Do I need an optical drive?

[Lvoelger]

I hardly ever use one on my desktop. i am am getting a clevo p150em with msata 128gb and 750 gb hdd 7200. would it be better to get rid of the optical drive and get a 256 m4 ssd with a 750 gb hdd 7200, and skip the msata?

 

[manofchalk]

[strike]You can get away without one, but may be inconvenient to not have one. Windows and old game installs will be a bit problematic, but doable.

Also any $20 SATA DVD-RW will do. $20 is hardly the difference between a 128GB and 256GB SSD.[/strike]

Oh, its a laptop.
Not entirely sure. Depends whether your willing to get around the inconvenience of not having it built right in.

 

[k1114]

I haven't used a cd drive in over 5 years and decided not to get one on my pc I built last year. Everything can be found online, or use a usb flash drive. IMO it's more convenient, cds are so slow.

 

[jaguarskx]

Depends. I tend to burn DVDs so I would get one.

There's always an option to buy an external optical drive, however, I'm not sure how fast an external USB 2.0/3.0 DVD drive is compared to an internal version.

 

[jaycruz]

my last laptop did not have a drive, and even though I wouldnt have used it much it was a pain to have to go look for drivers online. I just replaced my broken laptop and opted for a BD-ROM drive. Bluray read only with a dvd/write combo. I think I'll be happy knowing I can watch a movie anywhere.