Sony Release Blu-ray Laptop

This month see’s Sony’s rival to the HD DVD induced Toshiba Qosmio G30 laptop. To compliment Sony’s Blu-ray bound media desktop system (VGC-RC204), the new VGN-AR11S notebook sports a writable Blu-ray drive that, with its dual layer capability, can achieve upto 50GB storage. But what exactly is Blu-ray?

With the spreading availability of High Definition media, comes the need for a storage system that can provide adequate space for this high bandwidth service. Blu-ray, or Blu-ray Disc (BD), is a huge advancement in digital storage media. Holding more than its rival HD DVD, (100GB compared to 60GB (25/15GB per layer, dual layered double sided)), the Blu-ray disc supports more features and, arguably, wider industry support.

Blu-ray discs not only hold more information than a standard CD or DVD (700mb and 4.7GB respectively), but they do so on a disc that is exactly the same size as a DVD. This means that Blu-ray drives are able to playback CD’s and DVD’s, eliminating the need to replace your film collection as you may have had to during the VHS to DVD period. Blu-ray discs achieve this higher capacity by using a different type of laser to write data. Using a blue-violet laser (hence Blu-ray), which has a shorter wavelength, the laser can be focused to a much finer point than a conventional red laser, meaning the data can be packed more tightly into the same space. A 25GB Blu-ray disc will hold approximately 2hours of High Definition footage or 13hours of standard TV recording.

Reminiscent of the VHS - Beta tape wars, there is currently a battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray. Whilst Blu-ray supports a higher capacity and more features, HD DVD production and release times have been quicker. From a consumer perspective this presents quite a problem, do you go for the better spec, or the first released? In light of this, many hardware manufacturers are readying their devices to support both formats (think DVD- vs DVD+). With a Blu-ray film catelogue of over 100 titles ready for release in September, and full 1080p High Definition gaming available in the form of the Sony PS3 games console (release date November 16th 2006), it would appear that Blu-ray may just punch through to market dominance. However, until both formats are mainstream, we shall have to wait.

Further Information:
Wikipedia Blu-ray
Wikipedia HD DVD