Adding blu ray to the 8510w

Anyone know if HP uses their own type of drives for their laptops? I saw a blu ray player on ebay for $350 vs the $910 hp wants in their parts store.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mat****a-UJ-110...ryZ31564QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

The business HP's use a "Multi-Bay II" Drive. You can take them in and out on the fly, and replace with a different MuliBay II drive, such as a different CD drive, HDD or a weight saver.

 

Thanks. Now i just need to see if that is a multi bay 2 drive. I took mine out to look at the connector and it looked the same as the ebay one.

 

The newer 8000 series do not have a MultiBay drive. They are fixed, like those on the previous generation 8000 series. In fact, they use the same parts.

DVD±RW and CD-RW Double-Layer Combo Drive with LightScribe 443903-001
DVD±RW and CD-RW Double-Layer Combo Drive 443904-001
Blu-Ray DVD-RW Drive 452220-001
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive 443901-001
DVD-ROM Drive 443902-001

 

Are you sure, as the 6910p in NZ is listed as being fixed, but its not. It had a screw that 'fixed' it in place, but you unscrew this and you can replace it.
There are owners of the 8510w and 8710w so they should be able to confirm.

 

My drive is not fixed, I was able to pull it right out after taking out one screw. there is a small bracket that comes off of the drive when you need to replace it.

 

The multibay drive is a design that does not have a screw in it. You have a fixed drive if you have a screw.

Multibay drives are similar to what you see in the Fujitsu E8410 or the Dell Latitudes...push a button or pull a lever to do the trick.

 

Greg is correct. Multibay drives do not have screws attached to them and have spring loaded mechanisms so they can removed and replaced by other peripherals easily. They are generally slimmer than conventional fixed drives.
The fixed drives requires the screw to be in place when you travel.

I have had experiences with many HP business notebooks, both with Multibay and non-Multibay drives and they work as such, including the latest models. HP's extreme performance/workstation models do not have Multibay drives.

 

The screw that I'm referring to is placed mainly for shipping reasons. The Multi-Bay II in both my laptops are exactly the same (except the 6910p is dual layer writer), as in they are the same shape, are both Multi-Bay II, are both spring loaded and are both swappable with other Multi-Bay II devices.
What I'm trying to say, is that once you remove the screw (which HP puts in for shipping purposes), you can press the drive in, and it will pop out (ie spring loaded). I know this is at least true on a) the nx8220, and b) the 6910p.
Currently I have the weight savers (as supplied with the 6910p and the nx8220) in place in both laptops instead of the DVD writers because I don't use them.


You can see the Multi-Bay II screw on the left side middle, with the disc and lock icons.


If you look, you can see the arrow thingy on the right side of the DVD drive - If the drive has this, then its not fixed. One screw and you can swap out the drive really easily. I don't see a reason unless you were being brutal with your notebook why you'd need to put the screw back in.

I may be wrong however with the new 8 series.

 

Actually, I take it all back! Looking at the pictures from the reviews of the 8510w and 8710w they both have non-Multi-Bay II designs (ie they don't have that arrow I'm referring to on my notebook drive).
They also appear to have larger drives than mine (6910p and nx8220 are 9.5mm drives).
Having said that, the drive in that auction is 12.7mm, which could possibly fit inside yours.
In other words, Chrixx and Greg are right, and I'm right in regards to the 6910p at least