Laptops with Optical Drive!

Plantation7

Wanted to bag a spare laptop in the sales however, struggling to get what i want, call me old fashioned but i always buy them with an optical drive which seems to be a lot more difficult these days.
My other Laptop 8GB of memory and 1TB HDD i wanted around the same or better along with the Optical Drive, last one i got cost £400 3 years ago but i doubt i can match that now though as they seem double that price and more.:o

arciere

Compromises, optical drive means bigger and heavier laptops. Laptops with a screen size of 13-14" and below will almost never have the space to fit an optical drive, so generally speaking you will need to look at 15 plus screen sizes.
What about a slim-sized USB drive that you can put in the bag and connect when needed? Do you use CD/DVDs on a regular basis?

System

I second getting a slim sized USB optical drive. You'll find that you don't use the optical drive as much as you think you do, especially nowadays with people using services like Netflix which allow you to download films to watch offline rather than carrying around DVDs.

My Macbook Pro I bought in June 2015 has no optical drive, I've never needed to use one with it. Other than burning the odd Linux installation disc once in a blue flood the drive in my desktop goes unused too.

Microsoft are predicted to soon be releasing a version of the Xbox without an optical drive. As internet speeds have increased and more companies like Amazon, Google and Netflix allow you to download music and films you've either bought or watch or listen to via a subscription then the need for optical drives is coming to an end. Even if you need to install Windows or Linux both options allow you to download a file to create an installer on a USB memory stick so you just boot from that to install the OS.

Roland_Sausage

In true money saving style, remove the optical drive from the old laptop (it’s probably held in with a single screw) and buy a USB enclosure for it. Plug it in and use as and when needed. You’ll probably find you hardly use it.

Something like this would do.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Laptop-USB-To-SATA-CD-DVD-Combo-RW-Rom-Drive-External-Case-Cover-Caddy-Enclosure/162912089515

EveryWhere

No problem in buying one with an optical drive, though you'll be compromising in other ways as compared to the choice available without. But buying one with an old mechanical HDD. Heresy!

Anyway, examples; https://mcscom.co.uk/product/dell-inspiron-15-5570-silver-i5-8250u-1-60ghz-8gb-2tb-radeon-530-15-6-fhd-win-10-1yr-rtb-wty-mln213/

The old style HDD would put me off that one.

My minimum requirements would be a Full HD screen and SSD(or at least a design that makes one easy to fit ).

So this wouldn't fit the bill for me; https://mcscom.co.uk/product/dell-inspiron-15-3567-i3-6006u-2-0ghz-8gb-1tb-dvd-rw-15-6-hd-win-10-1yrs-rtb-wty-mln447/

What is wrong with your old laptop?

Frozen_up_north

I bought a USB connected external DVD writer from eBay recently, £12 delivered and works fine. I wouldn't worry about the lack of a DVD built into a laptop.

molerat

About to remove mine and fit a caddy with HDD.