I’m confused . .
1620 gets the good word from all on this group
but 1640 seems to be the future
if buying new now , 1640 the better choice but might need future firmware
to be optimal ?
why do they keep bringing new models out 
I have the 1640.
it’s a good burner (see my posts in the “Post your 1640 SL media here”-threat).
Though the 1620 is a good choice too, because:
-it has a tested and verified firmware
-it supports overspeeding my TY 8x media to 12x/16x
The 1640 seems to be the better/faster ripper compared to 1620. (though I don’t care about that, I have my aopen 1648AAP for this job)
This from in impartial and fairly inexperienced observer:
Ive spent the past 3 weeks reading all the 1640 posts I can find, and the 1620 posts they compare/link to.
the 1620 was perhaps the drive to have 2 or 3 months ago. It still would be a fine choice if you need a drive RIGHT NOW. The 1620 Pro Bonus kit (Includes 25 DVD+R and 25 CDR discs) is only 49 bucks delivered to CUS at NEWEGG. Cant argue with price, hell, thats a great price on a proven great RETAIL BOXED drive WITH a bunch of media!
BUT…
It does have ALOT of threads the past 6 months on I HAVE A DEAD 1620, MY 1620 QUIT SUDDENLY, MY 1620 NO LONGER BURNS/READS AT FULL SPEED…also, possibly related, the MY 1620 RUNS VERY HOT!!!
The primary difference in physical design of the 1640 to the 1620 is IMPROVED COOLING DESIGN. They probably did that for a reason(Who designs something that costs alot of money to re-engineer unless they stand to improve something?). So it may well be worth the wait (say 3 or 4 more weeks) if you arent in too big a rush.
The media scans I see on this forum mostly show the 1620 is usually BETTER than the recent scans of 1640 burns(Especially with certain media)…BUT, the 1640 is all of 30 days old. Its on its 3rd official firmware. If you searched back to last year when the 1620 was “new”, its early firmware results were lower average quality than the current results people are posting with 1640s. What that says to ME is, the 1640 is still very immature, but is farther along than the 1620 was when IT was a month out of the gate. WIth BENQs solid history of frequent firmware updates and extensive improvements regularly…coupled with the 1640 already seeming to be a very solid choice ALREADY that makes GOOD burns on alot of media…the future SEEMS to be bright for that drive. My old toshiba 5272 is having issues with error correction nowadays. I know its over 2 years old now, its tired, burned hundreds of discs…aligment is probably a bit off now. I want to repalce it so I dont have to worry about having to throw coasters away at record numbers and MAINLY so I dont have to reinvest the TIME to reburn stuff that should be good the 1st try.
AFter reading must be 200 posts on 1640 and 1620 burns, probs, speed results, and media compatibility…(Not to mention the shameless taunting and flaunting of the euro and asia members who actually can GET 1640s already…remember, all of us in the US are PISSED at you! 
Nyeh!) I am waiting for a 1640(That or a rebadge that is less than 75 bucks). My brother has a 1620pro, and its an attractive option…especially at current pricing…
But the 1640…is almost worldwide now. And the early results…say it may be the longterm solution for AT LEAST the next 12 hours…maybe longer depending on the next batch of uploads. 
well duh the 1640
1640 is more versatile, burns good on both +R and -R
1620 seems to be bad for most -R
not mine. does my mcc02 and 03 perfectly with less than 150 pif
Is the 1640 available in the US yet? I see posts where people are posting scans with the drive, but can’t find it anywhere on the net for sale.
june-july
See [thread=136947]this thread[/thread]. One post in that thread says that Benq said it will be shipping the last week of July for availablity mid August :(.
Ok, thanks for the info. C0deKing.
tlk
they sound good comments - of all the drives around at the moment it seems unusual for benq to go cooling crazy unless u look at the history of the 1620
1640, introduced future Solidburn Technologies 
hmmmmm. Could it be the 1640 “delay” for the United States was to get the Solid Burn tech going before release? Interesting…
does that mean the US 1640 has a feature the 1640s for the rest of the world dont have ?
No, the feature will be implemented through firmware and software upgrading that will be available to the world AND US consumers.
FYI. Plextor already implemented the same technology called AutoStrategy in PX-716A.
AUTOSTRATEGY® – A technology that determines the standard deviation of any blank disc and automatically optimizes the write strategy for unknown media, enabling high-quality disc recording. AUTOSTRATEGY technology is the culmination of five years of research and development by Taiyo Yuden, a leading Japanese supplier of quality CD and DVD recording media
http://www.plextor.com/english/news/press/716%5Fpr.htm
Just to compare, here’s BenQ SolidBurn:
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, May 31, 2005 – BenQ today announces the launch of Solid Burn Technology, a proprietary technology which uses a smart self-learning writing strategy that allows drives to burn unknown discs with solid burn quality. The BenQ DW1640, released today, will be the first drive featuring this new technology.
Sapa
thanks for the update