You may find this link of interest.
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/pcmag/labs/20...torage/16.html
I've been happy with my HP 8100 Series for about 18 months but it will have been superseded and anyway I can't compare it with any others. (It too makes the occasional beer mat using the Adaptec Easy CD software).
If I had to replace it, however, I would seriously consider an external USB device to give me extra flexibility as pretty well all new PCs seem to have the USB interface and it is now supported by Windows 2000 and ME.