Dell has taken a major step and released its first notebook with a Blu-ray DVD drive. Not only does this drive allow the user to watch (the relatively few) high-definition DVDs, but it also allows discs to be burnt with up to 50GB of data on them. This is what differentiates Blu-ray from HD-DVD (although the Blu-ray discs are much more expensive). Dell’s Blu-ray laptop, the priciest version of the XPS M1710, can be had for $3,699 with a 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo, 1 GB of RAM, and a 80 GB SATA hard drive.
As of right now Sony and Dell have chosen Blu-ray and Acer and Toshiba have chosen HD-DVD. It seems to me that the format war is nearing an end, with both Sony and Dell on board with Blu-ray. I’m still waiting for Apple, though, to call the war over.
[via Macworld]
Apple has been a Blu-Ray backer since almost the beginning...
Phew! $3600 for the "privilege" of using a completely unproven new technology? I'd rather just buy a decked-out Mac Pro. But then I'm not Dell's target audience.