For the most part, your Mac and burning software will determine the max burning speed based on what the drive can do and also what the media speed is rated for. For example, if you put 16x media into a 4x drive, although the fastest you can burn is 4x. Likewise if you take a CD-RW which might be 4x and put it into your 24x drive, you still will only get a max burn of 4x since the media is only rated for that.
Burn speed is kind of a tricky subject. For the most part, for pure data, the highest speed you can burn is often ok, especially for short term use and incremental back up burns.
However for Audio burning, I always limit the burn speed to 8x MAX (lower if I want to ensure a really good burn). Higher speeds can result in a lot of errors put down on the CD and while Audio CD technology has built in error correction, too many of them and you start to "hear" problems in your music.
Likewise, if you are burning Video DVDs, slower burning speeds often give better results with better compatibility with more players.
What kind of stuff are you planning on burning?
As to brands, I have had good luck with most brands, even generic and unheard of brands. However the one exception is Memorex media. If I have a problem, 99% of time it will be with a memorex blank.
TDK, Sony, HP, Hypermedia, Fuji, Maxell, and a dozen brands you probably have not heard of, all work well for me.
Patrick
