Chance to upgrade to M6809??? should I???

Hello everyone.

I have the emachines m6805. The Keyboard needs to be replaced and Best Buy said that they would just replace the whole laptop. They said that I could pay the difference ($150.00) and upgrade to the M6809.

QUESTION: SHOULD I UPGRADE FOR $150???

I want a DVD burner badly, but I noticed the speed of the m6809's dvd burner and wasn't that impressed. Also I guess you guys are all saying that the HD is still at the 4200 RPM speed. That sucks. But on the positive side, it still does have a DVD burner and the HD is 80gb instead of 60. Also the processor is a tiny bit faster. What do you guys think?

Should I upgrade for $150, or just wait a buy an external DVD burner? Is the processor speed increase really worth anything? And how about the 20gb more on the HD, is that all worth $150???

Thanks for any and all info.
Jack

 

If you are going to use that extra 20gb of space and the dvd burner it seems like a good deal to me, then you throw in the faster processor and I think I would probably take it.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

I agree with the above post. I just purchased an M6809 from Best Buy and I waffled between it and the M6805. In the end, I felt that the extra 20GB and processor speed were worth it, and then the DVD burner just put me over the top.

I have had difficulty making DVDs that are playable in my Panasonic DVD player though. And it's specific to the M6809 burner, because my desktop burns perfect DVDs using the same media and source. hmm?

Hope this helps.
mab45

 

Have you figured out your M6809 DVD burner problem? Do you know what kind of DVD burner it is? And is your desktop dvd burner faster then your m6809 burner, and if so does it really make a difference?

Thanks again.
Jack

 

Same media (discs), same source files... And for whatever reason, the M6809 burned DVDs won't play. I don't have slightest idea why. But really, I'm not very worried about it. I just use my Desktop Burner for anything that I need to play on the DVD Player.

 

are you using the same discs? because I know my parents dvd player will only play dvd-r while the ps2 and others I have play both +/-

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

$150 for those upgrades and the benefit of a new unit seems like a deal to me.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

mab45: go to Control Panel | System | Hardware | Device Manager and see if tells you what model DVD burner you have. Find the manufacturer's website and see if their is a firmware upgrade available for it. If it's a Lite-On drive like I think it is, their firmware page is here:

http://www.liteonamericas.com/us/download.htm

Unfortunately, they list firmware upgrades for everything except their internal notebook drives. There is a very relevant update for the external version of (what I think is) your drive. I suppose they expect you to get the firmware from eMachines. Send eMachines that link, explain the situation, and see if they can help you out?

 

I believe it is a Pioneer DVD burner. Also are you using the same software to burn the disks? On my Onkyo home theater DVD if I do not use a specific program it will not work but on my Apex, not matter what I use it will work.

For instance, Nero is notorious for compatibility issues. I can make a home DVD using pinacle studio and all is well but if I try and copy it with Nero it will not work on my high end stuff.

BTW I would do the upgrade in a heart beat.

 

Brianstretch,
Thank you so much, your comment should be very useful - I'll try to let everyone know if this helps or not!

And yes, between the two burners, all variables are constant. Same software, same media, same user

Thanks again, that'd be great if the firmware upgrade solves it.

 

If it is a Pioneer drive, go here:

http://wwwbsc.pioneer.co.jp/product-e/ibs/device_e/dev00001r_e.html

And you'll have the same problem as with Lite-On: the internal notebook drive firmware isn't listed but there is updated firmware for their other drives. (Pioneer is my favorite DVD burner brand.)

Another thing to try: force Nero/etc to burn in 1X write mode. I don't think it will work in this case but it's worth a shot.

 

The DVD burner is a LiteOn Slimtype SDW-431S.

I'm searching for answers right now.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by orion7144

 

It is a Lite-on DVD drive.

For $150, you get a machine that runs everything I have thrown at it with good speeds. Let's remember, the 4200RPM hard drive is slower than others, but conserves battery power. This is a notebook, after all, and to get good use, you need to have at least 2 hours of run time on a charge. A faster hard drive might not allow this.

I used to be an HP man through and through. E-Machines has changed my mind on their products.

Remember that BestBuy offers $250 in mail-in rebates. And Athlon 64 system for $1400 ain't bad.

Upgrade, dude.