[Nick]

"Dell Moves beyond High Definition with
Blu-ray Enabled Multimedia Notebook"

Dell Announces Blu-ray-enabled Notebook
by Shane Sturgeon, HDTV Magazine

Excerpt:
Dell today introduced Blu-ray Disc technology into its product line, offering the
next-generation optical disc format as an option on the extreme-performance
XPSTM M1710 consumer notebook computer.

Configured with Blu-ray technology, the XPS M1710 supports...

Read the full bulletin at HDTVMagazine.com

 

[Steve Mehs]

I'm really excited about Blu Ray. I saw it for the first time today when I was at Best Buy. The sales guy said they haven't sold any BD or HD DVD Players yet, but the guy I know that I'm getting my home theater receiver from said Blu Ray is outselling HD DVD at his shop 2 to 1. But the catch is they get a lot of high end clientele, not ‘peasants’ like doctors and lawyers, but professional athletes that play for the Sabres and Bills players. Typically they want the biggest of everything, not understand the technology or researching it they see that Blu Ray is more expensive then HD DVD and they take that.

 

[Jason Nipp]

I am very happy with my Blu Ray Steve.

 

[Nick]

Well, we know you all like Blu-ray, but let's talk about Dell's new Blu-ray Notebook
-- perhaps the first Blu-ray Disc Drive (BD/DVD/CD burner w/double layer BD write)
on the market, and with a 17" 1080p widescreen, at that.

I'm thinking how cool it will be watching a crystal-clear wide-screen Blu-ray flick in
business-class at 35,000 ft with your Bose headphones blocking out the real world.

You can bet the Sr VP in the next seat will be talking with his IT guy when he gets back
to the office.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/cto_xpsnb_m1710?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

 

[Jason Nipp]

Well, we know you all like Blu-ray, but let's talk about Dell's new Blu-ray Notebook
-- perhaps the first Blu-ray Disc Drive (BD/DVD/CD burner w/double layer BD write)
on the market, and with a 17" 1080p widescreen, at that.

I'm thinking how cool it will be watching a crystal-clear wide-screen Blu-ray flick in
business-class at 35,000 ft with your Bose headphones blocking out the real world.

You can bet the Sr VP in the next seat will be talking with his IT guy when he gets back
to the office.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/cto_xpsnb_m1710?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Wow, It's a lot more reasonable in price than I thought it would be. I wonder how long the battery will last playing back a BD movie?

Having traveled quite a bit, I actually prefer a very compact notebook PC, the smaller the better on a plane IMHO. Nowadays business class is a luxury most companies will not pay for, unless traveling internationally. My restriction is a flight over 10 hours. I found with the smaller screen, when the guy in front of me reclined, I didn't have to pull the LCD panel towards me as much. It's hard to type when the screen is 1/2 closed.

But anyhow, I love that BD is taking off.

 

[DonLandis]

Nick- It must have been awhile since you've been on a flight. A 17" laptop ? I had trouble opening up a 15". I bought a 12 inch for just this reason.
Oh, maybe you only fly first class. In First class you can open a 15" but a 17" would be trouble.

Either way, I'm excited about this. I will probably have both when I upgrade the home theater but for the video production facility, I'm looking at Blue Ray for recording HD reasons. When Blue Ray finally gets a recordable Blue Ray drive economically, I will make the move here. When BlockBuster begins renting HDTV DVD's I will put that format in the theater. I won't get either format based on needing to buy movies, only if I can rent them.

Jason- I recently bought the M1210 from Dell and fitted it with every option they offered. Yes, it was expensive but I see having it for a number of years. Dell said I would be able to upgrade to Blue Ray when it becomes available. My favorite feature of the 1210 is the Verizon EVDO Express board built in. I think if you are a serious notebook user, Dell is an excellent choice to invest in. I made a list of 100 needs in a notebook. Dell was the only one who hit 99 of them. That one missing feature was a compact Flash slot so I had to buy an Express 34 card to plug in the CF memory from my Canon camera. The idea they can add a blue Ray drive is great too!

 

[Jason Nipp]

I was using an HP when I traveled, it had a 12.7" display IIRC which still could get hit on the seat backs. I have been eyeballing a ultra-portable Sony that has a 10" display. That is the ultimate traveler IMO. And since the ultra-portable units have no internal drives other than the HDD, it would be very easy to have an external BD on any of them.

 

[Nick]

I always try to book the first row -- no one to recline in my lap. Also, as
a bonus, I would be among the first to arrive at the scene of a crash!

 

[Jason Nipp]

:lol:

 

[DonLandis]

On some airlines, the Flt *******s will not permit you to have anything extrain those seats because you don't have a space under the seat in front of you. When that happened to me once, I quit reserving that first row seat, Nick.

I discovered 2 years ago when Delta started giving me a hard time that SWA has seats with just a couple of inches more leg room. It makes a difference and I don't have the problem with the 12" screen laptop on SWA. American is the same. Delta has some nice frills but other areas they lack. BTW- Delta prides themselves with their movies. Who watches those VHS movies anyway? I call them spoilers.

Jason- The Vaio 10" was considered here but decided they just sacrificed too much road office requirements for me. The Dell 1210 was the happy compromise.