Hello
well unfortunately the problem described could be down to several things...
The dvd-r type you're using are well renowned discs, and seeing as they burn fine on your machine at home, that kinda rules out this being just a bad batch of discs, so that's probably not the problem..
The most likely probable cause in my mind is system performance

The drop in speed is what indicates this. The reason for the drop in speed could be due to;
- The system resouces being used unneccessarily by services / processes that are not required.
- The total physical RAM is insuffient
- The computer does not have a paging file configured (what OS is being used?)
- The hard disk / bus speed is not sufficient to supply the recorder at the required data rate; DVD 4x write = 5MB+ per/s
- The DVD-RW drive is connected to an IDE channel that is seperate from the hard disk.
- The DVD-RW drive is running in PIO mode, as opposed to [Ultra] DMA mode. To check that, open device manager, collapse the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, select either the primary or secondary IDE channel (check both to be on the safe side) and view the Advanced Settings. Make sure it reads "DMA if available" next to the <Transfer Mode> label.
There is also a possibility that the software being used is still in its trial / evaluation period and what your friend is witnessing is one of the limitations before buying the product... or an illegal / invalid product key / serial has been used in attempt to register the software, but i'm sure that's not the case here, is it ?
Please post back some more info on your friends computer, such as it's CPU speed, RAM total, operating system & revision and the software being used to burn the disc.
hope some of that is helpful,
peace