Blu Ray WUXGA versus DVD WXGA

I personally had this question and I'm sure a lot of people are on the edge about whether or not to upgrade to blu ray.

So there has been talk here before about blu ray on laptops and whether or not it's worth it to shell out $400 for a blu ray player/burner on your laptop when you can spend the same amount on a PS3.

Well, I'm looking at the m1530 in particular. The order that you see currently in my sig is going to be cancelled tomorrow. My ESD was delayed and I think I'm going to take the opportunity to cut $500 off of my price and switch to the WXGA LED LCD and a slot load DVD while also keeping a 3 year warranty instead of a 1 year.

My question is: is the quality difference between a DVD playing on 1440 x 900 and a blu ray on 1920 x 1200 discernible on a 15.4" display? Don't get me wrong, I have a 40" LCD with a blu ray player and the difference between blu ray and DVD is incredible; but on a 15.4", is there really a noticeable improvement in quality? Disregarding price, what are all of your opinions? Hopefully this helps everyone else as much as myself.

 

well, it depends on how sharp ur eye is. u wouldn't see massive difference but ur computer should be like an upscaler so it wouldn't rly make that much of a difference.

 

Well, on my 1680x1050 screen, I clearly see the difference between 720x480 aqnd 720p for movies/trailer when upscale to full screen. So on a 1920x1200 you would probably notice it.

 

I'm talking about a DVD on 1440 x 900 versus a blu ray on 1920 x 1200, though, not two different resolutions on the same screen.

 

480p DVD content would be on an almost be running double its native height on 1440x900, whereas Bluray will be running at it's native res. So you should see big improvement using Bluray.

 

Agreed...but on a 15.4"...that's really my question. Pixels are small as it is on a 15.4". I guess it's entirely subjective.

 

I notice the difference between DVD and 720p content on my 12" M1210, which is 1280x800. DVDs look okay, whereas 720p looks freaking amazing.

 

My eyes are sharp enough to notice the difference.

Most of the DVD's I've seen use 720x480 native resolution, so even when it upscales on a higher res screen, I do still notice some minor pixelation. However, 1920x1080 is native for BluRay, so there should be no pixelation artifacts present at 1920x1200 (unless it was a bad transfer source).

 

I can save $500 as it stands and drop the blu ray, get the LED LCD, and a 3-year warranty. Seems like a better deal to me now, but I don't want to be pounding my head into a desk a year from now because DVD's look like crap and I can't play blu rays. I could always get an external I guess. Or even an internal when prices come down I'd imagine.

 

DVD's transferred from a high def source still produce excellent results on smaller sub-1080p or 720p displays. I was just testing Transformers DVD on my 1920x1200 17" screen, and it still looked very nice when compared to Casino Royal BD running at native 1080p.

One thing you should consider is what you will be using your laptop for the bulk of the time... watching movies, graphical apps, or surfing? 1920x1200 on a 15" produces some really tiny text. BTW, you can replace the internal optical drive later and still play BD at scaled-down resolutions if necessary -- they will still look nice

EDIT: How soon do you plan on purchasing your next laptop?