Asus Releases Ultra-Slim External DVD Writer for Ultrabooks

By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

Asus has introduced its new SDRW-08U5S-U external DVD writer with details not found on more common competing products.

Asus this week announced the SDRW-08U5S-U external DVD writer. This sleek DVD writer is targeted at ultrabooks and Asus (of course) has its own Zenbook in mind, since it's styled to match its design. The sleek Zen design will come in three colors: Lively Mellow Metallic, Bright Berry and Dusty Rose. All three come with the brushed aluminum "concentric-circle hairline texture" and measure just 13 mm thick.

Beyond the pretty styling the units also carry a flexible built-in stand (not visible in the image). Regardless, its purpose is so that users can easily switch between a horizontal or vertical placement.

Lastly, the drive supports Asus' Disc Encryption II, which allows users to encrypt the data with customizable passwords and encode filenames. This should be good for keeping away prying eyes and hiding personal data.

So far there is no word on pricing or availability.

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Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • danwat1234
    I wonder if it's slower than 24x CD RPM speed that the regular laptop form factor internal and external drives are.
    Reply
  • alidan
    why make the things so thin if you have to end up getting something like this?
    Reply
  • slomo4sho
    There is still a need for portable DVD players?
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    danwat1234I wonder if it's slower than 24x CD RPM speed that the regular laptop form factor internal and external drives are.Most of these laptop drives have power limits, so yeah, I bet that will be the speed.
    Reply
  • leandrodafontoura
    Very nice looking!
    Reply
  • danwat1234
    nukemasterMost of these laptop drives have power limits, so yeah, I bet that will be the speed.Usually it's vibration that's the limiting factor. 24x CD-ROM is around 4500RPM. 52x is around 10,400RPM.
    24x CD, 8xDVD ?xbluray USB 2.0 (with 2 USB2 port plugs) ROM drives exist so then with USB3 they have twice the power to work with if they still have a cable that plugs into 2 ports.
    But I have seen no laptop form factor optical drives that are more than 24x so it's not a power problem but vibration and disk stress problem.

    So with this super duper slim drive, they might have to keep the RPMs even lower because they can't dampen the vibration as well as they can with the thicker drives.
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    10567182 said:
    nukemasterMost of these laptop drives have power limits, so yeah, I bet that will be the speed.Usually it's vibration that's the limiting factor. 24x CD-ROM is around 4500RPM. 52x is around 10,400RPM.
    24x CD, 8xDVD ?xbluray USB 2.0 (with 2 USB2 port plugs) ROM drives exist so then with USB3 they have twice the power to work with if they still have a cable that plugs into 2 ports.
    But I have seen no laptop form factor optical drives that are more than 24x so it's not a power problem but vibration and disk stress problem.

    So with this super duper slim drive, they might have to keep the RPMs even lower because they can't dampen the vibration as well as they can with the thicker drives.
    I buy that for sure. My slim slot load drives(LITEON, one is SONY and it is much smarter at lowering its speed for DVDs/CDs) even at the same speed are MUCH louder and vibrate more then my LG desktop drive.
    Not much room for any way to balance the thing in such a small drive.

    I would still bet saving power is a good thing for a mobile device :)
    Reply