Buying a laptop: Need to figure out if BD is necessary

[Daq32]

I am looking into purchasing a new laptop from Dell. The two systems I am looking at are pretty high-end for a Dell computer, but I'm having a dilemma trying to decide whether or not I should include a BD drive or not. The two systems I am considering are the M1730 with a $200 BD/CD/DVD drive and the M1530 with a $500 slot-loading BD/CD/DVD drive. I'm on a budget of sorts, but I want to buy something that will last me awhile. From what I've read, Blu-ray and HDDVD are neck and neck now, and I really don't want to purchase a BD drive if HDDVD is going to overtake it as the preferred format. But I also feel like DVD is starting to fade, and that I might be kicking myself a few months or a year from now for not getting the BD drive.

With that said, what would yall do if you were me? Splurge now or go without? Is BD going to be the standard soon enough to warrant the extra $$$?

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by Daq32

I am looking into purchasing a new laptop from Dell. The two systems I am looking at are pretty high-end for a Dell computer, but I'm having a dilemma trying to decide whether or not I should include a BD drive or not. The two systems I am considering are the M1730 with a $200 BD/CD/DVD drive and the M1530 with a $500 slot-loading BD/CD/DVD drive. I'm on a budget of sorts, but I want to buy something that will last me awhile. From what I've read, Blu-ray and HDDVD are neck and neck now, and I really don't want to purchase a BD drive if HDDVD is going to overtake it as the preferred format. But I also feel like DVD is starting to fade, and that I might be kicking myself a few months or a year from now for not getting the BD drive.

With that said, what would yall do if you were me? Splurge now or go without? Is BD going to be the standard soon enough to warrant the extra $$$?

For computers the next gen players are for recording, they're excellent storage devices. If the drives aren't recordable I think they're pretty much a waste of money.

For Entertainment purposes your laptop isn't going to be a great player (none of the next gen sound codecs for instance) and your screen may not even be 1080p capable.

[Daq32]

This is the screen for the M1730(SLi Dual GPUs):
17" UltraSharpTM Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200) display with TrueLifeTM

And this is the screen for the M1530(which is the more portable of the two):
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) display with TrueLifeTM (CCFL, 220 nits)