Optical drives let your computer read and interact with discs like CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays. While nearly every computer had them a few years ago, they're rare to see on new computers now. If you need ...

One of the most interesting parts of the recent Apple Mac Mini and MacBook Air refresh is that Apple is moving away from optical drives. Apple isn't the only company to do so, raising the question "Is ...

One truism about computer hardware is that, once purchased, it immediately starts falling behind the leading edge of the technology curve. Consider the Dual-2.0GHz Power Mac G5 I purchased in ...

Sometimes, you don't need the latest and greatest. Sometimes, all you need is something basic. If you're building a new machine and have no need for Blu-ray yet, Sony Optiarc has two new units that ...

iTunes isn't the most accurate or most powerful CD ripper, but it's the best for most people with demanding digitizing needs.

When Apple announced new Macs last week, one thing that was notably absent from the new models presented was an optical drive. While Apple has been phasing out CD/DVD drives since the introduction of ...

These days, very few of us use optical media on the regular. If we do, it’s generally with a slot-loading console or car stereo, or an old-school tray-loader in a desktop or laptop. This has been the ...

HLDS (Hitachi-LG Data Storage) and TSST (Toshiba-Samsung Storage Technology) are soon to cease manufacturing of both CD-ROM and CD-RW drives. Not too big of a surprise since the last time I went ...

There’s a good chance your next computer won’t have an optical drive (that would be the place on the side of your laptop where you insert discs). For those already immersed in technology, losing the ...

Apple declares mid-2012 MacBook Pro obsolete globally, ending support for laptops with optical drives. macOS Big Sur no longer supports this model. External SuperDrive available but needs USB-A ...

When I wrote a series of How-To guides showing how easy it was to swap old Mac hard disks for new solid state drives (SSDs), I focused on raw upgrades — slow mechanical drives for fast chip-based ones ...