M1530 & BluRay remplacement for DVD

Hi!

I bought my M1530 a year ago with the DVD/CD drive... and I would like to change the DVD for an BluRay drive... but READ only... is that possible ?; I know about the BD Burner one but it's too expensive for me... I would like to pay around 200$ only not 500$ lol, I don't need a burner right now... the blank BD are still too expensive.

Could I take 1 BluRay slot drive on eBay (or order 1 somehow at Dell ?) and put it in ?

Could you guys recommand me one model that fits?

Is there a tutorial for a drive swapping ?

I read some thread about it and it seems that the one from the Studio 15 doesn't fit =/

Thanks!

 

I don't think you can buy an internal Blu-Ray drive for much less than $500 even on eBay. If I'm not mistaken Panasonic/Matsushita UJ225 is the model number. As you can see they are all above $400 on eBay, ordering from DELL would be even more expensive.

If you want to stay below $200 then your only options is an external drive.

 

Hey Danv, I bought the XPS M1530 about a year ago, but unlike you I bought mine with the blu-ray drive (BD-burner). It was expensive at the time, about a $400 add-on, but I did some research on the blu-ray drive for the M1530 (prior to purchase)and realized that it could not be upgraded on a later date if I purchased it from Dell without the BR-Drive. Visit my own thread that I created with some info. on the M1530 blu-ray drive http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=213954 If you go to the link in my fourth point of my intial post (the Cnet Asia Review) and read the first paragraph of the review, they clearly state that the blu-ray drive was built in a such a way that it cannot be upgraded in the future. (That's why, despite the high price, I installed the BR option at the time of purchase because I knew I would use this laptop for years to come and it wasn't upgradable...)

So...I think you might be out of luck on this one . If you even look at the drive on your XPS it doesn't look like there's a way to remove and replace it as it is streamlined with the bottom of the case. However, I might be wrong as this is just research, and I think you should call Dell and just ask them to make sure... (hear it from the horse's mouth) If they say you can, then congratulations, and make sure to ask them where you can buy a BD-rom (or burner) from and how to replace it. If they say you can't, sorry ...maybe look into external BR-drives. Good Luck bud. (HEY, HEY MAYBE YOU CAN, IF PHEONIX IS RIGHT MAKE SURE FROM DELL THOUGH)

 

It is replaceable. Look at DELL service manual, they have instructions on how to change the optical drive.

 

Cool, Phoenix. Point taken and approved. You're in luck Danv. Now just about the $200 BD drive. As Pheonix said, you can't find it that cheap if it's not external. Those drives are ridiculously high priced if you ask me. They might justify their price by saying that they're slot-load but look at the PS3. Cheaper and better slot-load drive and it plays games (as it's BR profile upgradable)...maybe you should get a PS3 instead, lol. Anyway, good luck. Nice find Phoenix.

 

Thanks at both of you !

I have already think about these USB one but I didn't want to have something more to carry on... but it seems like, I don't have any choice.

If there's a Burner why not a reader ? This is not right... =( loll

I try to search more if I could take one USB slot-load BD drive and put it in my M1530 ... haha! So I just have to find something the same size and interface as the UJ225! Do you know how is the drive is plugged ? IDE ? Sata ? (EDIT: I found PATA on eBay and IDE / Atapi on the Parasonic website... does my M1530 have any of these for the CD drive?)

And do you guys know if a computer BR drive is profil upgradeable like the PS3?

 

sorry for bumping up this old thread but i want to verify that its possible to upgrade the dvd slot drive from the m1530 to a BD slot drive like the pansonic uj-225. is it plug and play once you open the case?

current prices used on ebay is about $150 USD. i believe these drives are IDE atapi??

thanks..

 

I followed the service manual to remove my DVD-RW drive. That's when I discovered it was PATA, not SATA like I had bought.

It's a plug in unit with some additional metal bracket screwed onto the unit, so simple to replace with a standard PATA drive.

 

Hmmm ... I never use my laptop as a movie player.

However, when I ordered my laptop in 2006, I had a DVD installed at the time. I was considering only a CD, but spent the money for a DVD. I was glad I did because there was an application or two that actually used DVD based install disks.

I recently just ordered a 1645 with a DVD. However, I cancelled the order and reordered with a BluRay. Again, I don't plan on using this as a movie box, but the BluRay will in theory help make it a bit more future proof.

The BluRay reader was another $150, so I ponied up and spent it. The fact that these guys are so expensive after the fact, makes me grateful that I did.