We love that modern laptops have become so slim and light, but we aren’t happy about the disappearance of ports and features. It’s been forever since I’ve seen a laptop with an optical disc drive! If ...

Physical media is old school, but there are times where it may make sense for some PC owners. Let's take a look at compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), and Blu-rays to see which option ...

Optical drives are still practical for many users, whether to play old CDs and DVDs, install software, or create backups—especially with modern laptops, which are usually supplied without a drive.

Most modern laptops lack an optical drive, yet CDs and DVDs are still used in many households, whether for playing old movies, installing older software, or even for making physical backups. An ...

We independently review everything we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more› By Arthur Gies Arthur Gies is an editor for Wirecutter's tech coverage. He's ...

Apple was one of the first manufacturers to exclude DVD players from its laptops, and the same quickly became true for iMacs as well. This meant that if you wanted to rip CDs for your iTunes library, ...

Most optical drives today are combo CD/DVD drives that support all the DVD and CD formats. The speeds of the drives are rated by their DVD-ROM and CD-ROM transfer rates. The original DVD drive (1x) ...