Blu-Ray Reader or DVD Burner?

I'm having trouble deciding between paying for the $80 upgrade for the 6X Blu-Ray Reader or just sticking with the 8X DVD Burner. I burn CD/DVDs quite a bit as well as reading from them. So I at least need that. I don't own a Blu-Ray player at all. The only 2 reasons to get a BD Reader is the fact I plan on having this laptop at least 5 years so if BD ever picks up as a format for anything (which I doubt) other than movies and also to watch BD movies. I live in a college dorm (and will for at least a few more years). I'm always running my laptop to an external monitor. Having a built in Blu-Ray drive would benefit me more than an actual Blu-Ray payer. However, after looking through different reviews (for desktop blu-ray drives that included software such as PowerDVD) I'm starting to become skeptical.

For those that have gotten the BD Reader solely for watching Blu-Ray Movies, what have been your experiences? Have you had any issues with watching any BD Movies? Would you consider it worth it to spend $80 on the drive upgrade? Any thing you want to bring up about the drive?

Thanks for the help!!!

 

1 thing to consider is i think most (if not all) resellers don't include any blu-ray software with the upgrade bcz most programs are commercial so you'll have to buy them separately.

 

Love my bluray player on this 95% gamut screen.

 

You can get it aftermarket for about half the price and switch it out with the DVD burner really easily. All it takes is about 30 seconds to change the bezel.

I went with the DVD burner that way if I want it I will change it out and save money at the same time.

 

I got a BR drive because I output to my TV to watch blueray movies.
HellHog...love that avatar...the A10 rocks!

 

blur-ray no doubt!

 

If you dont have blu ray movies now you probably wont end up getting a large collection anytime soon. There are also a lot of streaming options that do HD if you want that better quality picture.
If you do get a blu ray drive you will also get blu ray playing software.

 

Sager includes blu-ray software if you buy the drive too. So Xotic, LPC, etc who are sager resellers will give you software with the laptop.

 

Neither if its an NP9150. I'd use the optical bay for a 750GB hdd with an ssd in the primary bay, then I'd buy a slim external Blu-Ray read/write combo drive to carry in my laptop bag with me. If it's an NP9170 than I'd get the Blu-Ray drive.

 

Same. Just get an external with USB 2.0 or 3.0.
And you can easily store movies on your ODD harddrive.
I dont like CDs, DVDs or BDs. Its better to have an external drive for backup and a second internal for the stuff that you use.

Look at my sig to see the USB DVD drive I use. Its the smallest and most lightweight and robust drive ever. And its cheap! And you can use it for all your laptops (if you have a netbook too, then perfect!).

 

Let me ask this, can you boot from a USB 2.0/3.0 ODD? I use CD's a lot as well as DVD's so having an ODD is important to me. And if Read/Write speed is effected, that won't be very good either. I don't need much storage space. I don't know how to rip DVD-Videos and I don't torrent. I've never used more than 160GB of storage on a PC before, and only 40GB's of it was actual data/files that I backup, which I do with my external 250GB HDD.

 

Yes, we have booted from an external optical drive a few times in order to install the OS onto a few laptops. I believe we were using the 2.0 port as there have been a few cases where some 3.0 ports would not work without installing the drivers for them first.

As far as slowdown on read/write speeds, well that is something you would certainly need to watch and record the actual speeds. USB 2.0 is supposed to have a theoretical data transfer speed of 480Mbps (with effective throughput of 35Mbps) where as your SATA II port speeds are supposed to be UP TO 3Gbps. Factor in that data transfer speeds from Blu-Ray optical drive are going to be around 36-432Mbps, so about the same speeds you would expect out of USB 2.0, I believe.

 

I'm just going DVD. I have a blu ray player, and have 55" and 32" 1080p TVs. I can see the difference of blu ray on the 55", but not on the 32"screen. Since I don't plan on my laptop driving a big screen TV, I see no need. I would stream internet videos before blu ray....

 

You shouldn't have a problem with external speeds. It's not about having extra storage space. The ability to have an ssd will greatly increase your laptops load speeds.

 

If you don't use that much space you should actually consider getting a crucial m4 256GB ssd with no mechanical hdd, and than just putting a Blu-Ray reader in the optical bay.

 

Actually, I already am making my main a 256GB Crucial. I'm just unsure if I should fork the extra $80 for BD reading.

 

I went with the BR Reader because DVDs are going out. Even some newer movies are only releasing in Blu-Ray and dropping DVD all together. I just figured I'd get it and keep my comp up to date. Whether you get it aftermarket and install yourself or buy it straight from the factory, I would really recommend getting a Blu-Ray.

 

Well, if you get the BD, you'll get free software, if you go aftermarket you'll most likely have to buy extra software to play blu rays

 

Thanks for all the help! Definitely going Blu-Ray. For $80, it is the same as buying the standalone player's I've eyed in the past, but in this case, I can either watch on the go or run to my external monitor. Since I've been told I'll get software, no reason not get this. Plus, I'm future proofed if on the rare occasion, I ever have to retrieve data from a BD-ROM.