Replacing dvd drive with a bluray drive for the g51

I recently purchased the g51vx-a1. I'm heavily considering replacing the drive in it.

However I'm having a tough time finding information.

Couple questions.

IDE or SATA, I'm pretty sure it's SATA.

Will any 12.7mm drive work, or is there a specific manufacturer I should look for or stay away from?

Is it as simple as unscrewing the old one and swapping the bezel and then replacing it?

Will doing this void my warranty?

Anything else I should know or be concerned about?

 

you should, probably, contact asus first, if you haven't already.

 

I don't know about the G51, but the G50 uses Sony-Optiarc drives. I bought a G50vt-X5 refurb last month and swapped the DVD burner with a Sony BC-5500s BD reader and it was totally painless. All I had to do was unclip the bezel from the DVD drive and clip it onto my BD drive. The G50 used 12.7mm SATA, so I would assume the G51 does too.

My drive was used from ebay for $65, there were a few around when I was looking, so you may get lucky.

 

hey tufty, can you show me any links to your drive you got? Ive been trying to find it but I can only find the 5500A (atapi) version of it. Im also thinking of getting a blu ray drive too since this is my only 1080p screen in my house lol.
Closest thing I could find was this http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Laptop-tra...rnal?hash=item1c0cf9edf1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 anyone had experience with this drive?

 

SATA, 12.7mm, drawer load (not slot load).

Yes, it is as simple as unscrewing the old drive, taking off the mounting plate and bezel, installing them on the new drive and screwing it all back together.

I have no idea about the warranty, but I hope it is not a problem as I recently did this with my X1A.

Generally, any SATA drive that has appropriate firmware for the US region should work fine.

By the way, few of these raw drives come with Blu-ray playback software. I have had very good results from Arcsoft Total Theater.

Good luck,
Ira