Eliminating optical drives is what a lot of computer manufacturers are doing... but at least a lot of laptops have a delete plate where you could add one.... but optical discs are not nearly obsolete enough to eliminate yet, since so many people still use CDs, CD ROMs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, etc.... and even if they don't buy new ones, they still have a sizeable collection of them. It is WAY too early to remove those.
At least with VCRs, electronics stores continued to sell them a decade after the format fell out of vogue when companies stopped making pre-recorded video tapes and when DVD players dropped to an affordable price...... removing the optical drive from computers right now would be like if stores suddenly stopped carrying any DVD or Blu-Ray players, while still carrying the discs.
I bought a new laptop over a year ago and it didn't have an optical drive, so I pulled the one out of my old laptop, and bought a mini SATA to USB cable. I just pull that out whenever I need to use a disc on the computer. It's a pain in the ass but at least it's an option.
At least with VCRs, electronics stores continued to sell them a decade after the format fell out of vogue when companies stopped making pre-recorded video tapes and when DVD players dropped to an affordable price...... removing the optical drive from computers right now would be like if stores suddenly stopped carrying any DVD or Blu-Ray players, while still carrying the discs.
I bought a new laptop over a year ago and it didn't have an optical drive, so I pulled the one out of my old laptop, and bought a mini SATA to USB cable. I just pull that out whenever I need to use a disc on the computer. It's a pain in the ass but at least it's an option.