M11x - Lack of Optical and You (or Me?)

Hey guys I've been laptop shopping. It's funny how this whole process works. I was initially going to buy the Asus G73 until I realized just how ginormous the thing is and now I have come full circle and am looking at the best gaming near-netbook device I can find... the M11x. Weird eh?

Anyway, the only issue I have with it is the lack of a built-in optical drive. I'm sitting here thinking it won't be an issue. Most anything I need can be downloaded anyway and to be honest most data transfer between my pcs is done either over the air or via usb. I still have that... fear... of trying something I've never tried before.

Did any of you face a similar dilemma before buying the m11x? If so, how did it work out for you? How long did it take to adjust?

I guess at this point I'm looking for a little reassurance. It would probably be nice to hear from someone who had similar "fears" but went ahead with the purchase anyway!

(BTW, if I buy one it will probably be the Best Buy model mainly because I like playing with other people's money for 18 months. )

 

for 30-40 dollars an external dvd drive will address all your fears.. just buy one with the m11x, besides, you have 18months to pay for it..

 

The lack of an optical drive is not really a big deal. I notice my brother using an external drive, whilst installing games, and an antivirus software. You can get one from best buy too for a good deal.

 

I have installed everything minus one game directly from the internet or from an internet download. I bought myself an external slim DVD drive but only as an emergency. I just don't see myself using it more then once or twice a year to install things.

I could use it as a DVD burner but I probably just stick to my desktop for that.

 

Personally I don't usually burn things. Anything I need cleared out of my computers goes into my external hard disk. Only annoying part is when I have to pop in my DVD for some games which worried me a little until the realization hits home.

Steam was slowly but surely taking over all the money I spend on games, it din't really affect me as much as I thought it would.

 

Plus there are sites with safe game cracks for legally owned games.

 

Out of my game collection only a handful are boxed. After installing those I really don't need a drive. I don't watch dvds and I never burn discs, so I am fine with this. If they could not fit or it saved weight, this is great! Although that gap on the right where a optical drive could be raises an eyebrow. Makes me wonder if they took it out at the last minute.

 

I have an LG external rom drive from when I used to have my MSI wind. Didn't even use it then. I've used it on my M11x to install borderlands, never winter nights, and a couple of older games, but I mostly purchase from steam. Especially when they have good deals. Got GTA IV for 7.50 . I mean it's fairly cheap to pick one up and it's always good to have just in case but I personally don't carry mine around all the time.

 

Can't say I'll be using an optical drive in near future for anything. I'm glad it's not there.

 

All I have to say is

What is this Optical Drive thing you speak of????:confused2:

LoL

 

only to install games i owned the disc of. no need to buy what you already own (as i learned from buying fallout 3, twice)

besides, it's less to break, and my mabook disc drive ALWAYS broke.

 

Well the macbook drives are crap cheap things in general
To the OP I doubt you'll miss it, if I ever need to install anything from CD on my m11x i just either make an image with Alcohol 120% and then mount it on a virtual drive or install over a networked DVD-Drive.

 

networked dvd drives are useful - especially if you use ssd's, you can't be had using twice the space: one to store the image, and another big bit of space for the install itself

 

Thanks guys. I guess if I decide to go this route I'll just need to change my mindset regarding movies + travel. Right now I usually haul a few dvds around with me (unless I have a digital copy installed from BRD purchase) but as long as I rip some of my movies and pre-load them I should be fine. Already use Steam for the majority of purchases so for the most part my main concern about having no optical revolved around DVD-movies. I guess it's time to get myself back in the loop on the best way to rip DVDs!

In other news, I was hoping to play with one of these at Best Buy today but unfortunately we have some crazy weather going on down here. Will report back later this week!

 

With my Asus EEE netbook, I really don't miss the optical drive. I've got an external DVD/CD burner if I need one, but most of the time that drive is being used as a 2nd optical drive for my M17x...

 

I'd predict that optical drives will more and more become a thing of the past - especially with laptops. With my work laptop and my M11x - I've never had a need to use an optical drive. With my older laptop - I used the optical drive on it 1-2x for installing the OS and another program.

It does depend on your setup however..

I do have a desktop machine with an optical drive - to which I definitely use it to either rip my music/dvd collections as well as any software I wish to have available via my internal network.

 

yep, with broadband penetrating more, and SD's getting larger and cheaper, optical drives are going the way of the floppy...

 

I purchased an ASUS usb optical drive to have in case I needed it for a system restore or something.

Even when I hosed the system and had to restore I didnt' use it because of the restore partition. I've only used it once to test that it works.

I've actually used it more on my server because it doesn't have any optical drives (it's a NAS box)

 

Optical drives will be around for a while yet due to not everyone getting their games from steam.

when I travel and cannot connect to the internet with my laptop that is not the time that want to find out that I can't play a game. Also most of the older games that I play want to look at the CD before starting.

 

me...I wish they would have included a drive with this unit

 

The other trick is buy a external optical drive. If the game requre a cd. Look for a No cd Patch. I had to do this with games like ms flight sim games.

 

I got myself the Targus external drive along with my laptop, it was probably more expensive than buying elsewhere but it is perfect for my needs(rarely have had to use it).

It's tiny and takes up no room in my laptop bag, it plugs right in and it's like I actually have an internal drive.