BluRay, 1080p and Laptops

I have looked at the standard Sony BluRay player because I need 1080p output
upconversion from my old standard DVD library as well as a BluRay player.
Sony is currently limiting BluRay shipments to its key stores like Best Buy
to a couple per month because a new BluRay player (rumored to be at about
the same $350 as the current model) is planned for August delivery. No
information is available from Sony on the specs for the new model - the
first new model release since Toshiba HD lost.

Does anyone have more info on this?

I would like to go a different route, but it is a bit more expensive -

Can anyone recommend a reasonably fast, but not too expensive, laptop and
software that will play BluRay and upconvert from standard DVDs to 1080p
HDMI output?

I currently use CyberLink's PowerDVD Deluxe. I have no affiliation with them
and think their email offer today,
Get PowerDirector 7 Ultra for $119.95 or Upgrade today., is interesting. So
a major question is how powerful a laptop do I have to purchase.

The Acer Aspire 5920-6954 just slips under the $1000 mark, in the high
$900s. PC World says:

At 7.3 pounds, the Aspire 5920-6954 is the heaviest budget laptop we looked
at, but it has a 250GB hard drive and a fairly nice 15.4-inch screen (it's a
bit too reflective). Though it lacks a few things like Bluetooth, the
5920-6954 is the most high-definition-ready unit here, including both an
HDMI port and an HD DVD reader. It has a subwoofer for better-than-average
sound and a handy volume wheel. The terrific keyboard boasts loads of
shortcut buttons that do everything but take out the trash. One set, on the
left side of the keyboard, launches applications. A second, right-hand row
controls multimedia, including an instant-on button that lets you play music
and movies without launching Windows. A button placed between the mouse
buttons scrolls documents in all four directions.

Finally, this is the only sub-$1000 laptop we reviewed that had a dedicated
graphics chip--an nVidia GeForce 8600M GS with 256MB of memory. Thus it was
the only one powerful enough to properly play the 3D games in our tests such
as Doom 3 and Far Cry. Its frames-per-second rates weren't the highest we've
recorded for a laptop, but are more than enough for smooth, glitch-free
play.

Equipped with a 1.66-GHz Core 2 Duo T5450 and 2GB of memory, the Aspire
5920-6954 earned a solid WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 70, the second best on
the budget laptops chart. The score is five points higher than the group
average of 65, and it's one point better than the average of 70 earned by
the 16 recently tested all-purpose notebooks in any price range. Battery
life was average, lasting 3.8 hours.

Does anyone know of a similar machine with these features that can write
BluRay for near the price?

BTW, the reason I want a Notebook/Laptop rather than a standard Sony BluRay
player is for control and storage. PowerDVD plays clips from the hard drive
with a great system of options for clip selection and playlists.

Stuart//