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There aren't a ton of affordable notebooks out there that come with a Blu-ray drive as a standard accessory. And if sources behind the scenes at makers of optical drives turn out to be true in their predictions, don't expect to see many Blu-ray based notebooks until the second half of 2010.
As has always been the case with Blu-ray, price is the prohibiting factor. According to DigiTimes, a slim-type Blu-ray drive costs about $100, while a slim DVD burner can be had for just $20, or five times less. It doesn't take a math or business major to crunch the numbers and see which one makes more sense.
By the second half of 2010, however, sources say Bu-ray drives are expected to drop. While they didn't say by how much, the general consensus is that you'll be seeing a lot more notebooks equipped with Blu-ray drives than you do today.
In the meantime, there's still the high-end sector, which now includes Intel's Core i7 processors. Toshiba, for example, recently announced the Qosmio X500 series, which sport both a Blu-ray drive and Intel's new mobile Core i7 parts.
Image Credit: Toshiba via Slashgear
Links:
[1] http://www.maximumpc.com/user/paul_lilly
[2] http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090928PD205.html
[3] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/bluray_gains_ground_player_pricing_drops_who_would_have_guessed
[4] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/samsung_cynic_bluray_only_has_five_years_left_suckers
[5] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/the_last_dvd_and_bluray_ripping_guide_youll_ever_need
[6] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/bluray
[7] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/laptop
[8] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/mobile
[9] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/notebook
[10] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/optical
[11] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/peripheral
[12] http://www.maximumpc.com/articles/news
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