"Slimline" optical drives

[Nil]

I'm trying to help my sister replace a broken DVD drive in her Dell
Dimension 4600C desktop. The exact replacement drive (a Samsung - I
only know Dell's part number C1294) seems to be available only as
overpriced refurbished units. The drive is described as a "slimline"
optical drive. I'm not familiar with that term, so I have a couple of
questions...

- are these the same drives they use in their laptops?

- is "slimline" an industry standard form factor? In other words, can
I buy a slimline drive elsewhere in the market than Dell and expect it
to fit?

 

[meerkat]

I'm trying to help my sister replace a broken DVD drive in her Dell
Dimension 4600C desktop. The exact replacement drive (a Samsung - I
only know Dell's part number C1294) seems to be available only as
overpriced refurbished units. The drive is described as a "slimline"
optical drive. I'm not familiar with that term, so I have a couple of
questions...

http://www.vesalia.com/e_sn-s082.htm?froogle=uk

Does it look like this one ?.

 

[Nil]

http://www.vesalia.com/e_sn-s082.htm?froogle=uk

Does it look like this one ?.

I've only seen the drive once several months ago, but it did look
similar to that. I'll check out that Samsung model number and see if I
can find anything that cross-references it to Dell.