1. The list in brief ↴
2. Best overall
3. Best budget
4. Best performance
5. FAQs
6. Best external CD/DVD drives
7. How we test laptops
8. Why trust Laptop Mag
The best laptops with CD-DVD drives — it's one of the hottest search topics around. While I'm exaggerating a bit there, it's true that many people just like you are searching for these laptops in 2024. Unfortunately, there are no brand-new mainstream laptops with CD-DVD drives, but I have scoured the internet to find the best options available for you to purchase today, and I have one alternative suggestion for you as well.
I highly recommend checking out the best external DVD drives rather than purchasing a laptop with a built-in drive. If you need a new laptop, buy one of the best laptops and pair it with an external drive instead.
Yes, I know it's convenient to have a built-in CD-DVD drive — especially if you want to access medical scans or physical media that isn't available digitally. However, these laptops are far older than we typically recommend, and you are giving up considerable performance and battery life, to name just a couple of critical features.
They are tough to find, but if you must have a laptop with a built-in CD-DVD drive, I'm here to help you. Here are the best laptops with CD-DVD drives available today.
The Quick List
Best overall
The Dell Inspiron 15 5000 features a disk drive, a wide variety of ports, 1TB of storage, and options for either an Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 processor, all for under $500, making it one of the best laptops with a built-in disk drive.
Best budget
This 15-inch Lenovo sports an Intel Core i5-7200U CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. You can find it as low as $200, making it a solid budget alternative to our top pick.
Best performance
The rock-solid HP ZBook 17 G5 features military-grade durability and an Intel Xeon processor. That's plenty of power even for an older machine, making this a good pick for power users who need a built-in disk drive.
Rami has reviewed and tested dozens of laptops over the span of 6+ years. He knows that budget shouldn't compromise on quality, and that you deserve the most for your coin. Rami also knows that the best laptops with CD-DVD drives are quite rare, and if you want a more updated laptop, you might be better off going with an external DVD drive.
The best laptops with CD/DVD drives in 2024
Why you can trust Laptop Mag Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Best overall
The Dell Inspiron 15 5000 offers the best balance of specs and price you can find on a laptop with a CD/DVD drive. You may have to hunt for it, but if you are determined to track down a laptop with a built-in disk drive, this one will be the best value for your money. You can find it as low as $300 with an Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. There is also a version with an Intel Core i7 CPU for around $500.
This laptop isn't without its flaws, though, especially compared to newer laptops. The 1TB of storage is on an HDD, which is a much slower type of storage than the SSDs modern laptops use. There is a version available with an SSD, but it only includes 256GB of storage, much less than most modern mainstream laptops. Additionally, the Core i5 or Core i7 processors available for this laptop may have once been fairly powerful but now pale in comparison to more recent chips.
So, you will be sacrificing processing power and speed, but if a built-in disk drive is a must-have, start your search with the Dell Inspiron 15 5000.
Read our full Dell Inspiron 15 5000 review.
Best budget
If you're looking for a decent laptop with a CD drive that won't break the bank, the Lenovo ThinkPad E570 is an excellent choice. One of the best qualities of this laptop is that it's equipped with a wide variety of ports for all your peripheral needs.
It includes an Intel Core i3 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 240GB of storage. It's important to note that these specs are far lower than what you would get on a modern laptop. While you can find this laptop for around $300, you'll be compromising power and storage. The Lenovo ThinkPad E570 will likely only be able to run basic, lightweight applications and won't have much space for storing files and photos due to its limited specs.
Of course, those drawbacks could be worth it for some users. With the Lenovo ThinkPad E570, you'll have a comfortable keyboard, a decent variety of ports, and a CD-DVD drive (that's rare today) — all for a low price.
Best performance
HP knows that sometimes professionals need optical drives, too, so it still offers the premium-grade ZBook 17 G5.
The ZBook 17 G5 isn't just a plain old laptop with a CD-DVD drive, either: it's got a Blu-ray CD-DVD drive, even rarer than regular optical drives. This system also features military-grade durability and the blistering speed of an Intel Xeon processor. It includes 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, offering much faster storage than the HDDs more often seen in laptops with CD/DVD drives.
Be warned, though, this 17-inch laptop weighs a hefty 7.05 pounds, so it might not be ideal for carrying around on a daily basis. It is also quite pricey given the aging specs it includes. You can find it for around $1000 to $1200. You can get a much more powerful laptop for that price today. However, the HP ZBook 17 G5 is still an option if a built-in optical drive is a must-have.
Read our full HP ZBook 17 G5 review.
FAQs
Q: Do they still make laptops with built-in CD/DVD drives?
A: No, there are no traditional consumer laptops still in production with built-in CD/DVD drives in 2024.
Q: Should I buy a laptop with a built-in CD/DVD drive or an external drive?
A: At Laptop Mag, we want to ensure you get the best laptop possible for your money. That's why, in this case, we highly recommend you choose a laptop from our guide to the best laptops of the year, along with one of the best external CD/DVD drives, instead of one of the older laptops above.
While there are still a few laptops with built-in disk drives available, unless there is a highly specific reason that you require the CD/DVD drive to be built-in, these laptops include outdated specs that make them a poor overall value.
Choosing a modern laptop will maximize the value of your money since it will continue to function well for much longer than these outdated laptops with built-in disk drives. An external drive can even give you better image quality from your DVDs and Blu-Ray disks compared to the drives found in these older laptops!
If portability is a concern, there are external disk drives that are slim and lightweight enough to bring along to work with ease. Here are a few top-rated external disk drives to consider from our best external CD/DVD drives page.
External DVD drives
Do you need an external DVD drive to access all desktop platforms? Check out the ASUS ZenDrive U9M. It's a fantastic option for accessing physical media on laptops without in-built DVD drives.
Power through DVD reading and data burning with the OWC Mercury Pro, a speed demon of the physical medium. It offers impressive performance in a sleek and stylish chassis and even supports Blu-Ray disks.
Want a DVD drive to match your premium Apple products? Check out the Apple USB SuperDrive, which offers spritely performance and works perfectly with macOS. It also looks good thanks to a polished aluminum chassis.
Why Trust Laptop Mag
Laptop Mag reviews over one hundred different laptops every year, from paperweight ultralights to everyday workhorses to lumbering gaming notebooks that scorch the frame rates of even the hottest AAA games. We're not just experts in the laptop field, as we go one step further by meticulously testing smartphones, tablets, headphones, PC accessories, software, and even the latest in gaming.
We are 100 percent independent and have decades of experience to help you buy with confidence. In fact, Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing products for three decades and continues to deliver trustworthy reviews you can rely on.
Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it.
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