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.

In these modern times, CDs have become somewhat ancient technology. Because of the decline in CD popularity, laptops do not even come with CD drives. On the rare occasion that you need a CD drive, you ...

Recently I became the mostly happy owner of an HP Pavilion dm1z. I say “mostly happy” because I wasn’t thrilled with its performance. To give the system a boost, I decided to swap the pokey 5,200-rpm ...