BenQ brings out two Blu-ray optical drives for PCs this summer, but you’ll need deep pockets to afford either

The first, an internal drive out in August, will cost around $700 (model number BW1000). It uses a Sata connector, and write speeds are akin to the early days of CD burners. It can write Blu-ray discs at 2x speeds and double-layer discs, once available, will be written at single speed.

Its external drive (EW100G), which comes out a month later and costs around $800, will connect to a computer via either USB or firewire. Its write speeds are the same as the internal drive.

Both use Walking Optimised Power Calibration and Solid Burn technologies. Walking OPC adjusts the power of the laser while a disc is being burnt to prevent errors. Solid Burn automatically detects the best speed for writing a disc before the process starts.

This algorithm would be all the more impressive if Blu-ray discs had more choices than single and 2x write speeds, but CD and DVD media work on faster burn speeds.

The drives also use a Precision Tilt Control System to make sure that the discs don’t suffer from vibration or noise during the writing process, which can affect the high densities these discs are capable of holding.

Its single layer Blu-ray optical discs, which hold up to 25GB of data, will ship early next year, and not on the launch of the drives.

Currently, BenQ doesn’t support the rival HD-DVD standard, but said it may bring out a drive next year.