One of the things that’s set netbooks apart from fuller featured computers from day one is that most netbooks don’t have optical disc drives. They take up a lot of space, cost money, and add more ...

If all you plan to do with your netbook is surf the web, check your email, and maybe enjoy some downloaded music and movies, you might not even notice the missing disc drive. But if you want to ...

Optical drive noise After installing the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update, some users have found that their optical drives make random loading or ejecting noises, as if the drive is trying to manage some disc ...

One of the most interesting parts of the recent Apple Mac Mini and MacBook Air refresh is that Apple is moving away from optical drives. Apple isn't the only company to do so, raising the question "Is ...

Optical drives let your computer read and interact with discs like CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays. While nearly every computer had them a few years ago, they're rare to see on new computers now. If you need ...

Nowadays, many people tend to regard optical drive as obsolete in PCs. Modern desktops and laptops generally come without one. But there are still convincing reasons why it makes sense to have an ...

Optical storage can last a century, give faster access to data, and is backward compatible with earlier optical technology, yet disk drives and tape rule in long-term storage. Optical media is the ...