Price Watch: PC Blu-ray drive, $79.99 shipped

Trick out your media center with this dirt-cheap Blu-ray Disc drive. Newegg has the nonrefurb deal, for the Sony Optiarc internal drive.

Rick Broida Senior Editor

Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").

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Rick Broida

Feb. 24, 2009 9:29 a.m. PT

Get a new Sony Blu-ray drive for just $80 shipped. Newegg

Remember the $89.99 Blu-ray Disc drive from last week? Hope you waited, because here's an even better deal: Newegg has the Sony Optiarc internal Blu-ray drive for $79.99 shipped. Plus, unlike the previous drive, this is new, not a refurb.

Same caveats as before: It's a serial drive, meaning that you'll need a system with a SATA interface. You'll also need a video card and monitor that support HDCP; otherwise, Blu-ray's copy protection will prevent movies from playing.

Alas, Sony bundles no software for viewing said movies, so you'll need to earmark some funds for a program like Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 Ultra. (If anyone knows of a cheaper alternative, hit the Comments, and name it!)

Gotta run--today's a travel day for me. Happy bargain shopping!

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