Apple's Steve Jobs chose to leave Blu-ray deliberately out of the new Macbook Pro laptop range because the technology he says is a bag of hurt (apparently he has been burnt by the blue laser).
Amex Digital has just unveiled an external Slot-in Blu-ray Drive which seems to be a superb complement to those who want to (a) suddenly watch high quality movie on their crammed 15.4-inch HD capable laptop or (b) burn up to 50GB worth of data on a blank Blu-ray drive (although we can't think of any situation where we would opt for either).
Amex's website is not working for now but you can bet that the stylish drive will attract some attention especially given the relatively affordable price of USD 389 (around £199) in Hong Kong. The nifty little device comes with Quiet Drive Technology that reduces the noise level of audio and video playback.
At 340g only, the drive also increases writing reliability whereas Liquid Crystal Tilt/Blur Compensator plays and records to discs more reliably - and Research Technology compensates for warped discs and will work with Windows Vista and XP.
However, bear in mind that the drive which is compatible with the older DVD technology is USB 2.0 compatible only - no Firewire here.
So how does it compare to the competition. LG sells the BE06LU10 External USB2.0 BD-R Blu-ray Disc Rewriter for £260 while the LiteOn DX-4O1S-03C 4x BD-ROM External Blu-ray Reader Drive costs around £126. However both are extremely heavy and need mains-power to work.
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