Chicago (IL) - Plextor today announced the availability of a new compact DVD burner to date. The PX-608CU is less than 16 millimeters thick and weighs about 0.5 pounds.

The external drive, which supports both formats of bland DVDs and can write at speeds of up to 8x for a single-layer disc, is USB bus-powered and comes with an AC adapter for use with a computer that cannot meet the power requirements.

The slim burner can also write blank CDs at speeds of up to 24x, and features a 2 MB buffer as part of an underrun technology system to prevent writing errors.

The PX-608CU is available now in some stores and should be making its way to all retail destinations in the next several days. Packed with Roxio Easy Media Creator 8, the drive sells for about $170.