Add-on blu-ray player

So my laptop is an Alienware m9750 (don't worry, this thread is not really about this laptop) and I have a standard DVD burner for my optical drive. My intentions since this laptop has such good specs and such a nice screen is to be able to upgrade to a Blu-Ray player (don't care about burning Blu-Rays). The cheapest "slim" drive on Newegg is 330 dollars. I also noticed that odds are it wouldn't sit flush with the side of my laptop since it has a different face plate design.

A new idea rose up and that was to buy a 5.25" standard blu-ray drive (for example they sell for as low as 110 dollars on Newegg) and put it in a USB 2.0 enclosure. In all reality, this laptop isn't designed for portability given the huge power brick AC adapter, the low battery life, and the size of the footprint on this thing. So if I got this just so I could rent and watch Blu-Ray movies on my laptop at my desk seems like it'd be okay because I didn't want to watch one in the car on the go.

Some reasoning why Blu-Ray is because my roommate recently got a PS3 and will be getting most of his Netflix in Blu-Ray. Soon I'm going to get my own Netflix and I will opting to get Blu-Ray soon so I can watch my movies in HD on our main TV in the living room (where his PS3 is). Getting a Blu-Ray add-on to my laptop seems natural because then I have the option of watching them in my room if needed.

So for around $150 for an external Blu-Ray player seem like a decent deal? Not to mention the fact I could use it for lots of different computers and not just my laptop. And has anybody done this and know that USB 2.0 can handle the bandwidth of Blu-Ray movies?

 

With your current notebook, I'd say purchase a 5.25" blu-ray drive and put it in a enclosure. It's the cheapest solution if you want it now, ontop of that your notebook is already a brick. Adding this won't make a difference and since you can't have the flush look on the internal there's no point in getting the slower and design incompatible to your cool looking notebook.

Besides, what are the likeliness of you playing bluray movies on the go?

 

Not likely to be watching Blu-Ray's on the go... because of my 20 minute battery life (really!) I don't take it anywhere but with the AC adapter.

 

I would get the external blu-ray drive, it will most likely be a lot cheaper than the internal ones. I bought my slot loading blu-ray drives just over a year ago for like $600 each. Funny thing is, I have barely used them

What you can do is, buy the one from newegg, and see if it fits. If it does, you are golden. if not, you can return it and get 85% of your money back. (This is because their is a 15% restocking fee) I am not sure if their is a restocking fee in the first 30 days after purchase.

I think the m9750 uses a standard drive, and a standard bezel type. The only noticeable difference will be the color of the faceplate of the drive. If your laptop is blue or red, the drive cover will be black, and may cause color conflicts.
If your laptop is black, than it shouldnt be very noticeable, but if its red or some exotic color, than I would go for the external, cause it will look bad and you will notice the color conflicts.

K-TRON