The launch of Buffalo's new external drive continues the company's for the .

According to Buffalo, their new external drive, which measures in at 164mm(W) x 50mm(H) x 281mm(D) (roughly 6.5 by 2.0 by 11 inches) and weighs just 4 pounds, is the fastest Blu-ray burner ever. The BR-X1216U3 boasts a 50% speed increase over 8X drives, and when being used via USB 3.0 the drive can write a 25GB Blu-ray disc in only 11 minutes. If you have not upgraded to the new SuperSpeed format just yet, then fear not, as this Blu-ray drive also has backwards-compatibility with USB 2.0, however write speeds are restricted to only 7X when using the older standard.

Sadly, no details on when to expect the BR-X1216U3 stateside have been announced, but Japanese Blu-ray enthusiasts can get in on the speedy action at the end of December for around $450 (¥39,100).

[Via ]

Follow and on Twitter.