One common drawback when choosing an ultra portable laptop is deciding on whether to go for a model with an optical drive or a thin & light model where the optical drive is attached externally.  Now Panasonic aims to overcome this issue with the development of a thin DVD drive of just 7mm in depth and 99g in weight, which it is now shipping out to PC manufacturers.

This drive is claimed to be the world's thinnest DVD drive and is capable of reading DVD-RAM, DVD±R/RW, DVD-ROM and CD-R/RW/ROM media.  Going by this Tech-On report, the drive is also a writer, although no info on write speed speeds is reported.

Further info can be read on I4U and Tech-On.  The original Japanese release can be viewed here.