The optical drive has become a niche feature, at the same time quite irrelevant, especially when it comes to notebook PCs. In fact, you hardly see any laptop manufacturer launching new products with a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray drive. But what if you have a large physical collection of movies or maybe handle a lot of data you need to offload onto CD drives every day? Maybe you have a use case that still requires a CD every now and then? In that case, there still are a few options on the market that continue to offer an optical drive. There are numerous old laptops that feature an optical drive, but we’ve hunted down some of the best and fairly new options so you don’t have to compromise on any features.
As you’d expect, all of these laptops will be eligible for a free Windows 11 upgrade this holiday season.
Navigate this guide:
Best overall laptop: HP Envy 17t
The HP Envy is a sleek-looking 17.3 inch notebook that features a built-in CD/DVD drive. It features Intel’s 10th-gen processors with up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM. The models listed also offer a combination of 1TB SSD and 1TB HDD storage, making this a perfect choice for a desktop replacement. The laptop also features an NVIDIA GeForce MX250 GPU adding a decent bump to the graphics performance.
Probably the only complaint we have is it’s not available with a 4K resolution screen, which would have made sense on a display this big. It does however come with a good set of I/O ports including an HDMI, USB Type-C, and even an SD card slot.
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The HP Envy 17t is a premium 17-inch notebook featuring a built-in DVD drive. It's also a recommended notebook if you're looking for a desktop replacement.
Dell continues to offer optical drives on its entry-level Inspiron 3000 series. You can get the laptop in 15 inch or 17 inch, but as of now, we could only find the larger variant on Amazon. The company is offering the notebook with a 10th-Gen Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor paired with 8GB of RAM and 512GB SSD. The laptop is also available with dual storage options [SSD+HDD] and the memory can be configured up to 32GB.
It’s also fairly priced considering the amount of hardware it’s packing and that’s because the overall construction of the notebook is primarily plastic. The 17.3″ display comes with an FHD [1920 x 1080] resolution and you get a healthy set of ports including three USB Type-A, a USB Type-C, HDMI, Ethernet, headphone, mic combo jack, and an SD card slot.
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Dell's Inspiron 3000 series doesn't offer the best aesthetics, but it's one of the cheapest 17 inch notebooks if you're looking for a laptop with an optical drive.
Probably the only worthy 15 inch notebook we could find with an optical drive is the Lenovo IdeaPad 330 from 2019. Yes, it doesn’t come with the latest hardware, but that’s a compromise you’ll have to make if you want an optical drive. The laptop features an 8th-gen Intel Core i5-8250U which isn’t all that bad and should be good for your everyday tasks. The notebook also packs 8GB of RAM, 1TB of HDD storage, Dolby Audio speakers, an SD card reader, and even a USB Type-C port.
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If you don't mind the old Intel processor, the Lenovo IdeaPad 330 from 2019 is one of the most affordable laptops you can get today with a built-in optical drive.
Here’s another 17 inch notebook from HP which isn’t as sleek as the Envy 17t, but comes at a substantially lower price. The HP Laptop 17t is available with the latest 11th-Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and dual storage option of 512GB SSD and 1TB of HDD storage. The 17.3 inch IPS display comes with an HD+ [1600 x 900] resolution and you get a bunch of I/O ports including three USB Type-A ports, HDMI, Ethernet, and even an SD card slot which means it can be quite useful if you are a photographer or videographer. The optical drive on the laptop is a DVD-Writer, so apart from reading CD and DVD ROMs, you can burn them as well.
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The HP Laptop 17t is another 17 inch option that features a built-in DVD drive, but is comparitively cheaper than the Envy 17t.
These are some of the last notebooks that offer a built-in optical drive. While we expect some manufacturers to continue to include a CD/DVD drive in certain upcoming products, the chances are they’ll be very limited when it comes to options, especially since you can easily get an external USB-based optical drive today. If you want the best experience and are looking for the best of the best, then make sure you check out our list of the best laptops you can buy in 2021.
