optical drives obsolete?

I apolgize if I am asking a silly question, but I haven't shopped for a new PC in 18 months and when I was browsing the newer Alienware models, I noted they do not come with optical drives and they do not appear to be even an option. Are optical drives considered to be obsolete and unnecessary, at least for notebook PCs?

Thanks,
Ken

 

Optical drives were obsolete on July 23, 2001...

 

paradox, optical drives are indeed obsolete unless you're a pirate eager to share BD/Rips with the world; if you buy a machine with one, you can replace it with hdd caddy.

 

I think it's fair to say that optical drives are obsolete. I don't own any optical disks anymore, and haven't touched one in the past 3-4 years.

Music, movies, PC games, software (and even OS'es) are all distributed digitally now. For those items that require a bootable device (like an OS or disk utility), most of them have an option of creating a bootable USB drive, which is both more convenient and lets you operate at much higher read speeds (4.5MBps DVD vs. 30-180 MBps for USB drive).

So, you're perfectly safe buying a computer without an optical drive. In the very rare edge cases where you need an optical drive, you can buy an external USB optical drive for around $25-$30, or use an optical drive on another computer to copy the disc's contents to a USB flash drive.

 

I'm quite happy that my notebook isn't bulked up by the inclusions of an optical drive. However, I always have a USB DVD burner not far away. The slim burners based on 9.5mm optical drive modules weigh almost nothing and don't need much space or power. Maybe it gets used once per week on average.

Also, a bootable optical disc seems to be a more reliable recovery option than a flash drive.

John

 

That's pretty much the best reason to have an optical drive still (maybe even the only reason). I've never had any issues with a bootable DVD, but I often run into quirks with bootable USB drives. It can usually be fixed, but it's a nuisance nonetheless.

 

Mine is rarely used but it is still nice to have. I find taking my DVD's and backing them up to a file server is the primary use now days. Much easier to select them from a NAS drive and play them for the grand kids.

 

YES to thread title question.

havent used an ODD in ages...and my current machine luckily lacks one, using the available space for more important things like additional storage and beefed up cooling (copper baby!)

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Hrmm... last weekend I helped my son build a new desktop. He put Windows 8.1 on it. It came on a DVD, so how would he have been able to do that if he didn't have an optical drive?

I bought one for his machine without him asking me to. It was around $20 shipped so no reason to leave it out.

 

Win8.1? Don't you like your son?

You can install any O/S from USB these days (well, almost any O/S that is worth using in 2015...).

 

There's a program called WinToFlash to create a bootable USB flash drive from optical media.

 

He is an adult and wanted Win 8.1. Is there something else besides Win 7 and the broken Win 10?

 

haha win8.1 is totally fine. and yeah, tools like rufus, wintoflash or yumi make life much easier when installing an OS from a thumb drive

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Can't just rub the USB stick over a DVD to get it to transfer. STILL need an optical drive to get it on USB. That is an extra step that isn't needed.

For the record, I usually install my OS from USB because I have the ISO files and it just makes sense, especially so if you modify the contents of the disk before installing (like slipstreaming SP1 on my Win 7 Home Premium disk for my AW M15x). I get what you guys are saying, I really do. But sometimes I just need an optical drive.

 

Yep, I use rufus a lot. It's a great program. Very handy.

 

no need for dvds, just download the iso and have it handy on a usb drive beforehand

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Can I download an OEM ISO?

Not being a smart ass. I really don't know.

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Ok, I got another one for you. I downloaded the WoW installer. No matter what I tried I could not get WoW to install.

So I installed WotLK from DVD and allowed Blizz to update that. It worked!

I still have floppies, and a couple of old machines with floppy drives. Haven't used then in years. Ha!

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no need, just go for the general iso from microsoft. the serial u input then determines the type of license u have (of course u still have to manually discern between regular and pro isos, same with 32 and 64 bit, but otherwise ure good to go)

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I did not know that. Thanks!

Now, about my WoW issue...

 

Not letting him get spied on by the Redmond mafia is a sign of love. You're a great dad @deadsmiley.

 

lol, cant help u with that, ive never played wow but this far ive never had issues with installing games from isos or online installers

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Tiller has probably been drinking again. Ignore him.

 

I did google it. Turns out I was not the only one to not be able to install from the download. One of the suggested work-arounds was to install an old version from disk and upgrade it, which I did.

I used to play WoW a LOT. Then I just got burnt out on it. Now I primarily play MechWarrior Online, CounterStrike: Source, CS:GO and Ark. Ark is a resource hog, but doesn't use the optical drive.

 

sigh, cant find the time to game at all at the moment, too busy with PhD, gf, sports and real life only game i have installed is bioshock 1, still havent gotten around to play through that! at least my beastly hardware helps immensely with data analysis at work

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FYI, this site and a USB will let you make an installer - just type in the new serial # that came with the DVD when installing.

 

Ok guys, I have to say this... I already know how to make a USB installer. I have done this *many* times.

Thanks for the links though.

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Thats what I usually say...

...and here I am today, installing XP from usb-dvd drive.

