Situation: You’ve decided that you’re going to build a new computer. You put your part list together (case, mainboard, RAM, hard drive, processor, etc.) and then come to the point where you have to purchase an optical drive.
Seems like a waste of money, doesn’t it?
On the Linux side of things, it has been proven that you can install a full version (meaning not "biz-card") of a Linux distro with absolutely no optical drive whatsoever.
In addition to that the vast majority of Linux apps are download-only territory, so there literally is no need for the optical at all. For backups you just plug in an external drive via USB or Firewire.
On the Windows side you are required to have an optical drive, but only for one thing – the installation of the Windows OS itself. However you could easily get away with using an external optical drive, install your OS then put the drive away until you need it (which will most likely be never).
For Windows gaming there are download options, the best (arguably) of which is Steam. No discs necessary and tons (and I mean tons) of really great games.
Also bear in mind there is a large push by the computer industry to "go cloud" as you’ve heard, such as with Windows Live applications. All that stuff is from the internet and no optical drive is necessary at any time.
On your next PC box build, could you go optical-less? Yes, absolutely. If doing it the Linux way, you don’t need the optical drive at all. If doing it the Windows way, all you need is an external to get the OS install out of the way and that’s that.
And what to do with that empty bay? You’d be better off putting in a card reader where the optical would otherwise go. You’ll probably get more use out of it than you would with the optical.
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Well yes you could go without an optical drive.
but what if you wanted to burn a movie, cd or game?
then you’d have to go search for you external drive
then it would be out in your way.
its not that bad to have an optical drive.
thanks for idea I have merely gone through your blog, but sorry gentle man I am not going to built computer.
If you’re building a machine that’s worth a damn you are going to spend at minimum $350-500 (depending on purpose). If you are already on spending that amount there is no reason to NOT have an optical drive. At $25 for a full out sata dvd/cd burner with lightscribe support the optical drive is a convenience that is worth having. Yes, it is a convenience, but for the cost, its a good one to have.
In some sorts it’s sort of like an internal media card reader – not necessary but for $10, why not? It’s convenient.
There are a lot of games on steam but not all the good ones. For a gamer it would be pointless. I don’t say it’s not the future just impractical right now. Once 8GB flash memory comes down to the pennies like DVD-Rs then you wont need a drive. In reality downloading everything will be the future but even that will have its set backs because of companies not keeping up with consumer bandwidth. That and the future of net neutrality. The physical form may hold longer that we expect. Games on a memory card would take up less space for a retailer, that intern would require less store place which will be cheaper. That should replace loss from online sales.