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Call this a preview of even better things to come...
The fact is we have had the LG GGW-H10NI Super Multi Blue drive in our hands for a couple of months now, however we did not know in full what to do with it. In one hand, the GGW-H10N is the most advanced optical drive you can get for the PC today, with the capacity of reading and rewriting Blu-ray discs, reading HD DVD discs, and handling all other standard media tasks with DVDs and CDs.

Sounds good so far? Well, the problem with the GGW-H10NI is in part what makes it great.

LG amused us with the announcement of a hybrid optical drive capable of handling both next-generation formats back in January during this year's CES trade show. However, the GGW-H10NI did not appear in store shelves until June for a staggering $1,200, which of course reduced its appeal to a more select few willing to pay the premium for this first generation wonder. Furthermore, only one month later, during July they announced an improved drive that would sell for less money, slated for release in late September (it's now October so obviously it has taken them a bit longer, but it should be out any day now).

But just like Steve Jobs blatantly put it recently when he announced price cuts for the iPhone: "that's what happens in technology." Today, the GGW-H10NI is still available for a reduced price of $850, while many are still waiting for its successor, the GGW-H20LI which will carry a more appealing price tag of $500.

http://www.techspot.com/review/63-lg...er-multi-blue/

Please leave your feedback here. Thanks!

I think LG should be applauded for producing a drive to cover all the options - even if at a ridiculous price. Still, I won't be getting one until the new format is more commonly in use.

As far as I'm concerned $500.00 is $400.00 more than I'm willing to pay for any optical drive. I'm sure you can guess what $1200.00 and $800.00 are too.

Optical drives in general is one thing...

Today Microsoft offers HD DVD playback for the PC with their Xbox 360 drive at $180 which is not bad at all. The LG drive not only reads both HD formats but burns blu-ray, so it's not fair to compare it against a run of the mill DVD burner.

Well thank goodness for early adopters! If technology manufacturers depended on people like me the single speed DVD drive would still cost $1000.00.

Steven & Julio,
Nice article about these great drives, but I do want to question one things. You mention that these drives are still available, where have you found them at recently? I have been searching for a couple and everywhere that I look has them on backorder or have removed them completely. From what I can gather LG is switching manufacturers on this drive and the future of whether or not they will have a 2nd generation is up in the air until that is decided.

Jason

Thanks for the feedback Jason. Here is a place where you can buy this LG drive:
http://www.amazon.com/LG-Super-Multi...1884860&sr=8-1

As for the upcoming second generation model, we yet have to hear from LG as they were supposed to be shipping it now but that is not happening. I will post on this thread when I hear from them.

Unfortunately, at that link Amazon says the item is currently unavailable.

I just got a reply back from Amazon regarding this drive,
I also checked with a couple of other sites that usually carry items like this drive and the story was the same from all of them. Not currently available and unsure if it will even be available in the future.

Can I recommend doing a little bit of research before posting an article about something that you can't even get anymore?

That was actually covered on the review. We treated the drive as a preview of things to come, or more specifically LG's second generation drive that is coming out any time now. Please read the review in full before posting a such a remark .

@ JPowell

If you knew anything about retail, you would know that sometimes it is difficult to obtain products.

For example, Ipods in Australia are very hard to get a lot of because they sell out fast and only limited quantities can be supplied.