Laptop / Blu Ray question

I've been looking at new laptops for a couple of months. One thing I've been considering is getting one with Bluray. I've found a couple I'm interested in, and one has this:
Bluray ROM LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support

So it sounds like it plays Bluray but only had DVD write capabilities. Do very many laptops out there come with Bluray write drives at reasonable prices? The one I found has a i7-720QM processor, 4G RAM, 15.6" monitor (don't want bigger), and I can get it for just under $1000.

If my primary concern for writing to DVD/BluRay is for backups of my files/pictures, is there much of a benefit for having a Bluray write capable drive?

Any other suggestions/comments would be helpful.

Are you looking at the dells?

I'm in the same boat, I figured go for the blu ray with rw capabilities so it will be future proof...at least for a few years

The best deal I've found so far is on an HP dv6t.

yeah, I've been looking at that one too. I also looked at the ASUS, they offer a nice bang for the buck. The dell xps16 have caught my eye as well, a bit pricier, but can be had for a decent price on dells refurb site.

I am not sure about the dv6t but I run a dv7 as my primary machine with win 7 and (knock on wood) it is the best box I have had yet. No doubt that 7 plays a role in that but narey a hardware issue to speak of. I skipped the br so can't help there...

Just thought I'd follow-up. Skipped on the Bluray for now and picked up this today:

http://www.frys.com/product/6128179

$599.99 with $50 mail-in rebate.

Also Norton is $60 but comes w/ $50 rebate when bought with the laptop. I'll actually use it, but suppose you could sell it if you didn't need it.

OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit

PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ i3-330M Processor, 2.13GHz, 3MB L3 Cache

MEMORY: 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 DIMM), Max supported =8192MB

VIDEO GRAPHICS: Intel® HD Graphics with up to 1696MB Total Available Graphics Memory

HARD DRIVE: 320GB (7200RPM) Hard Drive (SATA)

MULTIMEDIA DRIVE: LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support

DISPLAY: 15.6" Diagonal High-Definition LED HP BrightView Display (1366x768)

NETWORK CARD: Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)

WIRELESS OPTION: Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n WLAN & Bluetooth

DIGITAL MEDIA: 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards

AUDIO: Altec Lansing with SRS Premium Sound

WEBCAM: HP Webcam with integrated digital microphone

PC CARD SLOTS: 1 ExpressCard/54 Slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)

EXTERNAL NOTEBOOK PORTS: 4 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, 4th port shared with eSATA, 2 Headphone out, 1 microphone-in, HDMI,1 VGA (15-pin), eSATA + USB 2.0, 1 RJ -45 (LAN), 1 notebook expansion port 3, 1 Consumer IR (Remote Receiver)

BATTERY: 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery

.

SOFTWARE: Symantec Norton Internet Security ™ 2010 60-day Trial, HP Support Assistant, HP PC Recovery, HP Advisor, HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection, Microsoft® Silverlight, Sun® Java, Microsoft® Office 2007 Home & Student 60-day Trial, Microsoft® Works, Adobe® Reader, Adobe® Flash, Corel PaintShop Pro Photo X2, Corel Video Studio X2, eBay®, HP MediaSmart, HP Webcam, HP Games Powered by Wild Tangent, HP Music Store powered by Rhapsody®, Netflix, Hulu, Cyberlink DVD Suite, Pandora® Internet Radio, Sling Media® sling player with Sling flash tour, Windows Live™ Photo Gallery, HP Set Up, HP Quick Web, Windows Live™ Messenger, Windows Live™ Mail, Windows Live™ Writer, Skype, MSN Toolbar, Microsoft® Portal, Accellor (Broadband Aggregator in HP Setup)

Nice. Enjoy. My 2 cents. the first thing i would do is get rid of Norton.

You know, I used to hate Norton because it kept running and hogging resources on my previous laptop. I dumped it and have been using AVG for over a year. Then I started having problems where sometimes when my laptop was online, by other computers on my router would lose their internet connection temporarily. Then I got a warning online from my internet provider (time warner) about some virus. Then we got a phone call and said to look up our IP on http://cbl.abuseat.org/lookup.cgi

It was listed there as having an issue. I ran spybot, updated AVG and ran a full system scan, and downloaded and ran the Microsoft malicious tool removal thing. None of them found anything, and I've continued to have problems with my laptop. I just installed the Norton I got, and it found a hacktool.rootkit virus along with tons of other tracking cookies not previously picked up. So for now, I'm keeping Norton and will see how it runs. Maybe in a year, I'll go to something else.

I'm shopping for a laptop as well, and that fry's deal looks really good. If it was an i5 processor and a 14 inch screen I would pull the trigger for sure.

Right now I see nice HP's and Asus computers around my price point (~700). Blue-ray would a bonus, this is a laptop for me to take on the road AND use in my office (I hook it up to two external monitors and a wireless keyboard and mouse).

For Virus protection the newer norton stuff has been good for me.

Brett, let me know how that HP goes.

As far as backing up, I reccommend a NAS drive, plugged into your wireless router at home - then use some auto back up software. It takes the lazyness out of writing to disks all the time.
SimpleTech has a few cheap ones.
http://www.amazon.com/SimpleShare-500-Network-Attached-Storage/dp/B000G18NRA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1264204988&sr =1-6

^^^ agreed on the nas drive. I have used that method for years and recently added Carbonite for disaster relief.

I am not A fan of virus software personally. Smart usage can prevent a virus without the need of resource jogging sw.

If you lappy is anything like mine you'll love it!