XPS 15 Blu Ray drive Upgrade

Has anyone swapped thier dvd drive out for a blu ray ? what issues are you running into concearning the bezel. is using a slot load blu ray drive an option for omitting the bezel. if so does anyone have pics of a xps 13 15 17 with a slot load? one last thing is there room for a pata to sata adapter in the optical drive bay? I really dont want to use an external drive. Thanks

 

I found out from parts and upgrade chat with DELL that the part number is Dell Part # 5RFKF Hitachi / LG Model: CT10N. its comming for $89.99 with the bezel as compaired to $219 plus tax and shipping from dell. im hoping since this is the drive dell said i should get i will run into as few problems as possible.

 

Is that a 12.7mm or 9.5mm drive by chance?

 

The drive is a 12.7mm with a sata connector and a unique faceplate. ill see if i can post some pics when i get it going

 

let us know

 

what about the blu ray writer? does anyone know which model is it?

 

Any pics yet?

 

same here, wont pay dell $$$ when it can prob be found for half their 'upgrade' price

 

Alternative compatible blu-ray writers can be found. The bezel is easily removable from the original drive and is compatible with all drives mentioned below at much better prices from Dell
For alternative an drive try a Sony Optiarc BD-5730S see

Spoiler

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-BD-5730S-Internal-Slimline-Blu-Ray/dp/B002XZM1L6

I'm sure it's available at a MUCH better price but I'm UK based and don't know where to look for US prices particularly.
For the lower budget search for a UJ-230 or UJ-240 can't list manufacturer due to swearing but it is similar to matshuta.
The Dell service manual available from their website will give instruction just make sure you purchase a model with SATA as opposed to PATA.
The swap is very straight forward. A total of 3 screws and removing the bezel and you are done!

For those perfectionists the obviously the bezel removed from the DVD drive will not have the blu-ray logo. Hopefully this is something you can live without
And remember any of those drives purchased off eBay in an enclosure can easily be removed and then inserted into your laptop, it can, if ordering from Asia even be cheaper plus you have somewhere to put your old drive!

For those in the UK I'll be putting my UJ-230 on eBay (long running member) so you don't have to risk selling through here but give you the direct link to the "auction" and we can work out a Buy It Now Price and make sure you get it if anyone is interested in the UK. International shipping is a possibility but probably not worth it.
Was thinking around £65/£70 as it is mint condition and working perfectly but willing to listen to any offer and chuck in an eSATA powershare cable (suitable for both optical & HDD) and a couple BD-R & BD-DL or a 50GB BD-RE (about £20 for the discs alone) as I have more than I know what to do with now. The eSATAP cable alone is usually about £15 (from the UK) could be a great deal if you're interested. I'm pretty negotiable so gimme a PM.
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I was just looking at some drives before your post, I found sony optiarc website as well as LGs. Their latest models go for $160ish on ebay.

 

Slight word of caution. I bought a UJ-230 from eBay about 2 1/2 years ago. Runs beautifully and is still my main laptop drive.
I bought a second around 6 months ago with the intention of sticking it in an enclosure and I have a sneaking suspicion twas either a knock off or a factory second. It ran okay, alot louder, and generally didn't perform at the same standard.
I purchase most goods off eBay but when it's an Asian seller there is a higher and the faults are such that there is very little grounds for complaint and return costs make it uneconomical.
Chances are I'll still take my chances will the cheaper price but remember the possibility of B-grade models or rather ones that don't quite reach retail standard DO still find their way on to market and not being labelled as such.

Also media that runs at higher speeds costs awful lot more than that of slower speed and with higher burn speeds comes less reliability. It's worth having the quicker drive for reading if you were backing up BD discs but for writing it isn't necessarily cost effective.

 

the dell BD writer in my l502x is a Mata BD-RE UJ240

 

Wow. It's a great drive but they discontinued that model a fair while ago, surprised they're using it in new builds.

My mistake it's the UJ-230 that was discontinued.... Just means you can get better prices for it I suppose.
I'll be selling mine soon if anyone is interested let me know. I'm tired of Dell and building a desktop, for reasons why

Spoiler

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/572916-free-xps-15-replacement-2.html

I'll be putting it on eBay so you don't have to risk selling through here but give you the direct link to the "auction" and we can work out a Buy It Now Price and make sure you get it if anyone is interested in the UK.

 

Fairly shameless bump as I am now selling a blu-ray drive that works great with the XPS 15

 

hey stonetrap sorry for digging up an old thread but do you still sell them? im having difficulty finding a legit decent internal bd-rom drive for my newly purchased xps l502x (which i got for £439 btw, ex display model )
thanks
stephen

 

What is the best FREE blu-ray playback and best free blu-ray burning software?

Just upgraded to optiarc 5730s