Toshiba Slim HD DVD-RW Drive for Notebooks ships in July

The world's first slim HD DVD-RW drive for notebooks was announced by Toshiba's Storage Device Division, further extending high-definition recording capabilities in the HD DVD format. The new drive can read, write and rewrite to HD DVD-RW discs, as well as read and write to HD DVD-R discs and standard DVD and CD discs.

Toshiba's SD-L912A, with sample shipments in July, allows the backup of large-capacity desktop hard disk drives to the reusable format of HD DVD-RW discs and provides capabilities to store data-rich, high-definition digital content. HD DVD-RW functionality also opens the door to a wide range of applications involving storage and rewriting of large volumes of data. The size of the SD-L912A is 5.04" x 0.5" x 4.96" (128mm x 12.7mm x 126.1mm) and it weighs 5.8 ounces (170g).

Since Apple supports the rival Blu-ray format rather than the Toshiba's HD DVD format, it is unlikely that Toshiba's SD-L912A drive will find its way into a MacBook Pro. Fastmac already sells a mobile Blu-ray HD optical drive for $899 that fits the larger 17" MacBook Pro plus older PowerBook G4s and iBook G4s but not the 15" MacBook Pro nor the MacBook. [Bill Fox via Business Wire]