slimline drive

I'm curious about upgrading a slimline cdr drive on a ibm a21m laptop. It uses the regular slimline style drive but the bezel is diffrent. It's not flat, it curves downward and is cut-out on one end. Aside from buying a drive on ebay, is it possible to change the bezel's on these drives and still work. if so will the buttons and such still line up?

The replacement drives on ebay are awfully expensive.

Not exactly sure, but this might help http://markoff.biz/pivot/entry.php?id=856

it's my girlfriends laptop. i don't think she would be too happy with me cutting anything..

You wouldn't be cutting the laptop, just the drive bezel.

I've had experience with IBM lappies, give me a PM.

steve