Optical Drives Inch Closer to Obsolescence, Ultrabook Prepares Eulogy
Optical Drives Inch Closer to Obsolescence, Ultrabook Prepares Eulogy
Posted 08/02/2011 at 8:44am
| by Paul Lilly
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Years ago a single- or double-speed CD-ROM drive without burning capabilities would set you back several hundred dollars. And today? A twenty-dollar bill buys you a high-speed DVD burner. Even Blu-ray drives aren't all that expensive anymore. Are optical drives on their way out? With ubiquitous broadband, streaming media, cloud storage, and digital downloads taking over, that could very well be the case, and it's already happening in the mobile world.
According to news and rumor site Digitimes, ODD makers admit to facing an uncertain future, particularly as Intel pushes its Ultrabook concept. To maintain an ultrathin and light profile, and to cut costs, Intel's Ultrabook specification won't require an optical drive.
ODD vendor Lite-On has seen the writing on the wall and says there's little chance of its shipments showing a 20-30 percent sequential growth in the third quarter of 2011 as previously predicted, though the company's gaming ODDs and slim-type ODDs are still performing well. Still, Lite-On's working an alternative solution for Ultrabooks, one that it isn't willing to talk about just yet (external storage, perhaps?).
DigiTimes Research believes that slim ODDs will keep the market alive, while half-height ODDs face an already saturated desktop market and will likely see reduced shipments each quarter. Ultimately, ODDs could end up hanging out with floppy drives reminiscing about the good ol' days.
Side note: Award yourself 500 geek points if you recognize the thumbnail pic.
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livebriand
August 03, 2011 at 6:35pm
I don't mind lacking an OD in a second PC, as I can download drivers to a thumb drive and make a USB OS install drive with my main PC, but I still want an ODD in my desktop. As I said, I need it for software (and getting software on USB stuff for a second PC), and I use them for photo backups and ripping CDs. If I had several PCs, I'd be OK with just having an OD in one, but I still need that. None doesn't quite work for me.
Bad-Karma
August 03, 2011 at 1:26pm
"Gaming ODD" WTF is that? I've searched Lite-on's site but can't find any reference to a "gaming" optical disc drive.
Ruins
August 03, 2011 at 6:27am
I have never tried it before, but can you install an new build's OS with a external optical drive?
blkpanthr
August 03, 2011 at 8:51am
sure, why not? as long as your mobo supports booting from USB devices, it shouldnt be a problem.
RUSENSITIVESWEETNESS
August 03, 2011 at 5:48am
Some people are already taking flying cars to work....
Not a big fan of "The Future Is Here" marketing, especially when the future is NOT here just yet.
It's hurt the industry that Blu-Ray burners haven't dropped in price fast enough to get them installed in more machines. And the industry should have invested in backup formats at pace with current hard drive sizes.
Too many folks watch those iPad commercials and believe that's actually how well that shit works.
We will always need a way to get data into a computer that doesn't require the Internet.
whathuhitwasntme
August 03, 2011 at 5:46am
if for no other reason than for back up an storage of critical files
I can see a need for optical media
when it all goes sideways, and you have a melt down on your hard drive or net book or ultrabook
back up media is always a safe bet.
I can recreate 90% of my PC TODAY, from the stored files I have on dvd media rite now. It has saved me more than once in 10 years and to be honest the rush to declare a functioning device obsolete just because you can is to say the least stupid and a bit arrogant.
blkpanthr
August 02, 2011 at 9:06pm
lets not forget hardware drivers. Mobos particularily, as a new install wont have the nic up to get them online.
Rusty
August 02, 2011 at 9:55am
I don't get the geek cred for knowing where it came from but do I get it for using Chrome's Inspect Element to see your file storage named the picture and episode?
<img src="/files/u69/twilight zone obsolete.jpg" etc...
Exarkun1138
August 02, 2011 at 10:51am
I guess I should get at least 250 pts. for knowing it was from Twilight Zone, right? ;-P
Exarkun1138
August 02, 2011 at 9:15am
The thumbnail pic is from a Twilight Zone episode. I can't recall the exact name of the episode, but that's the show it's from.
nsvander
August 02, 2011 at 9:03am
Unless they start shipping OSes on thumb drives or some other form of new media, I dont see the ODD going away just yet. We still need a way to get an OS on the machine, and not everyone has the advantage of another computer laying around to build a bootable thumb drive.
Asterixx
August 02, 2011 at 2:12pm
I can see that heppening. I just bought an 8 gig thumb drive for $8. Add that $8 onto the price of an OS and delete the slow, mechanically complicated, battery sucking optical drive from my laptop and I'll bite...
I can't remember the last time I used the CD players in any of my cars (they've all got USB inputs, so I use thumb drives). I've got a DVD player I've used once and a blue-ray I have yet to ever use (I only bought it for its Netflix streaming capabilities). The only time I ever open the optical drive on my laptop is when I accidentally press the eject button.
The optical drive isn't dying, it's dead
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