Samsung said on Wednesday that it has shipped the "world's slimmest" optical disc drive, the sassy new SE-218BB. The external ODD features a compact size that is 18-percent thinner than conventional DVD writers, measuring just 14-mm in height. It's also 8-percent lighter than the company's own conventional DVD writer, making it the perfect accessory for ultrabooks without built-in ODDs, and tablets.
"With its ultra small footprint, consumers will appreciate the SE-218BB sleek drive as an ideal companion for ultrabook users that quickly connects and is USB powered to access content wherever they are," said Maverick Choi, ODD senior manager, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. "Through its AV connectivity mode, the drive is also ideal for Tablet PC users that want to view or hear content from a disc."
The new ODD take advantage of Samsung's Smart Technology to provide AV connectivity to low-powered devices through a single USB port. Even tablets sporting a single USB port and Android 3.1 or above can watch DVD content on their device -- Windows 8 RT tablets may also be a possibility in the future given that the drive supports both Windows 7 and Mac OS platforms.
"Featuring Buffer Under Run technology, the drive works to prevent errors that result from writing speeds that can exceed data transfer speeds, while also enabling PC multi-tasking," the company said. "The SE-218BB DVD writer is [also] an eco-friendly product, manufactured with lead-free soldering technology that eliminates harmful materials such as Pb, cd, cr+6, Hg, PBBs and PBDE."
As for read and write speeds, the new external DVD drive is capable of a variety of speeds across different data media types including: 24X CD-ROM, 24X CD-RW, 8X DVD±R recording, 5X DVD-RAM recording, 6X DVD+R Dual Layer recording, 6X DVD-R Dual Layer recording, 8X DVD+RW recording and 6X DVD-RW recording.
The SE-218BB is available now worldwide at online retail outlets with a MSRP of US$ 59.99
