Between battery and blue ray, what should I choose?

I am ordering another dv6700t right now. In between an option of "6 cell + 12 cell battery" and "blue ray drive + high capacity 6 cell battery", Which one should I choose. Is blue ray that big a deal, or will it be in next 2-3 yrs.. Is there any complains with this drive from HP?? On the ordering page, the regular and light scribe options have 8X written on them while the blue-ray drive doesnt have this option. Is there any differences here between the two????? I am not a big movie viewer, but on my current HP dv6700t, I dont like the dvd playback. Its pretty grainy and the quality is not pleasant to the eye. So I will certainly appreciate the blue ray quality.

But its also couple of hunderrd dollars more. I could probably get a external blueray dvd in future for pretty less. Should I choose it or not?? Is it worth it right now??

 

Most people think of battery in a laptop as crucail. Sue it is important, but dont give it so much credit. If you are using it at places with electricity available, then it is more of a convenience. If you are going to be on the move with it then go ahead and get the battery. You should alse consider that though the HP screen is quite good, it wouldnt take all the advantage of a Blu Ray (not Full HD capable). It would still be better than a DVD though.

 

I just ordered my dv9700t with a high capacity battery and a blu-ray drive. It hasn't arrived yet, so I can't report on the quality of the drive. I can tell you that Blu-Ray is a was big deal now that HD-DVD has OFFICIALLY LOST THE FORMAT WAR! (This is no joke, HD-DVD is dead). Trust me, if I wasn't 100% sure that the war was over, I would not have invested in one. Also, Artoigi is right. Your laptop does NOT have a 1080p screen (Neither does mine though the 1680x1050 resolution on the one I ordered is much better), so the you will not enjoy the FULL benefits of HD. However, your Blu-Ray movies would look crystal clear and much much better than regular DVD on your laptop screen!

 

I would choose battery, cuz I don't watch movies on my Laptop. ;o

 

I highly recommend the 12 cell battery on any HP notebook. I don't care if you have blu ray or not.. HP's don't get much battery life on the 6 cell. I am about to buy another 12 cell online since my hi capacity 6 only gives me about 2 hours on my dv6500. From what everyone says, the 12 cell is kind of nice since it lifts it off the table and gives you better typing angle and more room for the vents. Adds some weight but overall I thinks it has way more pros then the smaller battery.

 

What's more important for you? I personally wouldn't pick the Blu-ray due to cost (remember it's not just the player, but also the movies), plus I don't buy many movies in general. Next, unless you're projecting it onto a monitor you aren't likely to notice that much of a difference between Blu-Ray and DVD on a small screen. Lastly, you could wait awhile and the prices will go down eventually on the Blu-Ray. However, it's unlikely the battery will be significantly cheaper. Actually, I probably wouldn't get either unless I really needed the extra battery life, but my laptop stays plugged in most of the time.

 

BLU-RAY! Especially if you have used the discount coupon. You can always get extra battery.

 

forget about the bluray, it is now very cheap if you buy it as an external.

 

definitely go for the blu-ray drive...
you can always upgrade the battery very easily later

 

definately blu-ray aswell as its an internal part. External parts like a battery can easily be replaced

 

Why go BluRay? Can't write to the discs and on a 17" screen you will NOT notice the difference between DVD or BR. Gosh, I have a 51" HD RPTV and some of the HD DVD's don't look that much better than some regular Dvds that are upconverted. It depends on the film reproduction, how the studio reproduces it, etc which will determine how it looks.

What is the difference in price? $50, no brainer....then get BR. if it's more like $200,then forget it. BR only has about 1% or so of the market share and at $35 a disc, $400 for a player I don't think they will win the "war"....they won the battle, but I don't think they will win the war.

If you have HDMI out and a 50" HD TV and you want to hook it up, then it MAY be worth it. However, I do not know how the HP passes through the signal through HDMI and how well it does it.

Once again, depending on the price difference that would make my decision. I am heavily invested in HD (2 tv's, boxes, HT gear) and I refuse to spend a lot of money that only has 1% of the market share. IPTV, HD VOD and other ways to get HD will kill BR.

 

Dude, I don't know where you have been but Blu-Ray was not competing with IPTV or HD VOD. They were competing with the HD-DVD format and HD-DVD is now being OFFICIALLY phased out. They are shut down. As far as the others, its not that big a deal. Blu-Ray Disc is to DVD and VHS as IPTV is to Broadcast TV.

Now, I do whole heartedly believe that one day, we will be able to sit on our sofa, grab the remote, and search through an online database of MILLIONS of HD Movies and play them on an instant press of a button. This will be for a small monthly fee of $29.95. Of course we are 10 to 20 years away from that, so I will take by chances with Blu-Ray

 

Only you can answer this question really. Pick which ever one is more important to you. I personally would not get the Blu-ray if you dont plan on using your laptop as a blu-ray player for your 1080p tv/monitor.

I have an HTPC with a blu-ray/HD-DVD drive in it. With that machine, I can rip a blu-ray disc onto my hard drive, and with a little magic from Imgburn and Daemon tools I can play it back on my dv2700 which has no blu-ray player. So if you already have a PC with blu-ray this is an option, however I still wouldnt get the blu-ray option unless you plan on hooking it up to your 1080p monitor/tv. Honestly though, it is up to you. You need to decide if watching a bluray on your laptop is more important than battery life. Not sure if youll be able to play an entire Blu-ray movie without being plugged in though (might have to get the 12 cell for that). You can always get the 12 cell later on. Plus, ive been able to find pretty much every single blu-ray release on the pirate bay if youre into that sort of thing. Most of them are 4.5gb files at 720p which should look just as great on your laptop as they would on a 1080p screen.

 

Why don't you just wait until you can buy both the 12cell battery and Blu-Ray? I would say it would be the best choice to wait, because no matter what way you look at it, you are going to pay more for the part if you upgrade after you get your laptop. The battery and the Blu-Ray player for your laptop will be cheaper if you purchase them when you buy your laptop, especially if you are using a coupon with a certain % off.

Also, there are other threads here that tell you how to upgrade your laptop screen to 1080p. You have to purchase another LCD screen and replace the one in your laptop, but if you really wanted to do it, it is possible.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=221429

As far as the price for Blu-Ray goes, it will be expensive because it is the newest technology in the media industry. It's just like DVD when it first came out, Expensive. I mean look how far the prices came down on the Blu-Ray players since only last year. They were around $1,000 and now they are only $400. It's only a matter of time until the BR disks come down in price.

 

you have to ask which one is more important.... battery life or a bluray drive that isnt writable (am i correct?)

 

What I am trying to say is BR won the battle but not the war.....next BR has to beat DVD, VOD, IPTV, etc. What I am trying to say is, don't invest in a product that only has 1% of the market share and no guarantee it will survive.At $35 per disc people will not be buying them so quickly. Get the battery and then a year or so down the line upgrade to a BR drive if it's cheap enough or still "alive". Also, on a 17" monitor you will NOT notice much difference between upconverted DVD and BR. 40" and larger, yes. 17"....not worth it.

However, it's your choice. I always like battery life first because without the battery the computer ain't doing you any good while traveling. Turns into a 7 lb inconvenience!!!

 

yea i would say the same thing. if you watch alot of movies. you can alawys upgrade the battery, but it might be hard to get an internal blueray player, than an extra battery

 

This drive does not write to Blu-Ray Rom Discs, but will write 2 cds and dvds.
I use the Blu-Ray on my 9700t and use the HDMI out feature! I think it is great! I don't have any concerns with battery life because most places I am there is more than enough plugs! Batteries are also easy to replace. Just my 2 cents!