Why can a Blu-Ray player read both Blu-Ray and regular CD's when my laptop cannot read Blu-Ray but can read CD?

I get what you're asking. Data is stored on dvds and blu-ray discs as a spiral track of pits, read by a laser. One way blu-rays hold more data is making the pits smaller. Smaller pits = a longer spiral track = more packed onto the disc. Dvds and cds are read with a red laser, which has a certain wavelength and so a certain minimum width. The red laser is too wide to read the smaller pits on a blu-ray disc. Instead, a blu-ray player uses a violet laser (that's right, it's not actually blue :) ) which allows a narrower beam. That's why your laptop can't read blu-rays - among other hardware differences, it only has the too-wide red laser. The reason your PS3 can read both is it has 2 lasers: one red, one violet. It uses the red one for cds and dvds and the violet one for blu-rays. That's the most major difference. If you'd like more detail, take a look at the wikipedia articles for compact disc and Blu-ray. Oh, and I wouldn't expect your laptop would be able to read a PS3 game anyway, even if it could read blu-ray discs - unless it contains content made for a computer.

Your laptop doesn't have a Blu-ray disc reader. It's hardware.

You got the answer yourself. It's all about the laser. Your PS3 actually have 3 different lasers that read all 3 types of disc, Blu-ray, DVD, CD. Even if your PS3 is broken, say it stops reading games (blu-ray), your DVD and CD laser can still function, which happened to mine that I had to replace the entire lens assembly.

Because Ps3s have blu ray players built into it.