Where's My Affordable Blu-Ray Laptop?
 

So I've noticed that even before HD met it's demise(j/k...maybe) that they had HD drives available in Toshiba laptops for under a $1000. I posted a couple months ago asking if a particular lap top was a good deal right before WB went BR b/c it was $799 and it had a HD-DVD drive. But now that BR is more than likely sticking around, I'd like to get a laptop with BR drive. Problem is the only one I've seen for near grand is a 17 inch laptop and I want a 15.4.

I'm sure it's on it's way but when do you guys think it'll be availble for my price range? Should I just keep waiting or just go ahead an buy a "regular" laptop? Obvioulsy I'm not in serious need but I'd like to get one soon but if anyone has any inside info on BR laptop availabillity I'd wait.

Is there a reason you'd even want to play a Blu-ray movie on a 15.4" screen? Just curious. I'd just buy a laptop now, and get the Blu-ray add-on later, when they are less expensive.

If he's buying BD movies, I could see where he might want them portable.

This is exactly the reason I've been holding off buying many TV-on-Blu-Ray titles, because I watch a lot of them traveling, or inbetween classes (gotta kills 2/3 hours somehow when you out of Homework)... I've slowly been building my blu-ray library, but I'm looking forward to the day they go portable.

I wouldn't touch a laptop with a Blu-ray <i>or</i> HD DVD drive for at least the next year or so. I imagine the drives are very slow. Even then, with Blu-ray movies, how do they work with movies with known issues (Die Hard, POT3)? How often do you get "firmware updates" for those type of movies?

I've been driving a projector with a laptop setup for the past 6 months with no issues.

I've got a Toshiba Satellite A205, that has an HD-DVD drive, and it's been absolutely flawless. The HD-DVD drive is considerably faster than my wife's later model notebook and plays everything I throw at it. The only complaint is that the drive runs a little loud. It's not overbearing or horrible, but you can hear the drive running more than other notebooks I've had.

The drive speed shouldn't be an issue anyway. It's the player software that's important, and modern laptops should run it just fine. The "firmware" updates would be updates to the player software, or the drive can have its firmware updated if needed.