Bluray drive clarification pls...

This might sound a bit trivial but could somebody clarify Dell's Bluray option to me pls:

Fixed Internal Blu-ray Disc (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM) Slot Drive including SW

Obviously it reads and writes dvds both + and -; read bluray discs only but not write...

What's SW? What does it do?

Will is read and write cds aw well?

Thanks for the help.

 

SW = software. Windows Media Player does not play Blu-Ray discs, so you need alternative media players. They bundle PowerDVD with the blur-ray player, which can manage the playback of BluRay discs.

That driver will not write BluRay discs - if that was the case then it would say BD-RW rather than BD-ROM. It will read and write CDs though.

 

Thank you Fragilexx.

TBH I wasn't planning on getting a BR drive as I don't currently own any(and have no plan to buy any)but the way Dell structures their deals at the moment it'd cost me an extra £35 to upgrade(from a std DVD drive) and a 500GB hard drive(instead of a £320). It seems silly to pass.

What do you think? Is there any reason not to do so?

 

In my opinion £35 is still £35, and if you don't intend to buy any discs and don't have any at the moment then it would be £35 wasted. The HDD upgrade and the BluRay for that price though? That's not bad and I'd probably take it.

 

I agree with Fragilexx. I would take the upgrade too. I don't own or rent any Blu-ray's yet, but now I want to and I regret not getting the upgrade Now I'm searching for an external blu-ray drive :*(

 

the price of even the basic blu-ray player is quite amazing, the cheapest one i saw was $200 usd

 

Yup, they are expensive, and the discs are also expensive. I have one on my 1545, but only because it was thrown in as part of a deal. In total I have 6 blu-ray movies. imho the difference on a notebook display does not warrant the extra cost. Now if this notebook came with HDMI output then that'd be different, as you could hook it up to a HD ready TV. Sadly, the Inspiron line up lacks this feature.

Ah well, to be honest a movie is a movie to me. My eyesight is beginning to fail, so having it in hi definition probably isn't going to make much of a difference to me

 

I've seen some external USB Blu-ray players going for $60-$300 depending on whether it burns blu-rays or not. Anyone familiar with these USB externals? Are they reliable? Fast enough?

 

haha how much are blu-ray disks? i havent looked yet. and to be honest id rather spend 200+ bucks and get a ps3 which can be used as a blu-ray player to... that be more worth while for me since i play those kind of video games and just get glasses

 

ps hdmi ports can be used on ps3 as well

 

I have a nice pair of Hugo Boss glasses where I'm sure the lenses must be getting thinner or something because I refuse to accept that my eyesight is continuing to get worse......

With regards to bluray discs, it depends on the country you live in as to whether there is any price difference. Typically in the UK it can add £2 - £4 to a new release price, sometimes more depending on where you shop. Now I buy a lot of movies, probably 3 or 4 a week, so if you add that up over a year, and I'd be spending £312 - £832 extra making them all blu-ray.

I don't doubt that the quality is better; but that's a lot of extra money to spend on the same movie with the same script and the same scenes.

 

Well, I would much rather buy an external that only reads for under $100 versus $400 ps3. Anyways, the blu-ray movies are pretty expensive. They cost about as much as video games ($40-$50 range). I've seen blank ones for about $75 for a pack of 25! I would cry if the burning process errors out like they do on CD-Rs and DVDs lol.

 

nah i heard the wind can wear down the lens plus constantly cleaning them


and imo i think it be worth spending 400 bucks on something i can play games on and watch blu-ray movies