Ultra portables and UMPCs have been a decent success. Although they provide enough power to run almost all regular apps they usually fail short of providing the complete package, especially when it comes to the optical disk drives. External CD-DVD burners/drives are just too large to comply with the word “portability”. But things might just change…check out the super-portable external DVD burner from Pioneer.

The model named DVR-XD09 writes and reads single-layer DVDs at 8X speed but is no larger than the disk itself (well…almost!) The device is powered by the USB, so no need to worry about an adapter. “The drive additionally writes dual-layer and rewritable DVDs at 6X as well as CDs of any type up to 24X.” One notable difference is the top loading feature instead of an usual front bay.

Price? $80, Availability in August’09.

[source: electronista.com]