Cheap Laptop With Blu-Ray player?

seanbaussie on 20/05/2013 - 11:52
Last edited 20/05/2013 - 12:11

Hi,

Someone messed up at work and we ordered a beautiful new data projector, AV setup etc but no DVD or bluray player. The guy who installed it said it wasn't a problem because there's a laptop input (I'm hoping it's at least HDMI). I disagree but the only option we've got is to buy a laptop with a BluRay player.

The only thing that matters is that it has a BluRay player and also (I'm thinking) a decent video card, mb audio card too plus RAM to boot. I'd prefer WIN7 only because lots of people will be using this and I don't want to have to explain how to use WIN8 every time a newbie uses it.
It's only going to be used for playing movies, showing ppt etc (ie attached to a data projector for basic tasks - not editing etc). Don't care what size the display is because we won't really use it, nor how big the HDD is, nor whether it has an SSD.

Seems I can't get anything below the $500 mark, though I'd be open to that. Given that we spent all our money on the other items there's not much moula left…

Suggestions?

(What about http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Toshiba-15-6-LED-L650-Dual-Core-i…)?

Find Me A Bargain

Comments

  • scrimshaw on 20/05/2013 - 13:09

    Cheap options:

    Portable Blu-ray player with HDMI out
    http://www.jbhifi.com.au/portable/mp3-players/soniq/refurbis…

    For powerpoint presentations, just hook up a cheap netbook or Windows tablet. Or this Dell Core i3 for $423 or Acer for $409 after cashback
    http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/103663
    http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/103685

    And then pair it up with a BLu-Ray external drive
    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-External-Portable-Blu-Ray-Com…

    The video card is not important. All modern processors nowadays have a integrated GPU that handles 1080p video without a problem.

  • _Bruce_ on 20/05/2013 - 13:15

    1: You should confirm that the input is in fact HDMI, as most people mean VGA when they say 'laptop input'.

    2: As far as audio goes, if the projector has HDMI then the audio should be run off the projector and the 'audio card' is irrelevant. Even if you are running analogue audio from the laptop most chipsets are the same now anyway.

    3: Basically any current GPU (on die or discrete) made today has hardware h264, so they will all play blu-ray just fine, don't worry about this. Also applies to the CPU, almost anything will do the job. Memory won't make any difference to playing video.

    With this in mind almost your only requirement is a blu ray drive. Another option if you still can't find anything is to buy the drive separately, something like this:

    http://www.scorptec.com.au/computer/41960-md-3102-u3-k

  • seanbaussie on 20/05/2013 - 16:55

    Thanks Bruce & Scrimshaw.

    Spoke to the installers & shock/horror, despite them installing a $2,000 data projector with full HDMI capabilities, they only cabled us a VGA cable?!?!

    Anyway, I can cable our own HDMI cable - only catch is that we then also need a 3.5mm jack for sound from the BluRay player (otherwise it ends up coming out of the projector, not our new speakers & sound system).
    So any option we get needs both HDMI & 3.5mm audio out - either a laptop or perhaps the Soniq one above (do you know if it's got an audio out jack?). Sound is only standard stereo - not surround, so doesn't need 2.1 or 5.1 stereo surround sound.

    Or other suggestions welcome

    • _Bruce_ on 20/05/2013 - 18:28

      VGA cable is used in these installations for two reasons:

      1: Almost all laptops have VGA out, HDMI is still hit and miss.

      2: VGA cables can be very long. Sure the image is rubbish, but it will work at very long lengths, HDMI may not.

      Particularly point 2 may become an issue for you. Pretty much anything should have 3.5mm out, but be careful, it may not work when using HDMI as the audio will be sent over this. Windows will certainly default to this (can be changed).

    • seanbaussie on 28/06/2013 - 15:52

      FYI, I bought a $120 Blu-Ray player with HDMI output and used a HDMI-VGA converter - see http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/106897

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