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Asus M6NE opti-drive question

post #1 of 15
12/14/04 at 2:14am
Thread Starter 
I've searched and I can't find any post pertaining to this issue.
  1. Has anyone successfully installed another DVD/RW drive into their Asus M6NE other than the Toshiba drives?
  2. Did you get a drive pre-installed when you ordered the laptop?
  3. If not, did you need an adapter to install the drive aftermarket?
  4. If you needed an adapter, where did you get it?

I'm asking because I'm about a day away from ordering my laptop. This is the final decision I need to make. I really want the new NEC DL burner, but the place I'm ordering from (see this post) says it's just better to get the Toshiba because of the adapter needed to mount the drive. They say the adapter is not available separately. As that post says, I need this laptop to be portable and don't want to carry around a separate drive. Thanks for any help!
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post #2 of 15
12/14/04 at 3:37am
i didn't know there was even an adapter available for third party drives cept for hard drives for the m6n. is DL that important? especially on the road? i'd say the toshiba one works fine and if it ain't broke don't fix it.
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post #3 of 15
12/14/04 at 6:42am
There is an adapter available, it is the same one that goes on the toshiba drives, so we don't know if it will fit the NEC because no one on the forum has tried yet. I talked to justin at proportable and he said the adapter could be ordered separately for about $30 + shipping from Taiwan. No word on what else it will work with or what it can be modded to work with.

1. not that i know of.
2. no, bought asus toshiba drive premounted with adapter separately.
3. see above
4. see above
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post #4 of 15
12/14/04 at 3:20pm
Thread Starter 
So kronus, how bad is the Toshiba drive? I can't find spec's anywhere that say whether or not it will burn 700mb CD's. I posted this question before and got mixed reports. Thanks for the info on the adapter.

As far as DL, if I can get an NEC DL drive for about $20 more than the Toshiba, I think that's a pretty clear choice. Why limit myself on the road or at home. Besides, I want the best I can afford and if the Toshiba drive is as bad as I've heard, I don't want to pay $175 now for the Toshiba only to find out that I have to pay $195 later because the Toshiba does suck.
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post #5 of 15
12/14/04 at 6:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bl4h
So kronus, how bad is the Toshiba drive? I can't find spec's anywhere that say whether or not it will burn 700mb CD's. I posted this question before and got mixed reports. Thanks for the info on the adapter.

As far as DL, if I can get an NEC DL drive for about $20 more than the Toshiba, I think that's a pretty clear choice. Why limit myself on the road or at home. Besides, I want the best I can afford and if the Toshiba drive is as bad as I've heard, I don't want to pay $175 now for the Toshiba only to find out that I have to pay $195 later because the Toshiba does suck.
Are you referring to the toshiba DVD burner? because I have the CD burner only.
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post #6 of 15
12/14/04 at 11:58pm
Thread Starter 
This is the best news I've gotten yet! Sean at ProPortables has been really helpful. Here are the responses to two different emails to him regarding the choices for optical drives for the Asus M6 series...

Quote:
Jeremy,

We've been using the same combo drives for 2 years now and haven't had one
fail. When you get into the Toshiba dvd writers, I'd stay away from
those.... Those are our 2x dvd-rw drives

If you step up higher than that, we've got great drives

The 4x DVD dual format drive is a Panasonic UJ-820B
The 8x DVD dual layer (9.4gb) is a Pioneer DVR-K14As ...

You're not going to find two better dvd burners.

You can use any notebook drive, you just need the carrier for the M6.... The
problem with that is, the carrier costs about $30, plus $20 to ship it from
Taiwan.... Plus probably two weeks for shipping. A combo drive is $95 ...
So, you could get the combo drive and switch the carrier to your other
drive, plus you'll have another drive.

I can sell you an M6 without a combo drive if that's what you need. I'll
just have to give you a special package link when you let me know what
you'll need.

Sincerely,
Sean
PROPortable
Quote:
Jeremy,

Those two drives are two drives that as far as Asus notebooks go, only we
have. You'll probably notice those toshibia combo drives the most common
and the 2x dvd-rw toshiba drives are the ONLY option most places will have.
Asus doesn't bring in a lot of these higher end drives, but when they do we
pick them up.

