Do people not use optical drives anymore?

Radamand

I see a lot of builds here that don't appear to have 5.25" drive bays on the case at all.

Are the DVD drives going the way of the dodo?

TSPhillipT

Hello @Radamand

Thank you for posting on the Micro Center Community!

Optical Drives are seeing less and less use nowadays. With the three main reasons to use DVDs/CDs, Movies, Music, and Games/Programs are all generally available online. Streaming movies and shows through things like Netflix, streaming and downloading music through Spotify or iTunes, and a lot of games and programs are available online. This saves money on the developers, so they don't have to distribute hard copies or reduce the amount they need to and direct customers to ways online to obtain.

Another reason is people want thinner laptops, and laptops are the most popular form-factor for computers. DVD Drives take up a lot of width on these laptops, so removing them allowed them to get smaller and lighter. This then adds to less of a demand for DVDs and a movement to streaming/downloading online as a larger amount of users are lacking machines with them. Transition this to Desktops, where a lot of custom build cases are sporting all glass fronts with three fans, the design and airflow has been put at a higher value than adding a DVD Drive.

You can find the occasional Drive Bay hidden in the PSU Shroud that holds two 3.5in HDDs. However these are not ALL 5.25'' compatible and are designed with the idea of securing HDDs and nothing more.

The last nail in the coffin is how inexpensive an external DVD Readers/Writers are. At around 20$, they are cheaper then most 5.25'' Optical Drive and can easily be used for the rare times you use a DVD/CD and then put away. I actually use my external CD Reader as a lot of the music I listen to are harder to stream or download online so I would have to import physical copies. I don't think CD/DVDs are going away, they allow some distribution for smaller artists/shows that have a following, and collectors love collecting as well. I just think their importance will dwindle and the rise of these external readers will just be the new replacement.

magarity

Yes, the rare occasion I need a physical cd, i use my external drive. Basically once a year for the turbotax cd from costco.

Ian

Yeah, would agree here, CD/DVDs still have some use but you can easily get by with an external drive, but personally I don't think I've used a DVD in 3-4 years at least.