closet to backup the 1620 and 1655
that are already installed on my computer.

With all these I/O Magic, Norwood and Compusa reported to be BenQ 1650, 1655, 1670 and even 1640-it look promising that BenQ would be around for little more than it was expected.

In my weekly search for drives and media I found Sony 810, 820 and 830 at a WalMart near Chicago. They were mixed in the shelf and their price was $69. I opened the 810s and 2 of them were 1640, the rest were 1650.
Does anybody know if the 830s are rebadged BenQs?