Sony Optiarc Europe lets loose 24x AD-7240S DVD burner
[Via TG Daily]
OpticalDrive posts



If you'll recall, SonyNEC Optiarc was the same company that suggested BD prices would be halved by 2008 from what they were in late 2006, and while stickers are still relatively high on standalone decks, the prediction actually wasn't too far off. A new report from Tom's Hardware notes that the aforementioned outfit is expecting Blu-ray combo drives "to reach the $100 line before the holiday season." For around $50 more, it reckons you'll have access to slim-line notebook drives that handle the same duties. Granted, there's no real confirmation surrounding the assertions, and we'll be the first to blindly hope such wishful thinking comes true, but we'd say BD prices in general have a whole lot of falling to do in six short months for this one to even stand a chance.
Looks like it's not just the HD DVD camp that's talkin' lower prices, as now we're hearing that Sony has plans to unveil a Blu-ray reading (sorry, no burning capabilities of any kind on this one) optical drive early next year for around two Benjamins. All that was according to Bob DeMoulin, Sony's marketing manager, branded optical storage, who also stated that "a Blu-ray player at a sub-$200 price point becomes real attractive to the consumer." Of note, he also hinted at a possible external flavor of said drive, but apparently, there's been no final decision made on that just yet.







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