Print this article | E-mail this article | Comment on this article

Dell releases first sub $1,000 Blu-ray laptop

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

March 28, 2008, 12:09 PM

Texas computer manufacturer Dell said Friday that it will start shipping its Inspiron 1525 notebooks with the build-to-order option for a Blu-ray drive.

Pricing with the Blu-ray drive added starts at $879. Users need to select the laptop with at least a 1.83GHz processor, and one of the 1525's non-Celeron processor models in order to add the drive.

The base Inspiron costs $499. To add the drive, the user must select the necessary processor and the Blu-ray combo drive, which adds $380 to the price. If the user desires, for an extra $200 the option to burn Blu-ray discs can be added.

Even at $1,079 with the burner added, the Inspiron is cheaper than any other Blu-ray enabled system on the market by far. As has been repeatedly said, price is one of the format's biggest negative qualities.

Other than the drive, the system includes a 15.4-inch widscreen display with 720p resolution, an HDMI port, and the option to select from a dozen different colors for the case.

Also, a Broadcom chip is included which incorporates that company's Media PC technology to make high-definition video playback possible on PCs with integrated graphics systems, Dell said.

Add a Comment (9 Comments)

BetaNews reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Foul language and personal attacks will not be tolerated.

By greensabath

posted Mar 30, 2008 - 10:09 PM

I think this is really remarkable since it gives you a blu-ray burner. The only problem, is that the burner is probably slow as crap, and it would still probably be beneficial to wait for cheaper, faster drives to come out later. Not to mention way cheaper blank media as well.

Score: 0

By foxfyre

edited Mar 31, 2008 - 2:14 PM

Yup..."really remarkable". LOL!

A $499 powerhouse laptop with a $580 BR drive.

You can add this to just about any unit now.

I can't wait. NOT!

At these prices, the consumer lost with BR's win and BR will become just an historical footnote.

Score: 0

By DatabaseBen

posted Mar 30, 2008 - 6:06 PM

maybe it would be real news, if the story were about the price being 100.00

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Mar 30, 2008 - 3:02 PM

BetaNews will be getting depserate soon, even stories with the words "Blu Ray" are only getting half a dozen responses.

Score: 0

By tscar13

posted Mar 29, 2008 - 4:08 PM

One problem is that to achieve this price point and still include Blu-ray, Dell must of cut corners in other parts: i.e.- slow hard drive-5400rpm, slow processor, limited Ram, poor audio and video card.