If you want to go 8x DL ... Do some research on that pioneer...we haven't
found anything better..... By the way.. The AS at the end of the model
number stands for Asus.... And it's pioneers own specification... So it was
a drive made for them... But if you search DVR-K14 --- that model you'll see
as both a notebook and desktop and external model.... The number basically
is the number for the 8x Dual Layer drive they make.

Sean
PROPortable
I hope this helps other people looking at the Asus M6 series of notebooks. I've just emailed Pioneer to see if there's any dealers of their drive and I'll post the reply as soon as I hear.

@kronus...
I was pretty much curious about either drive, the CD-R or the DVD-RW
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post #7 of 15
12/15/04 at 5:23pm
Thread Starter 
By god I'll keep this thread alive...

Got this back from Pioneer.

Quote:
Thank you for contacting Pioneer Electronics, Inc.

The DVR-K14AS is an OEM drive that is only sold with computers.


--Original Message--
From:webmaster@
Date:12/14/04
To:customer.support@pioneerservice.com
Subject:Feature and Specification|B00003|4073427344[#884136]

FirstName:Jeremy
LastName:
Email:webmaster@
Address:
City:Orlando
State:FL
Zip:32821
Phone:
Inquiry Type:Feature and Specification
lstPublishers:0003
lstTitles:B00003-Professional Products-CD ROM and DVD ROM
Inquiry:Hello, I've read that you make a DVD/RW DL drive for Asus laptops, the DVR-K14AS. I don't know if this is available in the USA. Could you suggest a retailer in the USA if possible. If not, who
would you recommend I buy this from overseas? I am desperately searching for this drive. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Jeremy
Oh well, I give up. I'm just going to get the Toshiba CD-R and buy a DVD-RW later. Thanks to all for the info.
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post #8 of 15
2/19/05 at 2:24am
Please note the 1732 firmware update from Toshiba fixes the most annoying media problems with the Toshiba SD-R6372. http://www.toshiba-europe.com/storag...R6372-1732.exe

I can now use 8x media with out errors. Not at the 8x speed of course I can use the media.
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post #9 of 15
2/19/05 at 3:38pm
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=58853

i've posted here
i have a panasonic UJ-831B/D
built for my m6bne
got it from www.ncix.com
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post #10 of 15
2/21/05 at 4:05am
I just bought a m6ne form istnc.com, by the way great people, and i got the dvdrw drive. It ended up being a matsushita (or Panasonic) drive. No problems whatsoever except that the nero that came with it is saying there is a compatibility issue with xp and i need to update nero, just haven't got around to it yet, just got the notebook 2 days ago. Love it, couldn't go wrong, and it looks like the toshibas aren't used anymore in the current m6's. I suggest you go to istnc.com and talk to them via live chat and they should have some detailed info on the dvd-rw's. Check them out.
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post #11 of 15
2/21/05 at 4:08am
Scratch the nero problem, i just realized there were two different nero cd's in the package, on was an older version (6.0), the other a newer 6.3 version which works great.
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post #12 of 15
2/21/05 at 4:15am
i have the toshiba DVD + CDRW drive, it $#%$# blows, its access time is horrible, it makes stupid sounds, its loud, it vibrates like a biatch when i ask the drive to read the contents it will for some dumb reason skip back and forth so i have to eject the drive and push it back in wasting more my time. once again i do not recommend toshiba anything. it can't even burn at 24x the fastest is 8x, doesn't matter if im burning off my HDD or a network drive (over gigabit) it just wont pass 8x
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post #13 of 15
2/21/05 at 4:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by georgewa
Scratch the nero problem, i just realized there were two different nero cd's in the package, on was an older version (6.0), the other a newer 6.3 version which works great.

there is nero 6.6.0.6 now, i recommend updating ASAP, there were some misc fixes that may help your situation
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post #14 of 15
2/21/05 at 7:47am
By the way, the new dvd-rw drive that came with my m6ne (istnc.com) is model number UJ-831B, not 831D as posted above by someone else. Anyone know the difference between the b and d models. Maybe the b model is not dual layer. Oh well, i got a matsushita (panasonic), not the ill marked toshiba.
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post #15 of 15
3/3/05 at 11:52pm
Nero says it's the matsushita is dual layer, so i guess i'm ready for the dual layer stuff once the media becomes more affordable/available....
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