BluRay - Is it That Much Better

I'm looking for buying a laptop for school, and right now am looking at the FZ190. I want it to do all the basic things without messing up, and to play games also. Either way, the laptop is better than my PC so I know it will be able to play games, and unless there is a flaw it will do the basic things.

I was just wondering, is the Blu Ray worth the 400$, or should I just get more processor speed? Will the Blu Ray help out in a couple years, as in will it be more important then?

Oh and one more question, is it possible to switch video cards in a laptop like you can switch them in a desktop?

Thanks for your time, sorry if posted in wrong section.

clay

 

You cannot change the graphics card. Sorry.

As for BluRay, it only allows for hi-def videos and DVDs to be used. It is not going to make your PC run any faster.

 

Well I would spend the money on a better processor or a better all round laptop - with no hi-def DVD drive imo. $400 is a decent amount to play with. Or you could out it towards accessories

Despite the PR from both camps, we do not know who is winning or will win, or whether dual-players will come to the fore and make the argument academic. And we are unlikely to find out before the years end Are you willing to take the risk now? If it was my money, I wouldn't

 

Skip the Blu-Ray for now. HD DVD and Blu-ray are still fighting it out and you don't want to be stuck with the loser. Plus slow burn rates (think 1x, 2x) on a 50GB disc and you might be burning all night.

You can always swap out an optical drive later when they're cheaper...

 

I believe that the Blu Ray and HD drives use the standard optical drive form factor, so for most notebooks there should be the possibility of a DIY upgrade path when these high-capacity drives reach a sensible price level. Also, the media will also need to come down to a sensible price. You may find you have moved onto your next notebook before this happens.

John

 

Don't go with any of the hype regarding any new technologies like BlueRay. Start with the basics in this "Finding the right notebook" thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=88767

As for BlueRay, will you need to backup 25 gigs of data for any reason on a regular basis? I would say if you need backup ability picking up an external hard drive would be cheaper and faster, especially considering that a blank disk costs at least $20 USD. Do you want to play BlueRay discs on your laptop? I don't think that it's worth the $400 for that ability either.

Rather than buying into BlueRay at this point, stick with a standard DVDRW drive and upgrade the specs of the other components. Yes, do upgrade the processor spec and video card if possible, and get a higher resolution screen (just make sure you're comfortable with the resolution as I personally wouldn't go over 1680 x 1050). As for memory, get the base amount (probably 512 meg) and upgrade it yourself as prices are really low right now - you'll probably save about $100 on memory if you upgrade after you buy (2 GB).

Have fun shopping!