Do you use your optical drive on your notebook?

The case for having an optical-drive is under a lot of fire lately. I wanted to get a rough idea of how many people would readily get rid of their optical-drives on their portal devices.

Note: This poll is intended only in the context of notebooks and portable devices, not for desktops and HTPC's.

 

might I suggest making a poll? but my answer is no, I dont use it

 

my vaio tz has no optical drive (just 2 ssds: 1.8" and a 2"5 in the hdd bay, both intel ^^) and so far no situation occurred where I really needed one. However I do have an external dvd burner just in case xD

 

Yes I most certainly use it. I've had to use an external since mine died, but I still watch a lot of DVDs, and need one to install games also.

 

I just added a poll for the OP
Let me know if you want different options/a different wording, though.

I don't use my T500 or my Averatec 2155's ODD, really. I would much rather the room that my T500's ODD takes up be used for more ports (ie: another USB, DVI-out, another headphone jack, a CF slot, etc, etc).

That's one reason I actually really liked the Envy 15--it did away with the ODD. Hopefully now that Apple is gradually axing the ODD (11" and 13" Air, Mac Mini), this trend will continue. Given the light and super-cheap external ODDs available on the market today, there's less and less of a reason to include an ODD, particularly in <15" laptops.

 

Yes, i do still use it quite often. I still buy audio cd's and bluray discs. I have less than 1GB of music on my iPod and just keep what i listen to most often on there. When i want to listen to an album i do so via audio cd and mostly use one of my laptops. I also use it to install software every now and then. I tend to back up to usb/sd card and dvd.

For my usage pattern i find it much more convenient.

 

There should be an "occasionally" option. That's the one I'd tick.

 

I don't use mine very often, but with enough regularity to make having it still built into my system worthwhile. When my kid is born in a couple months, I'm sure I will be using it even more to burn DVDs to send to family.

 

As long as there are Blu-rays and DVD's then I will only buy a laptop with an internal optical, otherwise I'd only need a netbook.

 

Hardly but it does come in handy when needed. Could be easily replaced with a USB external optical drive for those who have caddies but resale of the original drive maybe a problem.

 

Noted that this poll is for optical drives in notebooks; but just want to point out that when creating content (vs. consuming it...) notebook optical drives are next to useless.

Case in point: using Exact Audio Copy to rip a CD to mp3 format. Using a notebook (U30Jc) it took about 11 min to complete. With a $20 (Asus) desktop optical drive: about 3:30 min/sec on a 4 yr old desktop.

Convenience is nice: but using the proper tool(s) for a job is always the most efficient use of resources/materials and time.

 

The only "full speed" external ODDs are the larger ones with an AC adapter, for example like this one. They are more expensive, but still worth the money IMHO if you want that faster speed.

 

twice a year.


--

 

rarely. usually when i borrow dvd's from my housemate, as i dont have a TV myself.

 

Rarely use it, however I noticed that I tried to press the "eject button" on the hard disk caddy in the optical drive bay of my laptop a few times...

 

Hardly but Handy.
I'd hate someone come up and say, "Yuck. My $300 laptop can do something that yours cannot. Read DVDs."

 

Whoops forgot to fill out the poll form. Thanks for adding it. The options you ut are fine. Simple and straightforward.

 

Nope, I download everything.

Steam, movies, drivers, nothing will ever need optical drive. Optical drives are the new floppy drive.

 

That is true. It's a new floppy that can hold 4.7/8.5GB on DVD or 25/50GB on blu-ray. But in the end it's still based on 30 year old tech no matter which way you look at it. Still, all of my games and movies are on CD/DVD, so I still use it.

 

I use it so much that when I purchased a 'smaller' laptop for my wife I made sure it had a dvd-burner.

We do quite a bit with dvd's either burning/copying etc, also for backup and/or sharing family photos/videos of the kids.

Also the occasional boot from cd/dvd program, clonezilla, dban and/or some live linux for fun.

 

Well, the thing is, most games are now installed direct to HDD, so you only use the ODD once (for older games, many now have legal ways to play the game without having to have the CD in; ie: StarCraft).

