14 DAY TRIAL // Optical disk drives, like more or less every other piece of hardware on the PC market bar motherboards and CPUs, come in internal and external form factors. Samsung has just released a pair of DVD drives that qualify as the latter.
Saying that ODDs can be internal or external is a gross oversimplification actually. In both cases, the devices can have more than one form factor.
Internal ODDs can be standard, 5.25-inch contraptions, or much thinner slot-loading disk units that, nonetheless, perform the same tasks at the same level of efficiency.
The external ODDs are the same, only here the company making them has to pay more attention to the outer package, to aesthetics as it were. Good internal shock-absorption mechanisms and lightweight materials help as well.
Nonetheless, external optical drives still come in two forms: the ones that are simply called “external ODDs” (and are about as big as a 5.25-inch internal unit, but with a reasonably good-looking case) and portable ones.
The two new DVD drives that Samsung has just unveiled are of that last type. In fact, they are among the thinnest ever made, even among slot-loaded models (where you push the disk inside a gap instead of setting it on a tray).
The SE-218GN measures 148.6 x 14 x 146 mm / 5.85 x 0.55 x 5.76 inches. The SE-208GB is a bit thicker but not as wide, at 148 x 14.4 x 143 mm / 5.82 x 0.56 x 5.62 inches.
Both of them are unlike the rest of their kind because of the placement of the eject button: it is on the top instead of the front bezel. This is a common issue with these things: the front bezel, being so thin, makes it awkward for the eject button to be there.
Also, the position means you have to hold the ODD in place with your other hand lest you push the whole thing away when trying to press the key. Having the button at the top negates that annoyance.
Moving on, the Samsung SE-218GN and SE-208GB portable optical disk writers use the Smart Power Technology to act as HDDs for tablets with USB ports, as long as there is a disk inside.
Needless to say, the two support Windows operating systems up to Windows 8, and Max OS versions up to the latest released by Apple. All the while, Buffer Under Run technology prevents errors that can be caused when writing speeds exceed data transfer speeds.
Finally, the Samsung SE-218GN and SE-208GB portable DVD drives for Ultrabooks are made without hazardous materials. Unfortunately, prices were not mentioned.
