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From the Mailbox:

David asks:

I am thinking about swapping out my dvd drive for a Blu-Ray on my HP, it’s about three years old.  Should I do it or just get a new one [computer] with it already installed?

~~~~~oOo~~~~~

Hi Dave,

You don’t have to buy a new computer with a Blu-Ray drive already built into it.  You can replace you current CD-DVD ROM drive with a new Blu-Ray drive if your computer meets a couple of specifications.

All Blu-Ray drives have SATA connections on them.  So, you need to make sure that the motherboard in your computer has an available SATA port.  It may be that the CD-DVD drive you are removing is already a SATA device. If so, you are in luck.

If you don’t have SATA ports on your motherboard, you will not be able to install a Blu-Ray drive on your current computer.

Also, playing Blu-Ray on a computer also requires software.  The only two good software packages are Cyberlink and WinDVD.  Both of which are expensive unless it comes with the drive. Your experience may not be good if you use other software.