W510 doesn't have Blu-Ray?

Does anyone know if the Optical device is removable and then I could add a Blu-Ray player later when/if it becomes available?

 

the parts list for T510/W510 does show that there is a blue-ray option for this new model.

Blu-ray combo drive 42T2617
Blu-ray burner 45N7463

I suspect that this launch is merely a "paper launch" with no actual laptops in the wild yet, so ordering options are kept to the minimum. If the laptops were being mass produced, we would already see multiple reviews on various web pages.

 

So best course of action would be to wait at this point.

 

I purchased a W510 this morning. The reader is available, $289. Didn't ask about the writer.

I didn't get either. Watching bluerays is great, but I've done it a total of 3 times on my Sony Z. Burning BR is woefully, painfully slow, so I've done that a total of 1 time. Best to save your $ and buy a USB 3.0 external for backups and AnyDVD to extract your movies to a more managable format. I do the latter on my desktop machine. If you don't have a reader, then $289 probably isn't a bad deal. Stay away from the burner. Seriously, HORRIBLY slow.

 

And it's not like 50GB media prices are moving...

 

Slow writing is better than no writing.

 

If you want to author, get a full sized drive and an enclosure. eSATA/USB, whatever.

 

Actually the 50GB media prices are coming down. Used to be ~$12 to $13 dolar per piece, now you can get one below $10 per 50GB disc easily.

 

cool... link?
(apparently it's not easy enough for me)

 

Try http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Mitsubishi-Verbatim-blu-ray-disc-bluray-50gb-bd-r-dl_W0QQitemZ310193415062QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Blank_Media?hash=item4838f7e396

Just one example. There's a lot more.