Need to dualboot XP for car diagnostics. Only thing I use XP these days for. I hope I can finally retire my old c2d laptop that has been only for diagnostics purpose, I got my hands on a nice 11" i7 that has XP drivers provided

 

If the laptop you really want doesn't have an optical drive, then buy an external usb optical drive for about $25-$30.

Even people on this thread claim to use an optical drive on very rare occasions.
-- that one time in 3 years you need to reinstall an OS, and don't know how to create a bootable usb drive.
-- that one time you need to reinstall a 5-year-old game, and can't get the digital download to work.

No point in buying a laptop with an optical drive (and carrying the extra size and weight of that optical drive), just because you might use that drive 1-5 times in the entire lifetime of that laptop. Just buy the laptop you want, buy a USB optical drive, and stick that thing in a drawer for the 99.98% of the time when you aren't using it.




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in my case it would be more like: that one time every 1-2 years where u want to make a custom DVD as a xmas present for your gf´s parents and in those cases i use her laptop

 

I have quite a few DVD's that still need backup to the NAS. I really have only gotten to those my Grand Son watches on a regular basis. As I purchase DVD's for him I will RIP them as well and place them on the network. Other than for the media disc's there is little to no real use. I could easily just use USB but since it is there already I do use it. I did get to use it several times going back and forth to W10 before settling on W7.

 

Spying is not the issue - use the options available to control that aspect to your comfort limit. Allowing them to stay on obsolete tech is a sign of sabotage, imo...

Don't smoke (ever). Don't drink either (at least not to the point of forgetting what the best general O/S is today...).

 

tilleroftheearth, and it's 8.1. =p

 

Are you serious right now...? I guess you can add "don't have kids" to this list as well:

 

Yeah, I'm serious. Sabotaging others by supporting obsolete O/S's is not a sign of love here.

Try to stay on topic and please leave the personal attacks out of your conversation, okay?

 

1. Adult children can make their own decisions (right, @deadsmiley? )
2. Giving parenting advice is overstepping your bounds (not to mention OT )

 

1. They will make their own decision in any event. That is not what I am discussing though.
2. Parenting advice? Uhm, no...

 

So how 'bout them ODDs?

 

I feel like I'm missing something here, three posts in a row by octiceps and the third one doesn't have anything to do with the first two... oh well, whatever I'm missing, it's probably for the best.

I wouldn't quite say obsolete at this point, but certainly becoming increasingly niche. As mentioned, there are use cases where they're still handy - as OS install media, backing up films/CDs, installing old games. And I think there's still a case for them in watching films and listening to music, too - DVD rentals are still a more economical option than Netflix if you only watch them rarely, and used CDs often cheaper than buying mp3s. Really, it depends on your usage habits - I still use DVDs and CDs occasionally since Netflix is more expensive than an occasional rental, and free Spotify + free Pandora + occasionally buying music I really like is cheaper than Spotify Premium. Even then, I use them less than 5 years ago. But if you already have, say, Netflix and Deezer for your film/music needs, there's not much use for them in most cases.

To sum it up, I'd say they are skippable in laptops for almost everyone these days, especially with external drives being inexpensive, but in desktops, unless you're making an ultra-small one, I'd still default to including one since they're inexpensive and it is convenient to have it already installed when you do need one.

 

I still use my optical drive for burning CDs to play in my car, and also for the occasional program that requires a disc to run or install correctly. My notebook, however, has a quick-release hotswap feature with the drive bay so I can swap in an extra hard drive or SSD when I'm not using the optical drive. While I admit I don't use the optical drive on a daily basis, I really appreciate the fact it's there.

Regarding external optical drives, they rely on USB and I've had issues in certain previous events in which USB was not acceptable. So I make a point to get systems that contain built-in optical drives.

 

This is what alot of other users forget. I also have USB powered BD burner as well so for my Optical usage will remain. I have older laptops and they come with Optical and I like this because I can burn and backup my DVD/BD movies something those that don't have this feature can't do. Streaming only works if you get internet connection-with the physical Optical I have the freedom to watch where-ever-when-ever with my optical drive. Also if I like the movie I just backup the movie to burn later to watch. Also media are cheap right now for DVD and BD a little more so that to me stand a test of time Optical media still rules.

 

u can do all of the above just by using usb drives, external hdds or additional internal storage....or even sd cards in your reader!

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How you gonna rip from optical media without an optical drive? A/V quality on streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu is crap compared to BD/DVD, not to mention more expensive in the long run. Same with streamed/downloaded music compared to CDs.

 

no need for ripping, there are always other sources

i hate streaming myself, prefer to have offline access to my media


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Stopped using optical drives over 10 years ago.
I actually removed the optical drive from my laptop and replaced it with a caddy (to hold my HDD) when I installed an SSD into the main HDD bay.

To me, this setup is a far more sensible one.
Optical disks are very prone to problems and I actually have a far better way of storing files (everything) onto portable USB drives.

 

So how did you play games back then? Or were you yo ho yo ho like JB?

 

I wasn't really playing too many games at that point.
Most of the ones I was playing were quite old though and I already turned them into image files which I was able to read via DAEMON Tools and kept them on a separate partition until I got an external drive.