Is Optical Drive a must, Ok to buy this HP i7-6500U/12 GB Ram/1 TB HDD or this ASUS i7 ?

[Chicago60]

Is optical drive a must have feature these days? I am under the believe that in critical situation a laptop can be booted up from USB or external optical drive.


The laptop is not for gaming but for a engineering student.

First Choice is - HP ENVY 15-U493cl x360
Windows 10 Home 64
Intel® Core™ i7-6500U
Intel HD Graphics 520 with up to 6191 MB total graphics memory
15.6" diagonal FHD IPS LED-backlit touch screen (1920 x 1080)d11
45 W AC power adapter
HP TrueVision HD Webcam (front-facing) with integrated digital microphoned Pointing device
HP Imagepad with multi-touch gesture support
Bang & Olufsen with 2 speakers
1 HDMI; 1 headphone/microphone combo; 1 RJ-45; 1 USB 2.0; 2 USB 3.0
Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LANd8
Intel 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (1x1) and Bluetooth® 4.0 combod10
1 multi-format SD media card reader
Security management
Kensington MicroSaver lock slot; Power-on password; Accepts third-party security lock devices
ENERGY STAR® certified; EPEAT® Silver registered


Second Choice is - Asus Q553
http/www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-2-in-1-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i7-12gb-memory-2tb-hard-drive-black/4777104.p?id=1219819879763&skuId=4777104

Regards and Thanks!

 

[Dex does Computers]

Not really unless you have optical medium at home that you need to use. Well if you really need it, there is always external usb dvd drives.

 

[USAFRet]

An optical is not necessary, if you personally don't need it.
I find one quite useful.

YMMV.