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Blu-Ray Drive For Apple Notebooks
Posted by
kdawson
on Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:12 AM
from the but-not-from-Apple dept.
from the but-not-from-Apple dept.
Sean Jackson writes "Fastmac has beaten Apple to the Blu-Ray punch and has a new slimline Blu-Ray drive that works in PowerBooks, iBooks, Mac Minis, the MacBook Pro 17", and a few other systems. It's pricey ($800), but you have to admit that burning 45 GB is pretty sweet. Here are technical specs. Fastmac says that playing Blu-Ray movies isn't currently supported since there is no software player. However, several solutions are in the works and there is always a chance OS X 10.5 will support playing movies. Perhaps this means that Apple isn't far behind and will be offering Blu-Ray with the next MacBook and MacBook Pro revisions."
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perhaps (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps, but it's purely speculation. There's a chance that OS X 10.5 will also come with a full installation of Windows Vista included in the box. Perhaps this means that Apple is planning on buying Microsoft.
See the problem with drawing conclusions from items that are pure speculation to begin with?
Re: (Score:2)
I can't find the link in a cursory glance, but ThinkSecret also published some "rumors" about this.
So it's not purely speculation. It still may not happen, though.
Not all assumptions are equal (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
DVD Studio Pro lets you build HD-DVDs, but at present burning them only to DVD recordable media in a readable file system, or to a directory on a hard drive. Apple's DVD Player will play them or play from a readable directory. I
Multi-boot? (Score:2, Funny)
Although, since all my HD movies are in the other format, it's kind of moot anyway. Mind you, some would say that about my not owning a MacBook, too.
Wow.. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wow.. (Score:4, Informative)
But nobody cares (can't say I blame them, I sure don't).
Parent
Dell already offers them... (Score:4, Informative)
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That should say:
"Yes you can back up all your stuff, but you can't play it anywhere else. This drive isn't about how much data you can store... it's about how much media you can store and use. There's a difference.
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Personally I want to see Blu Ray everywhere, but that's just my preference and has been since before it started to look like Blu Ray was winning the format war. The jury is still out but it looks like that trend will continue, especially with the PS/3 picking up some steam and now this development.
SuperDrive (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Why is that so hard to imagine [engadget.com]?
I can see Apple going for Blu-Ray burners due to the lack of HD-DVD burner availability, but I also remember that Apple used to ship Macs with DVD-RAM drives.
It would be nice to have Blu-Ray support in DVD Studio Pro, but just don't drop the HD-DVD support.
per dollar (Score:5, Insightful)
as usual, for early adopters YMWV (your mileage Will vary)
Re: (Score:2)
X = n/50*30+800 =
Where n is storage, in Gb, and X is dollars. But of course, x occurs at a negative; about $-800, or n=2,666
So assuming the best, blu-ray is still never as efficient as external hard drives.
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HDCP and DVI (Score:2)
FUD (Score:3, Informative)
2) Hollywood has agreed to not use ICT before 2012 at earliest if at all
3) ICT is per disc, so none of your current discs will be degraded in the future
Running around like chicken little saying the sky is falling, will have none if not the opposite effect. All you'll do is make normal people try it, see that you're wrong and think you're some sort of wierdo conspiracy crackpot. HDCP won't affect many, most won't notice it and for the
NotFUD (Score:3, Insightful)
Hollywood also empahtically stated they would not abuse the DMCA. Congress believed them and now consumer rights and computer/electronic producer rights have been reduced to loose poo on a stick.
GP's claim is not fud.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Right, they're waiting for more sheeple to buy into their shit before tightening the noose. And yet you're somehow trying to spin that as a good thing?!! FUD, indeed!
How long? (Score:5, Informative)
What a Waste of Money... (Score:2, Interesting)
Really? Last I looked I can now get a terrabyte of hard disk space under 300 USD. If I want a terrabyte of RAID it will probably cost me 400 USD, maybe 500 USD. A terrabyte of blueray is 20 DVD's burning at 8x. Oh yeah I am going to pay 800 USD and 20x CD's + more time to do the same ba
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry for being pedantic, but it's actually Blu-ray, and a Blu-ray Disc != a DVD.
Speed? 1x BD-RW (Score:2)
Apple playing catch-up again... (Score:2, Informative)
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Beaten? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, they totally beat Apple to the punch of selling a product that the OS doesn't support at all. Hurp. It's not that Apple can't get hardware from vendors, it's that they have to implement the software side as well, which isn't very likely until the next big OS update. I mean, we're kinda at the end of the Tiger line, here, after all.
This is news? (Score:2)
As a Mac user, I'm rather disappiointed. But that's why I'm also a PC user - it helps me avoid disappointment when Apple decides to sit on the fence.
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& How Long Will the Disks Last (Score:5, Interesting)
If not, hard drives are way better as they read and write at far higher speeds.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I want to see some very heavy results from independent testing labs that give me an idea that if I put data on such disks that it will be readable in at least 5 years @ 99.99% reliability.
If not, hard drives are way better as they read and write at far higher speeds.
