im refering to models like "lite-on" particularly,
they are now above 24x writing and upto 40x but i understand this isnt fully true as it only burns like this towards the end of the cd, so this being true how long does it take averaging to burn a 700mb cd?
and what do you guys think of lite-on's new burners?
cheers :)

The average speed of a 40x burner is around 30x for a 700 mb cd, so you can see the recording time will be around 2 minutes 40 seconds plus lead in & lead out, plus power calibration - a total over 3 minutes

Read here
http://www.cdrom-guide.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=55587

Personally I think stick with a 24x not much sense going above 32x in any case.

cheers hoss!
btw any1 know what happened to the old site cause i was a member of the old forum and i couldnt sign in with the old user/pass and 2 of my email addy's were refused?

Your account should have been transfered over.. Email me or one of the other mods with your original username and we will check it out for you.

If you have a 24x there is not much to be gained from going to 40x. In fact the Plextor 40x burner is just an improved 24x burner when it burns audio since it burns at the maximum speed of the 24x (for quality purposes).

However, every burner over 16x, including all the 24x burners except the Yamaha 24x, only achieve their maximum speed after burning at three lower speed zones (Z-CLV). The Plextor does shift to 32x at 30 minutes into the CD and 40x at 58 minutes, with the Lite-on being very similar.

However, these 40x burners do burn twice as fast as some 16x burners, making them a good choice for owners of 16x or less burners.