IdeaPad 3i 17 - Abyss Blue
- 17" FHD display with narrow bezels
- 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors
- Webcam privacy shutter
£329.99 Save £50.00
£279.99
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Part Number: 82H900C9UK
Processor: Intel® Celeron® 6305 Processor [1.80GHz ]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S mode
Memory: 4 GB DDR4-3200 MHz [Soldered]
Storage: 128 GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe TLC
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ideapad 3 17 - Platinum Grey
- 17″ FHD display with integrated Radeon™ graphics
- Speedy AMD® Ryzen™ processing
- Webcam privacy shutter
£399.99 Save £70.00
£329.99
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Part Number: 81W2003EUK
Processor: AMD Athlon™ Gold 3150U Processor [2.4 GHz up to 3.30 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S mode
Memory: 4 GB DDR4-2400 MHz [Soldered]
Storage: 128 GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe TLC
Warranty: 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
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IdeaPad 3 17 - Abyss Blue
- 17″ FHD display with integrated Radeon™ graphics
- Speedy AMD® Ryzen™ processing
- Webcam privacy shutter
£349.99
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Part Number: 81W2008LUK
Processor: AMD Athlon™ Silver 3050U Processor [2 Cores / 2 Threads, 2.30 GHz, up to 3.20 GHz with Max Boost, 1 MB Cache L2 / 4 MB Cache L3]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S Mode 64
Memory: 4 GB Soldered DDR4 2400MHz
Storage: 128 GB M.2 2242 SSD
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IdeaPad 3i 17 - Arctic Grey
- 17" FHD display with narrow bezels
- 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors
- Webcam privacy shutter
£399.99
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Part Number: 82H900CQUK
Processor: Intel® Pentium® Gold 7505 Processor [2.00GHz up to 3.50 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S mode
Memory: 4 GB DDR4-3200 MHz [Soldered]
Storage: 128 GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe TLC
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IdeaPad 3i 17 - Abyss Blue
- 17" FHD display with optional NVIDIA® GeForce® graphics
- Speedy 10th Gen Intel® Core™ processing
- Webcam privacy shutter
£399.99
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Part Number: 81WC0089UK
Processor: Intel® Pentium® Gold 6405U Processor [2.4GHz 0]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S mode
Memory: 4 GB DDR4-2400 MHz [Soldered]
Storage: 128 GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe TLC
Warranty: 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
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IdeaPad 3i 17 - Abyss Blue
- 17" FHD display with narrow bezels
- 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors
- Webcam privacy shutter
£399.99
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Part Number: 82H9008JUK
Processor: Intel® Pentium® Gold 7505 Processor [2.00GHz up to 3.50 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S mode
Memory: 4 GB DDR4-3200 MHz [Soldered]
Storage: 128 GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe TLC
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IdeaPad 3i 17 - Abyss Blue
- 17" FHD display with narrow bezels
- 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors
- Webcam privacy shutter
£499.99 Save £100.00
£399.99
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Part Number: 82H9008KUK
Processor: 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-1115G4 Processor [3.00GHz up to 4.10 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S mode
Memory: 4 GB DDR4-3200 MHz [Soldered]
Storage: 128 GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe TLC
Operating System: undefined
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IdeaPad 3i 17 - Arctic Grey
- 17" FHD display with narrow bezels
- 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors
- Webcam privacy shutter
£499.99
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Part Number: 82H900CRUK
Processor: 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-1115G4 Processor [2 Cores / 4 Threads, 3.00 GHz, up to 4.10 GHz with Turbo Boost, 6 MB Cache]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S Mode 64
Memory: 4 GB Soldered DDR4 3200MHz
Storage: 256 GB M.2 2242 SSD
Operating System: undefined
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IdeaPad 3 17 - Abyss Blue
- 17" FHD display with ultra-thin bezels
- Unrelenting AMD Ryzen™ 5000 U-Series processors
- Life-improving smart features
£599.99
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Part Number: 82KV0047UK
Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 5 5500U Processor [6 Cores / 12 Threads, 2.10 GHz, up to 4.00 GHz with Max Boost, 3 MB Cache L2 / 8 MB Cache L3]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S Mode
Memory: 4 GB Soldered DDR4 3200MHz + 4 GB SO-DIMM DDR4 3200MHz
Storage: 256 GB M.2 2242 SSD
Operating System: undefined
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IdeaPad 3i 17 - Abyss Blue
- 17" FHD display with narrow bezels
- 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors
- Webcam privacy shutter
£599.99
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Part Number: 82H900BKUK
Processor: 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-1115G4 Processor [3.00GHz up to 4.10 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S mode
Memory: 4 GB DDR4-3200 MHz [Soldered]
Storage: 256 GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe TLC
Warranty: 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
Operating System: undefined
Pointing Device: undefined
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IdeaPad 3i 17 - Abyss Blue
- 17" FHD display with narrow bezels
- 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors
- Webcam privacy shutter
