San Jose, Calif. - Samsung has released its thinnest external optical drive for use with Ultrabooks and tablets, the company said today.

The SE-218BB DVD drive is 14mm thick, or about 18 percent thinner and 8 percent lighter than earlier external drives. The drive is powered via the USB port and can run on a tablet running the Android 3.1 operating system or later. It is also compatible with Windows 7 and Mac OS.

The drives speeds are 24x CD-ROM, 24x CD-RW, 8x DVD±R recording, 5x DVD-RAM recording, 6x DVD+R dual-layer recording, 6x DVD-R dual-layer recording, 8x DVD+RW recording and 6x DVD-RW recording.

It is available now with a $59 suggested retail.