Dell XPS M1710 with Blu-ray

Dell is now offering the Blu-ray drive as an optional extra on its XPSTM M1710 notebook, aimed at high-performance gaming and technology applications. The option is available to customers worldwide, though it hasn't yet been extended to any other notebooks in Dell's range.

“Blu-ray optical drive technology has gained broad industry support and we believe it will become the optical drive standard of the future,” Alex Gruzen, senior vice president of the Dell Product Group, said in a statement announcing the new option.

As a founding member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, Dell has long positioned itself in the Blu-ray camp, arguing that the technology is better than rival HD DVD because of better data storage options and superior copy protection technology.

"Dell believes that Blu-ray Disc technology is superior because it meets all the requirements for next-generation removable storage," Dell's official Web site on the topic notes. "It has higher storage capacity, a richer feature set, can be used for data storage and high-definition content delivery, and allows for backward compatibility with CDs and DVDs."

Dell's role in the Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD standards battle is clear, as the company is a founding member of the Blu-Ray Association, along with companies like Sony, Apple Computer, Disney and Panasonic. Some companies, like Hewlett-Packard, have decided they are going to support both technologies, while industry stalwarts like Microsoft and Intel continue to exclusively promote the HD-DVD standard.