Laptops with disc drives going the way of the dodo

DigiTimes heard from sources at Taiwanese notebook supply chain makers that laptops with optical disc drives are going the way of the dodo. The sources said order data for laptops to be launched in 2017 points to a significant increase in 15" and above models without built-in optical disc drives (ODDs).

These models will feature just a single spindle, the hard disk drive, as consensus is that consumers have little need for discs these days due to the increased use of Internet-based streaming video and audio services.

Apple took the initiative to adopt single-spindle design for its 15-inch third-generation MacBok Pro launched in 2012. Then, other notebook vendors followed suit by launching some 15- and above single-spindle notebook models, but single-spindle design did not become popular because consumers of 15-inch Windows notebooks were accustomed to using optical discs, the sources indicated.

Compared with dual-spindle models, the single-spindle laptops are about 3mm thinner.