Do you think optical drives are still necessary?

[voxotto]

Not necessarily, i haven't used mine in a couple of years but a little while back i found a bunch of dvds and cds full of pictures from many years back. So there is a couple of reasons to have one. But yeah, usb one will do great

[Speedbird]

I still use them, I just have a lot of stuff on CDs and DVDs. And it makes installing Windows a little easier.

[Maxibonbits]

For some people they are.

 

People who have large DVD/CD collections, or those who have to buy physical copies of a game due to terrible internet may have use of them.

[Waltz Beat]

I have one in my blu ray drive as I watch a lot of anime. I like supporting the companies and while there are some options to download HD anime there isn't enough for me to no longer use one.

Also being able to just lend my rommie's blu rays if I want to watch somthing is useful.

 

And I do this because my PC is connected to my tv if I want to watch a film or play a game on it.

[IdeaStormer]

If you have optical media, yes, if you don't then no. If you plan on viewing/accessing optical media, yes, if not then no.

[ckit]

Yes, I still find my Liteon 324 DVD-RW Burner to be useful at times but not regularly and I don't ever see myself buying a Blu-ray combo\writer as external hdd's hold more and are faster!

[Kenofzhen]

You dont really need one but its good to have one, lets say you're buying a game online and the size of the content youre downloading is 50GB (forza or something), might as well buy the CD version from the shops instead of waiting a day to download the game. Thats when youll realised that a optical drive will come in handy. then you can just install it from the disc   or maybe someone you know wants you to RIP songs from a CD to a USB stick for them, optical drive with come in handy then too

 

 

they arent even expensive, i built my pc a week ago and bhought a $25 ASUS optical drive to install windows 8.1. Its not expensive, id say to get one.

[hojnikb]

they arent even expensive, i built my pc a week ago and bhought a $25 ASUS optical drive to install windows 8.1. Its not expensive, id say to get one.

 

You could install windows with a flash drive. Even M$ has a dedicated tool, to make a bootable flash drive

[iJarbus]

Thanks all for your responses, it's interesting that although digital media is the primary source now for most people, allot of you still think optical drives are good to have around. Thanks again for engaging.