Sony will be releasing their first laptop to include a built-in Blu-ray drive by the end of June. The VAIO AR Premium Edition will include an Intel Core Duo CPU, 17-inch widescreen monitor, 1GB RAM and a copy of “House of Flying Daggers” on a Blu-ray disc.
MSRP is $3499 for the system. A similar Vaio system with a traditional DVD burner can be had for as much as $1300 less (with a few other minor differences), so it seems that the Blu-ray capability is adding at least $1000 to the price. That said, I’m really wondering how much Sony will be losing on each PS3 it releases, since each one of those will include a Blu-ray player.
For now, I’m reserving judgment on the Blu-ray/HD-DVD format wars. Until I hear a really compelling reason to choose one format or another, I’m sticking with my upscaling DVD player and my existing collection of movies.
