Very few laptops ever included Blu-ray drives. The HP ZBook 17 G5 is one of the rare options if you need Blu-ray capability. They can run basic applications and older software, but don't expect them ...

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.

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 ...

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 ...