Those wanting to expand their PC experience with Blu-ray playback or recording essentially have two choices: buy a new PC, or add a BD drive to an existing PC if all the other components are compatible. For those who find upgrading a PC with a BD drive (and possibly other necessary components) daunting, or for those already in the market for a new system, many PC makers would be happy to ship you a system with fill BD capability already built in.
This page provides links to both major manufacturers offering BD drives in their systems as well as many smaller custom builders who can configure systems with BD drives.
The Majors:
HP is currently the largest PC manufacturer in the world. They offer a full line-up of customizable systems for both business and personal use. They have Blu-ray/HD DVD combo drives available in many consumer desktop models, and offer Blu-ray burners in many of their business notebook models.
Dell is the second largest PC maker... not too far behind HP. Unlike HP they are Blu-ray exclusive and offer Blu-ray burners in several of their XPS desktops and notebooks as well as in select workstations and Inspiron systems.
Sony has been making quite a stir with their Vaio line of notebook and media-based computers. They are very fashionable machines designed to look as chic as Apple's MacBook line. Whether they succeeded in that regard is up for some debate, but as one of the main companies behind Blu-ray it's not surprising they offer a number of models with Blu-ray drives.
Lenovo has been the producer of the ThinkPad line-up of business notebooks for several years now after purchasing the rights from IBM. They make a fantastic product with an excellent build quality, though you can expect the price of a similarly-specced system to run higher than with competitor's models. Some models now feature an optional Blu-ray drive.
Gateway has been through a lot of ups and downs over the past few years, and is still struggling to attempt to define themselves. As it is they offer many models, both preconfigured in bog-box stores, and customizable available online. Blu-ray drives are an option on some of the configurable desktop models.
Acer is a large player in the PC market worldwide, but has a far smaller presence within the U.S. Their top of the line Travelmate notebook model is available in a Blu-ray drive configuration.
Custom PC Builders:
These builders offer numerous widely configurable models. Many are more upscale builders and the price may be a fair bit more than a similar system from one of the major PC makers, though the component quality and customer service of the custom builders may make them a better fit for many users.
- Alienware -- desktops and notebooks
- VoodooPC -- desktops
- Velocity Micro -- desktops and home theater PCs
- Falcon Northwest -- desktops
- GamePC -- desktops and workstations
- Vigor Gaming -- desktops
- Maingear -- desktops
- Cellar Cinemas -- home theater PCs
- S1Digital -- home theater PCs
- VidaBox -- home theater PCs
Last Update: 12/6/07
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