Desktop burners to be replaced by thinner models in 2013

Half height Optical Disc Drives (ODDs) will be replaced by slim-type drives at the beginning of the first quarter of 2013, according to the Taiwanese sources of Digitimes. The CD/DVD/Blu-ray drives will become slimmer due to decreased costs of the 12.7 mm thick slim-type drives. Half-height drives are becoming more expensive because there is more material required to produce them, they contain more plastic and metals and use up more resources during manufacturing.

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The decrease in size will also move on to laptops, it's expected that the current 12.7 mm slim-type drives in laptops will be replaced by 9.5 mm models while Ultrabooks with optical drives will likely get the 10% more expensive 9 mm thick drives.  Panasonic and HLDS are currently producing the 9 mm drives and large volume shipments should start in the first half of 2013. Optical drives that are thinner (8.5 / 7 mm) are also developed but might never become available to consumers, their production costs are 30% to 100% higher than the costs of 9 mm drives.

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