Should I order my Sager NP7358 with an optical drive?

It seems like most notebook manufacturers are ditching the optical drive. I think it's great that Sager/Clevo still offers it, but when the drive breaks down (as they always do) will I be able to buy a replacement drive online? Or should I just get the replacement hard drive bay that they offer and use an external optical drive?

 

I just ordered my 7358 and kept the optical drive. As much as Id like to remove to it, I just use them too much and I know that an external wouldnt make up for it. I also didn't bother with an HDD and replaced it with an SSD instead.

 

All slimline optical drives are modular.

 

Their failure rate is honestly not very high. Depending on the model of the laptop, you usually can find a garden variety drive online that will fit the bay even if it does go out. Removal and installing a new one is simple.

 

I view optical drives much in the same way I view prophylactics and firearms. I'd rather have one and not need it, than need it and not have one. It's a very easy piece to remove and install.

 

Do you have another computer like old notebook or a desktop that has optical drive you can burn disc with in the rare occasion you need to? My notebook doesn't have an optical drive and I've never needed once to read a disc. I do burn discs though and do that on my desktop.

 

Lol. I want my optical drive. I was buying FLAC from hdtracks.com but the extra expense was not worth the slightly higher fidelity of FLAC burned from a CD. So yeah, i am keeping the optical drive spirit alive. This time I am gonna get a blu-ray burner. I should've got one last time but couldn't justify almost $200 for one. Using blurays in a laptop is a mess and expensive if you want to keep using it. I like keeping backups though and at the moment dont have a goto drive for backups since my western digital 640gb drive pooped on me after I swapped it for a ssd. The 50gb backups will be perfect for backing up my FLAC/mp3 collection and important data.

Sent from my SM-N9005

 

Well, this sort of depends on what you're going to use your laptop for. If you're going to be doing any sort of DVD or Blu-ray burning, obviously you would want it. My 9170 came with an optical drive, and I did use it a handful of times, but I ended up getting rid of it and have not missed it at all. I got an optical drive caddy so I can use it as an external DVD drive when needed. That was over a year ago and I've only used it once or twice. I would go for the external drive if I were you, unless you're big Ito burning discs.