The HP Mini-Note is already one of the larger low-cost subnotebooks on the market thanks to its roomy keyboard. And my new Fantom Drive DVD-RW drive is about the same length and width as the Mini-Note. But when it comes to height, it’s not even close. The disc drive is several times larger than the computer.

Granted, I wasn’t looking for a slim disc drive. I was looking for a cheap one. But it’s just kind of funny that we live in a world where a disc drive can be so much larger than a fully functional computer.

If you don’t feel like spending the money on your own external disc drive, there are still plenty of ways to install operating systems and other software using a USB flash disk.