This week’s poll comes to us courtesy of TR reader Ben, who wonders just how many folks have an optical drive in their primary portable PCs. Optical drives are largely absent from netbooks and ultraportables, and some larger laptops give users the option of swapping them out for an additional battery or hard drive. I haven’t had an optical drive in my primary portable for a couple of years now, and I certainly haven’t missed its absence.
So, what about your primary portable? Does it have an optical drive? You can cast your vote over on the right column on the front page or after clicking on the comment link below.
Our last poll explored SSD use on the desktop. An impressive 29% of voters are already running a solid-state drive in their primary desktops. 9% plan to add one in the next six months, and an additional 17% figure they’ll upgrade within the next year. 13% have no plans for an SSD upgrade in the near term, and 32% are waiting until SSDs have cost per gigabyte more comparable to mechanical hard drives. Those folks will probably be waiting a while.