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HP and Toshiba demonstrate HD-DVD and BluRay laptops
BluRay and HD-DVD are here. Well, almost. Another set of goodies unveiled at this year's CES were some notebooks from Toshiba and HP, set to be released later this year, that both supported HD-DVD or BluRay in some fashion. The HP Pavillion dv5000z, a Turion 64 based beast, will come with either Blu-Ray or HD DVD drives, depending on customer choice. To show a “it's all OK” approach, HP demonstrated use of both drives in the same tasks such as watching movies. Then again, how many consumers will really care about whether they have HD or BluRay? Probably not at all, until perhaps someone hands them a brand spanking new ultra-quality DVD movie that can't be played because their drive doesn't support it. Toshiba touted the Qosmio, based on Intel's Centrino platform, which will come standard with an HD DVD drive. Apparently, no vendors yet have plans to release a notebook supporting both formats. A shame!
User Comments (15)
Post a comment| CrossFire851 on January 9, 2006 8:19 PM | How much will a laptop hd and blueray disc drive cost?
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| exscind on January 9, 2006 8:31 PM | Good to know both HD-DVD and Blu-ray are coming along. I can't wait for those 25GB discs for storage (50GB for DL). That's enough to make anyone drool. As for the pricing, I would think it runs around $100 to $150 for the drives themselves because they're brand new. Waiting 3 months or so will probably bring them around Plextor price range ($70+).
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| 2old on January 9, 2006 9:45 PM | Originally posted by exscind: Good to know both HD-DVD and Blu-ray are coming along. I can't wait for those 25GB discs for storage (50GB for DL). That's enough to make anyone drool. quote] Me? I am going to wait until one or the other becomes the standard. Signed I bought a Beta VCR.....
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| asphix on January 9, 2006 10:49 PM | I'm with 2old I wont purchase either until one has won. I'm ok with current gen DVD's until then. I really would like to see HD-DVD as its cheaper and has sufficient space. I dont mind 2 disks, one for the film.. one for the extra features... especially if it knocks 10 bucks off the shelf price. If pressured to choose one.. it will be HD-DVD because of cost reasons... but I'll hold out as long as possible for that. Anyway, on topic. Its cool to see we have laptops already on the way. As crossFire said, I wonder what the price will be due to the drives addition and also in comparison to each other. We've an interesting year ahead of us.
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| PUTALE on January 9, 2006 10:59 PM | mmh, it seems like HD-DVD and blue ray is here to stay. I wonder when will the price be affordable.
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| otmakus on January 9, 2006 11:05 PM | Yes, It's wiser to wait until one format wins the war and becomes the standard. And at that time, the drive's price will have fallen like a leaf in autumn. Noone want to be stuck with a laptop, which costs an arm and a leg, with a drive nobody use anymore.
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| nathanskywalker on January 10, 2006 12:43 AM | hmm... blue ray or Hd....what cost less?
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| 2old on January 10, 2006 12:47 AM | Originally posted by PUTALE: mmh, it seems like HD-DVD and blue ray is here to stay. I bet you a dollar one is gone in 3 yrs.  Interesting article from Oz. http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,17771544%5E15302%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
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| Race on January 10, 2006 1:05 AM | It's amazing that this is happening all over again.......as in betamax vs vhs. I was hoping for a late hour decision, but it sounds like production is under way for both? At any rate, I'm totally jacked about the technology. For the most part, consumers (or at the very least those familiar with the beta/vsh fiasco) will hold off, which I would think, can't be good for business.
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| syncrod on January 10, 2006 9:20 AM | hopefully in a few months/years we will see unified bluray + hd drives (just like the +R -R dvd wars)
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| sngx1275 on January 10, 2006 10:02 AM | They better use a more scratch resistant plastic. With all that data being on 1 disk, I imagine scratches are going to be devistating.
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| Cartz on January 10, 2006 10:03 AM | Originally posted by syncrod: hopefully in a few months/years we will see unified bluray + hd drives (just like the +R -R dvd wars) I don't think that's at all likely... It will be interesting to see how this battle pans out, because unlike betamax vs vhs, this time around we have two pieces of very popular home electronics both touting one of the contenders. I'm speaking of course of the PS3, which will ship with blu-ray, and the 360, which is slated to have an external HD-DVD drive introduced in the future.Both formats will therefore have at least some stable backing that the other format cannot intrude on. This will be an interesting year for format wars, but I think anyone who sides with one format or the other now is living dangerously. It's definately worth waiting to see how this pans out, the victor will likely be clear within 6 months to a year. As for the prices of burners for these formats when they're released... I'm thinking that the $100-$150 estimates are on the very low end. I would also bet that the price of the physical media itself will be a prohibiting factor for early adopters. History has taught us that patience is most definately the key in situations like these... But it's always fun to speculate.
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| Rage_3K_Moiz on January 10, 2006 10:56 AM | Format wars have always been around. But they've escalated too much IMO. I'd prefer HD-DVD though. Blu-Ray seems too good to be actually true. We'll just have to wait and watch I guess.
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| mentaljedi on January 10, 2006 1:17 PM | Hmmm... i think i'll just wait for the dust to settle and prices to drop. I'm doing that with the new consoles and i'll do it with the new DVD formats. I'm sure everyone esle is being smart and doing the same thing.
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| PanicX on January 10, 2006 2:09 PM | What I want to know is can these drives read or burn DVD and CD formats. The article doesn't specify what they can do. If I add a dual layer DVD burner to my laptop for $150 and there's a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD option that is also a DVD burner for Say $200, I'll bite on just the off chance of not having to upgrade later. But if these drives are exclusive to their formats or can't write at all, then give me my plan old DVD burner add on.
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