 

how about an option for "every once in a while, but when I need it I absolutely need it".

 

Then you would click 'yes', since you do use it, even if just occasionally.

 

My vote goes for "Yes".
Would be easily replacable with a external one though.

I only use it when watching my movies or installing ancient games.
Probably gonna use it when i got to backup my DVD collection soon, its taking too much space atm and still growing.

I think if i invest in a small home server setup + XBMC htpc should remedy this easily.

 

I still do as I still have games on physical optical media as well as my OS installation media. However, I am not using it as much as I used to though.

 

I use it occasionally in order to rip/burn CDs and DVDs.

I voted no because my current notebook does not have an ODD in comparison to my past notebook.

 

Yes I do, unfortuneately

About half of my laptops (in my history), didn't have built in optical drives, and half did. (IBM Type 260, Sony R505, D830 + m1210, n10j, m11x, VPC-SC, in that order).

So far, it's already steered me away from the Sony Z2 line, into the Sony S line, though thankfully, the drive is a bluray drive, which is kinda nice in a pinch

 

I only use my ODD for playing old games that won't rip into an ISO file on my hard drive, as well as to burn CDs for my car (which sadly isn't old enough to have a cassette for a cassette to aux device, nor new enough to have a aux connection in the standard radio unit); Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour (with Shockwave mod) is my favorite RTS and so far I haven't figured out how to rip it. I don't understand why it refuses to rip, since older games I own (Axis and Allies, 2004) easily do so, even without using a ripping program (by default, they run from the hard drive after install).

Other than that, I never really use my ODD. I'd much rather replace it with an Ultrabay caddy to keep my 500GB stock HDD on the laptop (right now it's plugged into the Thermaltake in my sig).

 

i think "occasional" and "rarely" qualifies for "yes" because you'd probably be mad if you didn't have one when you occasionally or rarely use it.

i use mine all the time.

 

I would say occasionally too, just use it to burn some videos from my camera and pictures on a DVD, but that's all.

I am actually planning to buy and external HDD and put all my stuff there..

 

I swapped the ODD in my laptop with an OBHD + HDD. I have an external ODD@USB, however I use it maybe once a year.

 

My main laptop has an mSATA SSD and 2 HDD bays, yet I replaced the ODD with a 3rd HDD for more storage.
However I still (but rarely) need an ODD because once in a while I buy a music CD (yes, I still buy music on physical media because that's the only way to get it in decent quality) and rip it to my HDD. To do that I bought an external ODD which also has the advantage that I can use it with my netbooks.
My subnotebook on the other hand only has one HDD and I didn't replace the ODD. I use this device when I need a more complete computer than a netbook but more portable than my 17" laptop. In these scenarios a built-in ODD often comes in handy.

 

There should be multiple responses to say yes for applications or yes for media (i.e. movies and music) or both. I really never use my optical drive for application installation, but primarily for media.

 

Not really, I use my ODD occasionally, but I'd rather not have it. If it's a matter of watching a DVD or installing an application, well, I can get an external $20 CD/DVD burner ODD for that.

 

the question is "do you use your optical drive on your notebook?" how is using it occasionally or rarely "not really"? seems pretty clear to me.

 

My "not really" was in response to your comment that I'd be mad if my laptop didn't have an ODD when I needed it.

If you define it that way, I'm sure the results would be 100% "yes," since pretty much everyone uses the ODD at least once to burn recovery disks. That, and the time I installed a dictionary program, is the only time I've used my T500's CD/DVD burner. A better question, though, would be "Do you need an internal ODD?"

 

Not on a consistent basis. That's the next thing that should be removed from notebooks as almost everything now can be put onto a thumb drive..

 

Well, when they can start putting movies on read-only (at the hardware level) thumb drives that will last 50 years, then I'll start buying them.

 

I use it, but not enough for it to warrant a permanent spot in my laptop.

If you were to put a gun to my head right this minute, I couldn't tell you whether or not there's a disc in the drive right now. It's been a while. Might say 2 times a year on average.

