Optical drives not missed in ultraportables?

I've noticed that several ultraportables now and to be released lack an optical drive, Asus U1/U2, Lenovo Ideapad U110, and the highest end North American TZs, TZ198N/RC, now replaced by TZ298N/XC, have their DVD drive replaced by a HDD as well as an SSD.

Will this be a continuing trend, are ultraportable users not missing their built-in DVD drive? I don't think I'd miss it, as long as I had a nice roomy HDD to store ISOs and ripped movies.

 

I had a dell x300 with no optical drive (it was external) and i never missed it. Actually i would rather remove my optical drive to put in a 2nd hard drive...They made those mounts years ago, but i havent seen them anymore. (atleast for the vostros)

 

I don't use my drive a whole lot except at home when I need to, BUT I already do have two hard drive slots. But if I could, I probably would make room for a second graphics card or a THIRD hard drive slot LOL. That'd be sweet though, get 3 hitachi travelstar 500 GB HDDs, so TOTAL would be 1.5 TB on a NOTEBOOK. That's sick!

I wouldn't miss it.

 

UPs generally have 2 main groups, with Optical and without. With are small and light but thicker than without. Without can be a lot thinner such as the Toshiba Portege 2000/R100 etc.

It really depends on your usage. If you don't need the optical drive you can save weight and size. If you do, you can still get something small and light, just not AS small and light. For example, I would want an optical drive with mine for watching DVDs etc. My father on the otehr hand rarely ever needs one so he has an IBM X40 and the DVD-ROM is on the dock.

Some examples:

With:
Toshiba Satellite Pro U200
Toshiba Portege 4000
Dell Lattiude D4**
Toshiba Portege R500
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Si
Toshiba Portege M***
Acer 2920
Acer Ferrari 1005
Samsung Q45

Without:
All IBM/Lenovo X**
Toshiba Portege 2000/R100/R200
Asus U1/U2
Dell Lattitude C400
HP TC4400
HP NC4400



N.B. 13.3" laptops do NOT qualify as ultraportable.

 

If you are just using the computer for day trips away from home then the lack of an optical drive may be no problem. If you are travelling for days for more then the weight including a built-in ODD is likely to be less than the extra weight of carrying around an external ODD. I certainly wouldn't want to be too far from an ODD in case I need to install something.

John

 

Being used to built-in optical drives, I thought I needed one, before I got a ThinkPad X61. But for my needs, I've found that I really do not. The one sitting in my docking station is very rarely used - usually only when I rip DVDs.

I think it will be a continuing trend, because of the need for more hard drive capacity, due to software and files becoming larger and larger. In addition, PCs are becoming less dependent of installation discs, DVDs, etc - while at the same time files and software are becoming increasingly available online.

Also, ultraportables are usually meant for optimal mobility and it is more accepted that certain compromises have to be made, in the quest for nice/small/light/battery and power efficient design.

Moon angel, your point is valid, however there are some ultraportables which are still very thin (needless to say, not as thin as the extreme Sony Vaio X505 or other ultrathin notebooks) but still contain an optical drive. Examples are Sony Vaio TZ and especially the Toshiba Portege R500/RX1.

Another aspect which often is evident in the whole "with or without" comparison, is performance. Those without can sometimes be found with more powerful CPUs and bigger/faster HDDs. The ThinkPad X61 is a good example of this.

 

Personally, I would love to see ultraportables without an optical drive, remaining very thin and sleek, but when one is needed, one can attach the drive to the bottom of the notebook, a "slice", better than an external drive.

 

Unless I've misunderstood you, luckily, this is already quite common today. The docking station for my ThinkPad X61 is a so-called Ultrabase which sits at the bottom and extends the entire notebook. Hence the ultrabase is not limited to sitting at the the desk, but it makes it possible to carry the entire package with you. The same applies to i.e. the Dell Latitude D430 Mediabase. An added bonus is that the bays for the optical drive is often swappable, making it possible to slot in a hard drive instead.

 

I think it's good that they aren't coming with optical drives anymore. Over in Japan, most ultra portable laptops are missing them because they use their computers as actual computers, rather then using them as a DVD movie players like people do in America. The only reason to have a optical drive built in is for movies when you're on the go; any other reason is usually done at home or can easily bypassed. Games can be cracked, new software is installed at home, and movies can be ripped at home. The only drawback to this is computer illiterate people that think they need the disc to watch their movie on the go.

As for me, I'm going to buy a ultrabay hard drive addon for my T61 whenever I get some extra cash...

 

Same here.

I have a dell D420 and I really noticed that I don't use the CD Drive anymore.
Most of the programs I use I can download from google or never need to install them more than once.

 

I can't live without an internal optical drive. I am a regular customer of NetFlix so having to use an external drive all the time is too much of inconvenience.

 

My only issue with having no optical drive on a UP is that I would like to use my UP as a mobile DVD player as well...

 

If you were rich you could have both! And maybe even a desktop for gaming! Sad we are not rich eh? Don't people who have UP usually use for specialized purposes? I only have a notebook I don't use my CD/DVD much (Watched two movies in one year) and have never burned DVD. So I see how you can live without optical drive (flash drives are bigger than Cd's now and cheap).

 

I have another computer if I need something for burning purposes, but also my house is networked so I can easily transfer files to it. Another thing like the poster above me or a few above *I forgot* flash drives are pretty cheap nowadays that the necessity for it is definitely growing thin.

 

i'd rather have an extra battery bay (or better battery life... period!) than an optical drive.

who needs an integrated optical drive when you have usb/1394/ethernet/wifi?

 

fujitsu has the superior option here -- the media bay. if you want an optical drive you can have it. but if you want a longer battery life, just remove the drive and put the extended battery in there. best of both worlds.

i don't understand why more vendors don't do this. it's an excellent design.

 

Except that Fujitsu have not included this option in the P8010.!

John

 

Yes, a really strange move since that was one feature that set their P series apart from most other competitors like the Vaio T series.

I would like more notebooks to have modular bay options to remove the optical drive when not needed and put in another battery or hard drive (well, who wouldn't?)

 

The advantage of removing the optical drive for a 2nd hard drive is is to save weight and increase storage. However, if you ever need to take the DVD drive with you, this advantage is negated. Which is easier to carry around and less likely to get damaged, an external DVD drive or SD card, MemoryStick, USB 2.0 drive, ExpressCard or even a 100GB 1.8" drive in a small enclosure?

I'd rather have the DVD built-in and carry a couple of ounces of external storage. I've got a 16GB drive on my key ring now, in fact. Even easier to get a 16GB stick or SD card (heck, both!) and leave it in the TZ all the time. Best of both worlds.

 

yes, it's a very stupid move by fujitsu. the p8010 has NO advantage over any other competitor laptop because of this reason. the other P have advantage because of the media bay.