What do you mean by slim as possible? All internal dvd or cd burners must fit into a 5 1/4" bay. As for the brand, that is up to you, I prefer the sony dual format drives, but Pioneer and a host of other companies are making dual format drives for about the same cost. I would not spend much more than $235 for the drive. I definitely recommend you getting the dual format drives, they write DVD-R and DVD+R, that way you have your bases covered for compatabilty issues(ie. set-top DVD players) and you don't have to worry about which format becomes more of the standard.