Excellent Blu-Ray / DVD Writer slim

The product:
As indicated in the title of the product, it's a combo: namely a blu-ray player and DVD recorder. The description of the product had to be updated after the first buyers comments. The equivalent slim blu-ray burner is the SBW-06C2X-U but is obviously not the same price ...

The Design:
Quite nice; all in black with a small metal button to eject the disc. The plastic is glossy, not great for the dust that sees fast. The reader is extra flat (slim as the English say). It comes with a tripod to an almost vertical position (see product photo) but it can also put horizontally, without foot.

Connectivity:
It connects via USB 2.0 Y cable to two USB ports. One for data and one for power. The Y cable is very short and so you have two USB ports side by side. But do not forget ... this is only optional. You can operate with only one USB port and do all transit (data and power) over a single cable. So do not panic if you have only one port. The 2 ports are however preferred for the stability of the supply and for the "Auto Tuning Power"

Supported formats:
BDXL; either all formats to date; the burn speed may vary depending on the format (see the doc published on the ASUS website for more details).
Supports 3D (but still necessary to have a 3D screen!) And the 2D-3D conversion.
Supports Dolby Digital EX & DTS-HD audio (5.1 channel) for audio

Bundled software:
There, it is the Gobi desert: only a small burning software (Power2Go cyberlink, in a version 7 which is older and is not supported in Windows 8); but nothing to read Blu-ray, because as everyone knows, Microsoft is not paying the Blu-Ray license, it can decode movies on blu-ray in Windows. I recommend you to acquire SlySoft "AnyDVD HD" (HD version for blu-ray) with lifetime updates (for the film editors regularly update their encoding) or failing DVDFab "Passkey for Blu-ray "with life update also, and read your blu-ray with the free software VLC - you know, the plot - or Media Player Classic Home Cinema (because why pay when you have better and free?). I do not recommend you Cyberlink PowerDVD v13, because you have to repay each release ... but otherwise good software.

In summary:
Small player / recorder very light, made for Ultrabook that do not have (or more) drive / internal burner. Although convenient for watching a movie or save data to a DVD. The only downside is that it comes without blu-ray movie playback software, but for the price, you can not expect much ...