Hard drives will ALWAYS be more reliable than any flat piece of plastic. But you can't throw a hard drive in an envelope and mail it for $0.41 in the US like you can a CD / DVD / HD|BR-DVD. Families enjoy this because they can send home movies around the nation very easily, and business find it useful for mailing out data that would otherwise take a long time to send over their already busy internet connection.
But for all my archival needs I use big ass external hard drives.
Good (Score:2)
That'll make the version without the BluRay reader $200 cheaper, which works just fine for me.
Pretty slow (Score:3)
If it's as slow as burning a DVD is, then not really. I gave up on optical media for backup long ago because it's just too slow. I just use an extra hard drive instead. Does anybody know if burning Bluray is any faster per GB than burning a DVD?
"Sweet?" (Score:3, Interesting)
Okay, I can get a dual-layer DVD Burner for about seventy bucks [amazon.com] currently, which means I can burn about 8 GB (or 18% of 45 GB) for less than one-tenth of the price--nearly twice as "cost effective."
Then you consider that I can buy the six dual-layer DVDs for about $1.50 each ($9 total), whereas a single "sweet-burnin'" dual-layer Blu-Ray disc (the kind you need to hold 45 GB) is gonna cost me at LEAST thirty bucks--four times as much for the same amount of data.
Hm. When you consider the trend, I think I can hold off for, say, two years when Blu-Ray or HD-DVD or whoever wins that war costs about what a dual-layer DVD burner costs now (and ditto for the discs).
Burning 45 GB onto just one disc will be "sweet," but for the nonce I can stand burning six d-l DVDs without laying out the $800 smackers (esp. since I've already bought the DVD burner with my latest notebook computer anyway).
Overpriced much? (Score:2)
Ok, it's a Blu-Ray burner, but still.
Why Apple (probably) hasn't made this themselves (Score:4, Funny)
Customer: I bought this HD movie and it doesn't work in my drive can you help?
Apple: Sir, it's an HDDVD, you have a Bluray drive
Customer: But my Bluray drive is for HD isn't it?
Apple: Yes, but HDDVD and Bluray are different formats
Customer: But I want to be able to play HD movies!
Apple: *sigh*
Leopard necessary first, for Apple sourced (Score:2)
Is it worth it? (Score:2)
For one it is too expensive for the drive. $800. I can get a 500GB HDD for about 120 euros. Easier to store, no messing trying to find a disk. No DRM, no region messing.
It will (imho) go the way of the DAT tapes (niche market).
So what (Score:3, Funny)
Driver signing (Score:2)
I honestly hope that someone either builds a large quantum computer or finds a fast discrete logarithm algorithm soon before asymmetric encryption ruins consumer rights.
Re: (Score:2)
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Regarding failure... Not true. I know for the past five years all I do is buy two drives per year, and copy the old information to the new drives. Beats any other backup system on price, performance
Re:Meh (Score:5, Informative)
Cheapest Blu-Ray burner: $529 + 1 25GB DVD (requires a decently powerful video card???)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N
Cheapest per-GB BD Disks: $32.99 (150GB total ~$0.22/GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N
Blue ray in it's
HDs in better light
HDDs:
750GB: $254.99 ($0.33/GB, 15 BD's worth of data)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N
500GB: $129.99 (26/GB, 10 BD's worth of data)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N
OK, ignoring the cost of the BD drive, which we'll assume you only need to buy once, per-GB the BD is cheaper. However, assuming you don't use unlimited BDs, then you you are cost effective with BDs, only if you have to have simultaneous backup of up to X GB:
529 +
So, you must need at least 13TB of backup at any given time for BD to be more effective in terms of cost. (NOTE: if you do a rolling backup, you'll never reach this, and unless the BDs are -RW, they'll probably not be cost-effective)
And I'm petty sure 10 optical disks are about the same size standard HD or larger. With a good/small enclosure, you'll still have less space than 15BDs, and you only need one enclusre, just swap the drives. Heck you can get a dongle type setup that doesn't even require the enclosure.
So, HDs have space
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
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Depends on Requirements (Score:3, Interesting)
If you get a good enclosure they're closer to $40, then you need at least two of them for RAID, you need controllers to drive them - if that's USB you're stuck at slow rates, if it's e.SATA you have expensive controllers and/or port limitations. Now you need to handle hot-swapping effectively for hard drives which takes some admin experience or an expensive hard drive shelf.
I use hard drives for my business's backups, but the che
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PS: They are Blue-Ray disks not DVD's.
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My external hard drive (120gb) has been good for well over two years now. Plus, I've dropped the thing several times. I never had a cd-rw work for more than a few weeks or a dvd-rw for a few days due to scratches.
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My external hard drive (120gb) has been good for well over two years now. Plus, I've dropped the thing several times. I never had a cd-rw work for more than a few weeks or a dvd-rw for a few days due to scratches.
Well I have had 2 external HD's fail in the last 3 years and zero of my DVD's fail. It's all anecdotal evidence.
Most likely the reason your discs started to fail was either you were not taking care of them AT ALL (since they failed so quickly), they
Re: (Score:2)
I don't assume that Apple is good and right all the time, and I don't assume they are wrong all the time. I think it's unfortunate that there are so many cultists out there, pro- or anti-Apple or Mac.
I think the open source people have had access to BR drives, they've been available for many months now. They seem to be more the type to try to make a free player, a