AfterDawn: News

Sony to offer Blu-Ray laptop by June

Sony Corp. has announced that will unveil the first laptop capable of playing, editing and recording high-definition videos in the Blu-Ray DVD format.

Tagged as the Vaio AR Premium, Sony's new laptop will launch this June to the tune of ¥400,000 (~$3500 USD or £1930GBP), approximately one month after rival Toshiba is set to launch it's own fully featured HD-DVD laptop. However, unlike Sony, Toshiba's $3000 offering will be unable to record using the HD-DVD format.



Besides using Blu-Ray technology and displaying in true 1080p resolution -- the sharpest in high definition quality; Sony's new Vaio will also feature a 17" display, a built in TV Tuner and packaged with the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system.

Source:
BusinessWeek Online

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 16 May 2006 12:04

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• 14 comments

• hot_ice

  Ouff! What a price! That's close to 4000$ Canadian. Well thankfully, technology devaluates every 6 months.

  16.5.2006 12:16 #1

• sukhvail

  it'll be a while before the price will go down i think. dvd burning laptops have just become affordable in the last 1.5 years so i guess it will be a while before itll be attainable for the average consumer

  16.5.2006 12:58 #2

• borhan9

  I reckon DVD burning the way it is now is good enough for awhile...
  
  Like everyone else ill wait till the price comes down, plus with time we will see which one of the 2 formats will last the test of time.
  
  There will be something that breaks the camels back :)

  16.5.2006 13:06 #3

• Spenman91

  i wonder when we'll see a desktop similar to this......and if that will make it cost less

  16.5.2006 13:06 #4

• kaosX

  wonder how fast Blu-ray disc reading would kill a laptop battery

  16.5.2006 13:31 #5

• flyingv

  I don't see these flying off the shelves anytime soon. The format war continues... hopefully the recorders for the home computers will be a bit less expensive!!! I still am like the rest and will wait until the price comes down and desired format is chosen.LOL!!!

  16.5.2006 13:44 #6

• Chavo

  I'm going to buy the Sony Blu-ray laptop................when pigs fly.

  16.5.2006 16:51 #7

• hot_ice

  And what happens if there is a tornado, pigs are projected in the air, and they do fly, if not for what seems to be a moment?
  
  Then will you buy Chavo? hehehe Well, the prices are never appealing when new hardware comes out, but who knows if Blu-ray will survive...

  16.5.2006 17:02 #8

• Chavo

  There are no tornados where I live at but I get the point. Sony has been a bad company and I've been dissapointed with their products so I wouldn't buy from them.

  16.5.2006 17:05 #9

• neo1000

  That`s good news for those who can afford it or needs it,the rest of us will have to wait as always.

  16.5.2006 18:17 #10

• codydog

  Did you read the news from engadget? Seems sony was showing off the vaio with blu ray, and some journalist went up and opened the tray and it was a dvd + of house of flying daggers. Now they are saying that they won't be able to meet consumer needs for the Blu Ray players. Said that the demand for cell phone parts was holding up the manu process. The quote I liked was, "Didn't know the razr used a blue laser, and 1080 dpi."
  

  If it isn't broke, fix it anyway. And order a spare just in case.

  16.5.2006 22:47 #11

• nitrous3

  codydog, I saw that article. Lol!

  17.5.2006 11:29 #12

• Rikoshay

  Not to sound too negative, but this is going to be for the rich and needy. That's probably the only type who would honestly buy one of these, because most people would wait for newer technology, a drop in price, or a few phases of development before buying the first Blu-ray Laptop.
  It does sound like a nice laptop, with the 17" display and 1080p res, but the burner is a first of its kind, so who knows what kind of quirks it still has left. Heck, who knows how fast the burning speed is, it could kill the battery if it takes too long, unless they give it a decent battery.

  18.5.2006 12:55 #13

• sweetsop

  It might be cheaper to attach an external Blu-ray DVD drive to your current laptop. Enternal drive cases will be developed to convert an internal drive into an external at half the price of a ready made external. Also Spenman91, forget about a redy made desktop with Blu-ray, just pop in a drive to your current desktop. YOu'll find cheaper ways to circumvent the hype, just chill and wait.

  20.5.2006 17:05 #14