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    Blue ray burner on Thinkpad R61

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by rtamarasinghe, Jun 7, 2008.

  1. rtamarasinghe

    rtamarasinghe Newbie

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    Anyone notice how cheap the Blue ray burner upgrade is for Thinkpads? Currently it's only $100 more than a DVD burner. This is really cheap compared to a dell Inspiron for instance, where it's $400 more.

    I'm thinking of buying a Thinkpad R61 14.1" laptop and seriously thinking of getting the blue ray burner with it. But I'll be getting one with integrated graphics and it looks like it doesn't have a hdmi/dvi connectors and I don't plan on getting a dock.

    Would it be better if I spent the extra $100 on other upgrades instead of the blue ray burner.
    Appreciate your input.

    Specs I'm considering:

    Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1 GHz
    Vista Home Basic
    14.1 WXGA+
    Intel GMA X3100
    1 GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 1DIMM
    160GB HDD, 5400RPM
    ThinkPad Blu-ray Recordable Ultrabay Enhanced Drive
    ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi
    No Bluetooth
    6 Cell Battery

    I'll be mainly using this with Linux for programming + email web etc.
    I will upgrade the RAM later.
     
    rtamarasinghe, Jun 7, 2008
    #1
  2. axelm

    axelm Notebook Enthusiast

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    I was also considering the R61 with BluRay, and since it doesn´t have HDMI out I ended up spending the $100 on an upgrade to T61.
     
    axelm, Jun 7, 2008
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  3. LilMikey

    LilMikey Notebook Guru

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    I passed on the blueray as well. No HDMI for viewing and by the time media is reasonable you'll probably be able to get a much faster drive for $100.
     
    LilMikey, Jun 7, 2008
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  4. wuzertheloser

    wuzertheloser Notebook Deity

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    the T61 doesn't have HDMI or DVI out either....only if you get the dock
     
    wuzertheloser, Jun 7, 2008
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  5. rtamarasinghe

    rtamarasinghe Newbie

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    I noticed that the thinkpad DVD burners cost nearly $200 now when bought separately from lenovo.com. The cheapest I saw on Ebay was $54.
    Will Blue Ray burners for thinkpads get as cheap $100 that soon?
     
    rtamarasinghe, Jun 7, 2008
    #5
  6. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    Only if you watch Blu-Ray discs or if you have lots of data to back up since it holds 5x the amount of data is it worth it.
     
    ZaZ, Jun 7, 2008
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  7. LilMikey

    LilMikey Notebook Guru

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    Dual Layer DVDs are around a buck a piece for decent media. When single layer BlueRay disks eek down to $5 or so a pop, then I'd consider one. Even then, there are 5 computers in my home and none have blueray drives.

    My bet is that now that the war is won and all manufacturers can dedicate their resources to improving blue ray drive, media, and laser production we'll see superior drives sub-$50 and $5 media within a year. Even then, DL DVD media will probably be 50 cents a pop.

    Unless you're backing up Blue Ray movies, Blue Ray as a data medium isn't quite worth it to me.
     
    LilMikey, Jun 7, 2008
    #7