£649.99
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Part Number: 82H9008HUK
Processor: 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7 Processor [2.40GHz up to 4.20 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S mode
Memory: 4 GB DDR4-3200 MHz [SODIMM] + 4 GB DDR4-3200 MHz [Soldered]
Storage: 256 GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe TLC
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- 17" FHD display with narrow bezels
- 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors
- Webcam privacy shutter
£729.99
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Part Number: 82H9CTO1WWENGB0
Processor: 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7 Processor [2.40 GHz up to 4.20 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 11 Home 64
Memory: 4 GB DDR4-3200MHz [Soldered]
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- 17" FHD display with ultra-thin bezels
- Unrelenting AMD Ryzen™ 5000 U-Series processors
- Life-improving smart features
£759.99
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Part Number: 82KVCTO1WWENGB0
Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 7 5700U Processor [1.80 GHz up to 4.30 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 11 Home 64
Memory: 4 GB DDR4-3200MHz [Soldered] + 4 GB DDR4-3200MHz [SoDIMM]
Storage: 256 GB M.2 2242 SSD
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Legion 5i 17 - Phantom Black
- Top line 10th Gen Intel® Core™ processors & NVIDIA® graphics
- Up to 17.3" FHD display with Dolby Vision™
- Cutting-edge Coldfront 2.0 cooling system
£999.99 Save £130.00
£869.99
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Part Number: 82B3002QUK
Processor: 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-10300H Processor [4 Cores / 8 Threads, 2.50 GHz, up to 4.50 GHz, 8 MB Cache]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64
Memory: 8 GB SO-DIMM DDR4 2933MHz
Storage: 512 GB M.2 2242 SSD
Operating System: undefined
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- Intel®-powered 17" SMB laptop
- Massive display & numeric keypad
- Versatile & secure
£960.00
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Part Number: 82NX005SUK
Processor: 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 Processor [2.8 GHz up to 4.70 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64
Memory: 8 GB DDR4-3200 MHz [Soldered]
Storage: 512 GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe TLC
Warranty: 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
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Legion 5i 17 - Phantom Blue & Shadow Black
- 11th Gen Intel® Core™ H-Series processors
- 17.3″ FHD display with fast refresh rates
- NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 30 series laptop GPUs
£1,099.99 Save £110.00
£989.99
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Part Number: 82JN002HUK
Processor: 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-11400H Processor [2.70 GHz up to 4.50 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 11 Home 64
Memory: 16 GB SO-DIMM DDR4 3200MHz
Storage: 512 GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe TLC
Warranty: 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
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Legion 5 17- Phantom Blue
- AMD Ryzen™ fueled gaming machine
- Spacious 17.3" FHD display
- Nahimic 3D audio brings pinpoint accuracy
£1,099.99 Save £110.00
£989.99
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Part Number: 82K0008QUK
Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600H Processor [3.3 GHz up to 4.20 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 11 Home 64
Memory: 16 GB DDR4-3200 MHz [SODIMM]
Storage: 512 GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe Gen3 TLC
Warranty: 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
Operating System: undefined
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Legion 5 17 - Phantom Black
- Powerful AMD Ryzen™ Mobile Processor
- NVIDA® GeForce RTX™ graphics options
- Massive 17.3” display
£1,199.99 Save £200.00
£999.99
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Part Number: 82GN001MUK
Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 7 4800H Processor [2.9GHz up to 4.20 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64
Memory: 16 GB DDR4-3200 MHz [SODIMM]
Storage: 1 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe TLC
Warranty: 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
Operating System: undefined
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Legion 5i 17 - Phantom Black
- Top line 10th Gen Intel® Core™ processors & NVIDIA® graphics
- Up to 17.3" FHD display with Dolby Vision™
- Cutting-edge Coldfront 2.0 cooling system
£999.99
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Part Number: 82B3006BUK
Processor: 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-10300H Processor [2.50GHz up to 4.50 GHz]
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64
Memory: 8 GB DDR4-2933 MHz [SODIMM]
Storage: 256 GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe TLC
Warranty: 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
Operating System: undefined
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Legion 5i 17 - Phantom Blue & Shadow Black
- 11th Gen Intel® Core™ H-Series processors
- 17.3″ FHD display with fast refresh rates
- NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 30 series laptop GPUs
£1,299.99 Save £200.00
£1,099.99
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Part Number: 82JM0030UK
Processor: 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-11400H Processor [2.70GHz up to 4.50 GHz]
Memory: 16 GB DDR4-3200 MHz [SODIMM]
Storage: 512 GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe TLC
Warranty: 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
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