Dell introduces its first Blu-ray notebook

All the high-definition Blu-ray content that you own can now be watched and burnt on the Dell XPS M1710, the only second laptop to integrate a built-in BD-RE drive. With the launch of its first product that uses Blu-ray Disc technology Dell seems all set to take over your living room.

“Blu-ray optical drive technology has gained broad industry support and we believe it will become the optical drive standard of the future,” said Alex Gruzen, senior vice president of Dell.

Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc format that was developed by the BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association), of which Dell is a founding member. It allows you to store large amounts of data and also record, rewrite and playback high-definition videos.

Up to 50GB of data and 4GB of 667 MHz DDR2 (double data rate 2) memory can be supported by the Blu-ray Disc technology.

Marc Spier, senior manager of Peripherals Marketing at Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, said, "Blu-ray Disc technology will give small and medium-sized businesses a storage tool that will allow them to back up and archive their data for 10 or more years while also enabling them to back up [an] entire hard drive onto a single medium. It gives them a capacity advantage in the corporate space."

But at present the consumers do not seem to hold a high view of the Blu-ray and HD-DVD has managed to keep its popularity. As Sony's PlayStation 3 was the first device to adopt Blu-ray people didn’t actually like the fact that they were forced to buy a Blu-ray drive with the gaming console.

Currently, the Blu-ray drive is an optional extra on Dell’s XPSTM M1710 notebook and is available worldwide, with the starting price of about $3,700.