Toshibe announced slimline laptop HD DVD writer

Toshiba's SD-L902A will fit in a laptop and writes HD DVD. DVD and CD formats.

Samples will ship to manufacturers by the end of this year and real product can be expected early next year.

No pricing has been announced.

Each layer on a HD DVD disk can hold 15GB compared to Blu-Ray's 25GB, but having product may advance one standard over the other.