This is rather cool. Sony and HP’s joint Blu-ray operation has said that by the holiday season this year Blu-ray drives for desktops should be under $100. This is an important step to getting universal Blu-ray adoption, something we all want.
These are readers only; they’d be able to burn standard DVDs and CDs. Similar drives for laptops should be about 50% higher, or $150 OEM.
We’re hoping that this happens, as Blu-ray on portables needs to be affordable. On desktops not so much, as the day of the desktop is nearly done. But being able to take your HD movies with you — especially if coupled with true 1080p displays — are what we want for 2009.