 

Having an optical drive seems like dead weight to me now, except for using it as a coffee cup holder . It would be better if notebook manufacturers provided systems with external USB-powered optical drives.

Optical drives make a lot of sense for HTPC's and desktops still though. I'm wondering why Apple recently ditched the optical drive on the Mac Mini, since a lot of people on various threads use it as an HTPC.

 

So I just heard on the news that Ford Motor Company is going to start removing CD players from certain vehicle models.

 

There are many discussions about that move. The main reason, I think, is that the physical disk (especially Blu-Ray) is not in Apple's ecosystem. In Apple's ideal world, movie consumption would be through iTunes on the Mac Mini or Apple TV, where high-quality video is downloaded/streamed. I think its removal also heralds a similar change in the rest of the Apple lineup, likely with a MBP and iMac refresh.

Aside from business reasons, though, I think it's an appropriate move, regardless of the initial outcry. Apple is in a unique position to make this change: HP tried it in the HP Envy 15 and was met with resistance, and so retreated from the move (subsequent Envy models all had ODDs). People will continue to buy Apple products in spite of the lack of the ODD (and may even splurge for its external SuperDrive), leaving Apple in the position to mold the future of the ODD in laptops. I expect the next laptop I purchase to be ODD-less.

 

I use the optical drive occasionally, although it's a small convenience moreso than a necessity. Anything I could have done with that optical drive I could also have done digitally. The next laptop I purchase will also likely not have one.

 

I only have an external drive, but I only use it every month or so for ripping CDs... and on very rare occasion when I need to mess around with my Windows install.

 

Makes sense that an automobile company would do this. Many people have MP3 players that could hook up via bluetooth to a car's audio system, or even one of those audio jacks through the MP3's headphone port. It would be a lot more feasible for Ford to go the MP3 headphone port than installing an optical drive that could handle the vibrations / potholes in a car. Lets just hope they place the headphone port in an easily accessible place... my current car has it tucked away deep in the center console.

Indeed, that makes a ton of sense. Kind of stinks for Sony now, since they poured a boatload of money into the Blu-Ray format only to witness that digital delivery of content is growing much faster than Blu-Ray adoption (don't quote me on that ; speaking more from my gut feeling on Blu-Ray). I didn't pick up a Blu-Ray capable player (PS3) until a couple months ago, and even now I still don't own a single Blu-Ray disc to watch a movie on it with (games are a different matter).

Likewise. I'll definitely consider the MBA in a couple years or so, depending on how long my MBP lives.

 

Nope. Replaced the optical drive in my laptop with a second 500GB HDD awhile back. Mounted the optical drive in an external enclosure in case I ever had a need for it. I think I've used it maybe twice in the last year.

 

Umm ... no. My recovery is a tar.gz archive on my external HDD.

 

There are a number of issues I see and keep hearing the argument about streaming, yadda yadda, is that streaming has a very limited selection compared to disc. Streaming is also a far cry in quality from blu-ray. It's like we've reverted back to VHS tape level. Seriously.In most cases it's worse than DVD quality. Even if you download the video it's compressed, and reduced in file size so you're not downloading a 40GB file.

Until streaming selection offers the same or more selection as blu-ray, and streaming quality is as good as blu-ray, I don't see it catching on 100%. They say they want you to use these digital downloading / streaming features, but it's not really complete or infrastructure implemented so how can they expect people to jump on that bandwagon.

 

There's also the fact that streaming puts a lot of strain on the internet. If apple has it's way and everyone is streaming from a cloud, then if we do actually see decent quality streaming the web simple won't be able to cope.

It isn't economical to download data in the gigabytes every time you want to watch a film. If it's a case of downloading once and then keeping forever then that's different but live TV can never do that.

 

dunno, I sit 15' away from my Mistu 60" DLP, and the different between NetFlix HD from my xbox, and Bluray 40mbits from my Sony SC (outputting via HDMI) is hard to tell... Maybe if I decided to sit way up close, but I deliberately left the area infront of my TV open for the Kinect