MacBook + Blu Ray

[Spod]

Any idea if the MacBook will ever come with a BluRay or HD/DVD player?

My ageing lap top needs replacing so thought I know I'll get one of those fangled new Apple things, they come with the latest technology and i'll be able to output the signal to my HDTV but no alas nada

[BlackCountryBob]

That's a difficult question due to Apples notorious secrecy. What can be said for certain is that Apple have made some references to BluRay but nothing major, either way if BluRay was to make it into a Mac it would be the PowerMac first and then the MacBook Pro and iMac with the Macbook last in line as it is the bottom of the product tree s basically if you are waiting for a BluRay Macbook you will probably be waiting for at the very least 1-2 years.

If you really need a BluRay laptop then you will be best served by a high end Alienware laptop or the Sony AR and FZ models respectively but TBH the easiest and cheapest solution long term would be a Macbook laptop and a PS3 to hook up to your TV for BluRay movies.

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by BlackCountryBob

either way if BluRay was to make it into a Mac it would be the PowerMac first and then the MacBook Pro and iMac with the Macbook last in line as it is the bottom of the product tree s basically if you are waiting for a BluRay Macbook you will probably be waiting for at the very least 1-2 years.

Absolute speculation. Wait for the seminar in mid January to find out what's next for Apple, but please don't make up facts for the sake of it....

[BlackCountryBob]

Originally Posted by Kieron

Absolute speculation. Wait for the seminar in mid January to find out what's next for Apple, but please don't make up facts for the sake of it....

I know its speculation, its defined by the use of the words "IF it were". I never claimed it to be a fact.

And it is pretty much the lay of the mac land that new tech goes into the pricier models first, has been since the dawn of mac time and while I am sure Steve Jobs will blow everyones mind with some new piece of tech at macworld I find it unlikely that blu ray drives in the macbook will be it considering that something as rudimentary as a DVD burner is still an optional extra on that model, of course this is conjecture, maybe Jobs will make me eat my words but considering most of worlds tech news predicts a mac minus a optical drive it is my entirely speculatory opinion that if you are waiting for a macbook with a BD drive you will likely be in for a long wait.

[jont]

The fact that blu-ray slot burners are still around $500 means it would be an expensive BTO option for any mac - let alone a MacBook where it is between a third and half of the cost of the complete machine !!

Jon

[Duncan Harvey]

the real fun is guessing the comedy pricing that Apple will use when they offer a Blu-ray drive option in the next update of the Mac Pro.

Their memory and hard drive prices are farcical.

[BA Baracus]

Originally Posted by Spod

Any idea if the MacBook will ever come with a BluRay or HD/DVD player?
(

Well the answer to the question is most likely yes - but when??? I would say highly unlikely soon.

I have to agree with BlackCountryBob - because the macbook is a consumer model you could always guess what technology was going to be updated with by what the pro model above had!

Pro stuff always got the latest and greatest processor, video card etc etc and once that had served its time in the pro line it then found itself in the consumer toys.

I've got an ibook and you could see what was coming at the next refresh from the powerbooks.

But the pro machines dont have the bluray/HDDVD stuff yet, so what are the chances of the macbook getting it anytime soon and first?

Being an apple buyer for years now it was easier to see what new technology was coming out, but in the last 12 months its more difficult to guess what is coming out.

What I think is going to be big in the next 12 months is flash memory drive, bluray/hddvd player, updated processors and the new RAM DDR3.

But thats just pure speculation...

Cheers.

[apolloa]

I wouldn't touch a blueray or hd-dvd in a laptop as neither format has won the war yet and you can't easily swap laptop optical drives.

[barongreenback]

In all honesty the format war has probably killed this generation of optical discs; I don't think there's the demand out there. If you look at the firmer rumours out there Apple seems to have turned to a lightweight notebook with a solid state drive that is expected to come without a built in optical drive. In any event there are external drives available so it wouldn't be the end of world if Apple don't include them for some time.

[jms_uk]

Of course one option is to simply not worry about it and stick a 5.25" BluRay SATA drive in a 5.25" SATA to USB2 enclosure (total cost around £150) job done!

[dejongj]

Originally Posted by jms_uk

Of course one option is to simply not worry about it and stick a 5.25" BluRay SATA drive in a 5.25" SATA to USB2 enclosure (total cost around £150) job done!

What about HDCP doing it that way? And are writers that cheap already? Interesting....

[alanrob]

Originally Posted by jms_uk

Of course one option is to simply not worry about it and stick a 5.25" BluRay SATA drive in a 5.25" SATA to USB2 enclosure (total cost around £150) job done!

Just what I was thinking to
Check out the current crop of drives that are available at OCUK site, just add a USB2 or Firewire caddy and you'll have a BluRay or HD-DVD drive. Not to sure about software side though

[WhiteNoiseMaker]

Originally Posted by alanrob

Not to sure about software side though

If you use Boot Camp you can watch Blu-Ray or HD movies using windows media player with an external drive hooked up. Its a real shame Apple can't pull their finger-out and get their dvd player app working with HD discs.

[dazzahill]

Yeah its a real shame they are working on brilliant apps and a fantastic OS rather than focusing on whats really important, support for 2 poorly adopted disc formats that the vast majority of people either have no interest or already have in their homes (PS3, Xbox 360 HD Drive or stand alone player).

[WhiteNoiseMaker]

Originally Posted by dazzahill

Yeah its a real shame they are working on brilliant apps and a fantastic OS rather than focusing on whats really important, support for 2 poorly adopted disc formats that the vast majority of people either have no interest or already have in their homes (PS3, Xbox 360 HD Drive or stand alone player).

Yeah because I'm sure it would take a huge amount of resources! But I guess they are still busy fixing all the bugs in Leopard at the moment, so I'll give them another 6 months before I e-mail them about the lack of HD movie playback support on their nice machines.