9. Blu-Ray Drives

When it comes to Blu-ray DVD drives, there is a pretty good selection available. Most of these drives will burn conventional DVDs, and many will also burn at least single layer Blu-ray media as well (especially the more expensive ones). Actually, all of these drives are pretty darn expensive, except for those that are even more so! Table 2 lists our currently available candidates, and where appropriate, we mention some upcoming products in the context of other products from the same vendors in the detail sections that follow. All of these drives burn only on single layer BD-R or BD-RE media. Please note also that some of the drives included here support only the ATAPI/IDE interface, so we don't bother mentioning that on a per-drive basis, though we call out those drives that support SATA.

Table 2: Blu-ray Drives

Before we go on to depict and describe the offerings found in Table 2, a few observations. First, prices range widely on these units - by as much as 40% from low to high for some drives - so it's important to shop carefully. Second, we hear of no significant performance differences between SATA and ATAPI/IDE drives; both interfaces are not overly taxed by the maximum throughput for Blu-ray, which is on the order of 55-56 Mbps. Third, nearly all of these drives will not only read and write Blu-ray media, but all also write to various DVD media and some even write CDs. Check the specifics to match up your needs against what's available.

With all of this information in mind, you can now dig into the individual burner entries, which follow in the next seven subsections.

LG GBW-H10N

This drive has been pretty hot stuff since it showed up on the market in 2006. By slightly more than a ten percent price margin, this particular unit also remains the price leader, though its rated specifications don't differ that much from the other drives covered here as well. Please consult the Pioneer entry for some information about that company's plans to release a play-only Blu-ray drive that in all likelihood will take over as the price leader in this niche before mid-2007, albeit with reduced functionality.

This LG model not only reads and writes Blu-ray media, it also handles most common DVD and CD media as well.

Read speeds for this device are rated at 40X for CD, 16X for DVD-ROM, and 4X for BD-ROM. Write speeds vary considerable by media, but the important ones include 4X for BD-R and 2X for BD-RE (check out this spec sheet for more details). It also features a 2 MB buffer, and works with versions of Windows from ME through Media Center Edition (no word on Vista drivers yet).

What is perhaps LG's most interesting and expensive offering is its combo/hybrid drive, the GGW-H10N. This appears in the final product section of this buyer's guide, after this section on Blu-ray (only) drives.