I am talking about the HP DE100C that is now defunct. It had a VFD display and a burner. It is now sold as a Compaq piece for $399, but I don't think it has the display anymore.

Actually the HP and Compaq units are different boxes. Both were developed and released before the merger of the two companies. I saw most of the HP units carried in retail stores like Best Buy, and most likely HP simply stopped making them, and let the resellers do whatever with them. The Compaq unit pretty much disappeared after they liquidated it at $400.