sony blu ray upgrade on Z series? $500

A

Aumakua

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 14, 2009
Messages
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okay maybe its just me, but WTF? on the CW series its $90 for a blu ray reader and I think $180 for a blu ray burner (I paid like $130 for my internal blu ray burner last year on my desktop!).

On the new Z Series sony is charging you $500 to upgrade from the DVD burner to the Blu ray burner, are they kidding? They invented Blu Ray they should have the cheapest costs and to charge $180 in one laptop for the upgrade and $500 in another is just insane.

hmmm, let me think, go buy a 160GB intel SSD or get Sony's blu ray burner upgrade, LOL

I am hoping someone messed up with the pricing and this will be fixed soon because I was hoping to get this laptop (base model) in the spring/summer and would appreciate the blu ray option for $100 so that I don't have to store movies on the SSD and waste space.
 
Keep in mind that blu-ray burners are still in the $150-200 price range for something that will fit in a desktop. A dual-layer burner that'll fit in the minuscule form factor of the Z series? Yea, it's steep, but I'm not surprised that they're charging a premium for it.
 
I have to agree that $500 is a bit much to stomach. I would have preferred if they provided a cheaper BD-ROM or BD-combo option, but I don't really watch Blu-rays that much anyway so I just opted for the standard DVD configuration.
 
well its still 1.3 inches thick, not too much less than the CW, I really doubt it cost them $300 more to put a blu ray burner in the Z series than the CW series.

And I agree with the other comment, why not just have a BD option without the burner?
 
Your failing to realize Sony's market for the Z. Most people who can afford a fully spec'd Z aren't going to care about a few hundred dollars, or that's what Sony is banking on. High end equipment usually has a pretty small margin so Sony has to squeeze out the profits in other areas. In this case its the extra features, more specifically the bluray drive.
 
Aumakua said:
well its still 1.3 inches thick, not too much less than the CW, I really doubt it cost them $300 more to put a blu ray burner in the Z series than the CW series.

And I agree with the other comment, why not just have a BD option without the burner?
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So they can fleece the people with money to burn. If it makes you feel any better, they need the extra profit right now.
 
Aumakua said:
well its still 1.3 inches thick, not too much less than the CW, I really doubt it cost them $300 more to put a blu ray burner in the Z series than the CW series.

And I agree with the other comment, why not just have a BD option without the burner?
Click to expand...

It's actually only 1" think, the 1.3" is just the battery hump that the back of the lappy rests on. As with anything size = money. It is too expensive for me though. I'm just going with the dvd burner in mine.
 
staticz said:
Your failing to realize Sony's market for the Z. Most people who can afford a fully spec'd Z aren't going to care about a few hundred dollars, or that's what Sony is banking on. High end equipment usually has a pretty small margin so Sony has to squeeze out the profits in other areas. In this case its the extra features, more specifically the bluray drive.
Click to expand...

I wonder how much the Z costs to produce. I don't think it'd be that much.
 
yes the notebook is small, but it's still a standard size optical drive installed, so that's no excuse. I'm sure it's all relevant to the class of the notebook, you want top class - you get the Z, oh you can afford a Z? Then you can probably afford to burn $500 on the top off the line drive that comes with it...
 
if that is what they are doing (thinking its their top end, people who can afford it will pay it) they are sadly mistaken. $1900 is in a lot of peoples budgets but $2500 is not. The way I would spec this system the cost would be $2000 (would only get extra life battery), I will be able to afford $2K this spring/summer, now I would love to pay $90 more like on the CW and get a blu ray player (don't need a burner, already have one on desktop). I bet Sony's cost for that upgrade is $25 if not less, a bet a ton of people would upgrade that part of it but would not even consider $500 for the burner, so instead Sony is just loosing $65-$75 in profit because they are trying to make $400 in profit. get 5 people to buy a blu ray player for a decent price or 1 person to buy a burner for a crazy price, I would bank on the 5 people.

Even people who have money are afraid to spend it because the economy in the US still sucks with no signs of hope (unemployment is still horrible, housing sucks, banks are making things worse with their new credit card rates). Sony should know how bad things are, their profits are non existent right now, and maybe thats because they do shit like this!!! all their products are always overpriced, yeah maybe they are a little better quality but not worth a 20% markup. I will take my samsung TVs anyday over Sony for 25% less money and the same picture quality ;) I was considering them for a computer, but with their crazy upgrade prices, maybe not any more.
 
The Bluray burner in m17x is a 300 dollar upgrade...they have to make this one smaller so they charge more money These companies all do the same thing they make their money on the upgrades. Especially on a flagship notebook such as this.

If you can't afford it it's understandable your upset but it's the same with everything you pay extra for smaller size and you pay extra for upgrades straight from the factory. You can get a CW27fx with bluray reader i5, 330m etc...albeit in a bigger package for like 1000 bucks. Which is very reasonable that might be a better route for you to go.

I am just getting the base config Z from J&R for 1800 shipped because I don't need all the extras, I just want a nice portable laptop that is powerful and to me the base config is a steal at $1800.
 
right... but it's the same part, the drive itself is of identical size to the one in the m17x, it's a standard size for optical drives.
 
Nah it's smaller, by comparison you can't even get a dvd drive in other laptops this small let alone a bluray burner LOL The other guys all keep their notebooks small and thin by removing the optical drive altogethor.
 
Well according to the vids up there, they redesigned every part to make the new Z thinner and lighter. How much was the bluray drive upgrade for your Z?
 
I think it was $500 before too, but I didn't do a CTO model so I'm not sure, I picked mine up from Microcenter for $1500 a few weeks ago, but I actually took it back a few days ago to get the new one.
 
Yea the old one was a little bit thicker so might have been able to fit a standard drive in there, not sure that is why I was wondering. Good move returning it though LOL The new one is way nicer than the old one!
 
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