Panasonic whittles thinnest Blu-ray drive for laptops down to 9.5mm

While certain notable holdouts have yet to even announce HD disc-based products, it looks like the rest of modern civilization is getting ready to move the discs to an even slimmer set of laptops. Panasonic's latest burner for laptops is down to a mere 9.5mm thick, easily besting the company's previous 12.7mm Blu-ray drives. The drive can read and write Blu-ray discs at 2x, and supports DVD and CD read / write functions aplenty. Toshiba is on record claiming that HD DVD burners can be slimmed down to 7mm and will eventually be besting Blu-ray in this category, but so far only DVD has gone that slim. Panasonic will debut the new drive next month at CES.

[wickedpheonix @ Dec 27th 2007 11:37AM]

For the record, how slim do they go? I mean, if you wanted to cram one of these into a ultraportable or a tablet, how thin would it have to be (for those ultraportables that have DVD burners of that thin-ness that is)?

[thethirdmoose @ Dec 27th 2007 11:40AM]

Come on... tray-loading is soooo 2000... We want slot-loading drives!

[silverblackvoid @ Dec 27th 2007 11:53AM]

this isn't about styling.

according to wikipedia:
"Slot-loading drives have the disadvantage that they cannot usually accept the smaller 80 mm discs or any non-standard sizes"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive

[Bkrumme @ Dec 27th 2007 12:08PM]

Slot-loading drives usually can't accept the smaller discs, but that's why Apple has been working on an "adapter" of sorts for just that purpose. Also, what about technology such as in the Nintendo Wii which can accept full 120mm discs as well as 80mm discs? It would take some advancement to get this into a slim drive, but I'm sure it can be done.

[Reader @ Dec 27th 2007 12:02PM]

Are there mini-BluRay discs?

[thethirdmoose @ Dec 27th 2007 12:11PM]

I, for one, have *never* used a mini-disk in my computer. I have, on the other hand, had not one, but TWO slot loading drives snap

[T-Bone @ Dec 27th 2007 12:34PM]

@Reader: I haven't heard of mini-Blu-ray discs but there are mini-DVDs for camcorders and mini-CDs.

My Sansa MP3 player came with a mini-CD holding drivers. There is no point in putting 1MB of drivers on a full-size CD and then having to design the packaging around the CD.

I'm impressed they got the drive so small. Laptop technology never ceases to amaze me.

[person123456 @ Dec 28th 2007 2:57PM]

optical media is soooo 2000.

[Kurian @ Dec 27th 2007 11:44AM]

I'm not spending 1000k more for a 2x drive that takes 40minutes to burn a disc

[Matthew Hilario @ Dec 27th 2007 11:50AM]

just like zig zags, slow burning.

[Wwhat @ Dec 27th 2007 11:52AM]

try engadget.br

[Reader @ Dec 27th 2007 12:03PM]

Don't think they'll care for shameless advertising over there either.

[Willian @ Dec 27th 2007 12:08PM]

Babaca, otário.

[Willian @ Dec 27th 2007 12:12PM]

Não estou anunciando, estou apenas comentando. É proibido? Você é melhor do que eu?

[thethirdmoose @ Dec 27th 2007 12:15PM]

Translation:
I am not announcing, I am just commenting. It is forbidden? You are better than me?

In the future, try to comment in English. We do not mean to be rude, but we can't understand you.

No futuro, tentar comentar em inglês. Não significa que ser brutalmente, mas não podemos compreender você.

If you like, you can use translate.google.com

[Willian @ Dec 27th 2007 12:20PM]

Translation:
It forgives, was my error.

[nerdtalker @ Dec 27th 2007 1:18PM]

Using threaded replies generally helps as well...

Sorry.

[thethirdmoose @ Dec 27th 2007 12:16PM]

And he just said it would take forever to burn a disk... no reason to be rude, guys

[ethana2 @ Dec 27th 2007 2:16PM]

I wonder if I can order a tablet from emperorlinux or system76 with one of these in it. Of course, there are some people who would strongly dislike what I intend to do, but if I buy a movie in those formats, I consider it my right.

...Yes, even so far as *gasp* backing up my purchases. As much as I do dislike consuming copyrighted media in the first place...

I wonder if Peach is going to ship on HD-DVD and Blu-ray... That would be interesting.

[Z @ Dec 27th 2007 3:53PM]

Give me a combo Blu-ray R-RW/HD-DVD R-RW drive for a laptop, THEN you can color me impressed.

I just want an optical drive in a laptop that can do it all.

[SteveMB @ Dec 27th 2007 4:49PM]

Can I post in German?

[Eran @ Dec 27th 2007 5:28PM]

Nintendo Wii has a slot loading drive that takes both DVD-size discs and the smaller GameCube discs. The Wii drive is made by Panasonic.

[Ian @ Dec 27th 2007 6:29PM]

i would ask if i could post in french.. but then i ask myself why would i want to and after 3 years of taking french i still cant speak that damn language. it blows (im french)

[SteveMB @ Dec 27th 2007 7:14PM]

The PS3 that I own has a slot loading drive. I'm pretty sure all of them do and I also love the touch sensitive power button.

[kuthippie @ Dec 27th 2007 7:55PM]

It's nice to see your thoughts develop from something about a slimmed down blu-ray disc drive to "I really like the power button on my ps3" ...could be just me though...

[Rick wilson @ Dec 27th 2007 8:00PM]

Geeze its always something... "its slim but its not slot load!" well, panasonic has slot load blu-ray burners, the UJ-225. They're sa-weeet!

[Iceman_ii @ Dec 28th 2007 3:39PM]

"Toshiba is on record claiming that HD DVD burners can be slimmed down to 7mm and will eventually be besting Blu-ray in this category"...

Right, about the time 51Gb HD-DVDs are released...

Come on engadget, I thought you were neutral, your bias is showing!

[SteveMB @ Dec 29th 2007 1:14AM]

Yea, towards Blu-Ray. Most of the other posts seem to be pro Blu-Ray.