Fastmac debuts slim Blu-Ray drive upgrade

Fastmac today launched what it claims is the first and only Blu-Ray optical drive upgrade for Apple's PowerBook, iBook, and MacBook Pro laptops. The new slimline, slot loading drive uses one of the fastest and most compatible Blu-ray mechanisms to provide up to 50GB of storage on one disk, according to FastMac, without sacrificing compatibility with standard DVDs and CDs. The new drive supports reading, writing, and re-writing to single and dual layer Blu-ray media at 1x speeds. The drive upgrade is scheduled to ship within 10 days, and is available for pre-order with an introductory price of $800. Each drive carries a 1-year warranty and a 30-day money back guarantee.

The drive is compatible with standard DVD and CD media, writing to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 8x speed in single layer and 2x speed in dual/double layer mode. Fastmac's slimline slot loading Blu-Ray drive can also rewrite to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 4x speeds, offering support for DVD-RAM reading and writing at up to 5x speeds as well as standard CD-R and CD-RW burning at 8x speeds.