On Wednesday, Transcend Information introduced a new Extra Slim Portable CD/DVD 8X writer measuring just 13.9-mm high, the thinnest the company has released thus far. It's the perfect companion to thin-and-light notebooks and Ultrabooks that don't already have a CD/DVD burner installed out-of-the-box, fitting comfortably into the sleeve of any laptop bag or backpack.
According to Transcend, the portable burner offers around 44-percent the weight savings over your typical external optical drive. It connects via a USB port, and it draws power from the computer rather than requiring an external power source that needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet. It also offers up to 8X DVD and 24X CD write speeds, plus support for the dual layer recordable DVD media formats.
This new super-slim optical drive comes packed with a full-featured copy of the media writing software CyberLink Power2Go, and also includes a bonus 30-day trial version of CyberLink's MediaShow. The former suite allows users to burn music, data, video and even bootable discs in a variety of CD and DVD formats, including CD-R/RW, DVD±R, DVD±RW, DVD±R DL, and DVD-RAM. The latter software provides means to compile, arrange, and produce media files with a simple and straightforward software interface.
Transcend's Slim CD/DVD writer measures just 148-mm x 142.8-mm, and is fully compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista/XP and Mac OS. It's now available via Transcend for a suggested price of US$59 and is backed by a two-year limited warranty.