4607 has its own computer!

[Ginger Power]

Our 2015 driver (going to be a junior) has started his own line of computers and computer accessories! He's named his first product, the L4607, after our team check it out!

[seg9585]

Just curious -- when assembling this build, what trade off led to the design decision not to include an optical disk drive? Many small laptops removed them to make the profile of the computer smaller, but these builds usually just sit under a desk.
Seeing that a significant amount of software is still distributed on disk, it seems an optical drive would still be value added. People who buy ready-built desktop computers (rather than build their own) are typically novices who don't want to open up their computers and install new components. Seeing that you're bundling Windows 8, the novice computer user is your target consumer. Optical drives are very cheap so I can't imagine cost was a factor.

[ultimate360]

Originally Posted by seg9585

Just curious -- when assembling this build, what trade off led to the design decision not to include an optical disk drive? Many small laptops removed them to make the profile of the computer smaller, but these builds usually just sit under a desk.
Seeing that a significant amount of software is still distributed on disk, it seems an optical drive would still be value added. People who buy ready-built desktop computers (rather than build their own) are typically novices who don't want to open up their computers and install new components. Seeing that you're bundling Windows 8, the novice computer user is your target consumer. Optical drives are very cheap so I can't imagine cost was a factor.

We thought about that for a while, and just decided to leave it out. The reason we came to that decision is because most modern software is available online, and for the software that is on disk you can simply use the activation/product key from the disk package or an online source, and then download the ISO file for the disk itself which is typically easy to obtain from a google search. Once you have the ISO file of the disk, Windows allows you to right-click, and then select "mount" which makes windows treat the file as if it's in a optical drive and it will appear and load as normal. But that is for if you really need to use the disk and can't find a downloadable installer.

We realize the optical drive may be a useful feature, and we know they are inexpensive, but it's one less thing that would have to sit in the computer and rarely be necessary. It's not very often anymore that disks are really used with a PC unless you like to run DVDs on your PC. That's our reason behind it, and we also offer directions for the novice user to know how to either use the ISO file alternative to the disk, or even install their own optical drive with ease and we offer this info in the quick start guide in the product box.

The other thing that's nice and is the most commonly used, is that in most cases you can simply ignore the disk and get the online downloadable version of the software instead, which the majority of software developers offer. In short, we saw the optical drive as not being a really necessary component for a 2015 PC with the internet becoming a great place to locate software and drivers on the websites of their creators.

[connor.worley]

Would a discount be possible for FRC teams...?

[Ether]

Originally Posted by ultimate360

1) most modern software is available online... download the ISO file for the disk

2) sit in the computer and rarely be necessary

3) It's not very often anymore that disks are really used with a PC

4) unless you like to run DVDs on your PC

1) assumes all your potential customers have convenient access to very hi speed unlimited data plans

2) I guess I'm an old-timer. I use optical disks all the time: a) to create videos and photo albums to mail to non-computer-literate friends and family to play on their DVD player; b) to create various boot disks for system troubleshooting; c) to install older software; d) to install newer software on machines in locations without internet access

3) is this based on your personal usage pattern, or did you do some market research?

4) it looks like the L4607 is tricked up for video editing. It stands to reason that a non-trivial portion of your potential customer base is going to want to burn video DVDs.

Just food for thought.

[evanperryg]

I like how we're all acting like this is a robot in need of analysis. Cool project, great outreach opportunity!!

[thatprogrammer]

Originally Posted by Ether

3) is this based on your personal usage pattern, or did you do some market research?



Just food for thought.

Many new cases don't include slots to have these drives, and many many experts I've talked to *people who run tech companies* have said that most clients no longer need or ask for dvd drives in builds.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by thatprogrammer

*people who run tech companies* have said that most clients no longer need or ask for dvd drives in builds.

I don't see L4607 being purchased in large quantities by tech companies or their clients. Target audience is probably largely unaffiliated users.

[ultimate360]

Well, I appreciate the feedback I'm getting here. Seeing that some of you really believe in having a optical drive in your system (really depends on what you use it for), I will be adding a customization option on the website where you can choose to add a drive or not, and choose to add more ram, different processor, ect... But the model on Amazon will remain in there and it will be the base model of the L4607. I appreciate this feedback, I will add the customization options for your satisfaction.

As for a FRC discount, i'm sure that can be arranged

[AlexanderTheOK]

Yeah I hate to beat a dead horse, but I have one in my laptop and I wouldn't give it up for a day even with my 60mbps down. The few of my friends with computers that don't have optical disk drives all bought external usb disk drives.

[ultimate360]

Originally Posted by AlexanderTheOK

Yeah I hate to beat a dead horse, but I have one in my laptop and I wouldn't give it up for a day even with my 60mbps down. The few of my friends with computers that don't have optical disk drives all bought external usb disk drives.

Thanks for the feedback, it's things like this that build a company. I will state that my source for the info regarding that disk drives are not used as much anymore is from local experience with clients. Very few people wanted a disk drive, and many folks had dead drives that they didn't want repaired from systems that they had me repair for them. I've been at this for about 4 years now and that's where I have collected my stats.

[Aren Siekmeier]

Originally Posted by AlexanderTheOK

Yeah I hate to beat a dead horse, but I have one in my laptop and I wouldn't give it up for a day even with my 60mbps down. The few of my friends with computers that don't have optical disk drives all bought external usb disk drives.

I had one in my laptop, but just removed it because I never use it and the driver kept spinning it up for no reason. Marginally reduces weight too

But I do have some boot discs that I might need to use at some point, so I'll be popping the drive back in for that. Easier than making a bootable USB. Not sure if my mobo is new enough for that anyway.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Ether

2) I guess I'm an old-timer. I use optical disks all the time

Can confirm. Optical disks make you an old-timer.

That and your rookie year.

[Lil' Lavery]

They are hardly alone in eliminating optical drives from tower computers. There are plenty of other models that have done the same.

Nor is this the only computer on the market. They aren't trying to appeal to everyone.

[seg9585]

As the original requester, this thread is making me feel old now, ugh. Waiting for a "senior" mentor to come in and request a floppy drive just so I feel a bit younger. Long live the days of VCDs and Divx, and those amazing Black Friday sales of 50-packs of CD-R's for $15 after mail-in rebate.

Another comment though if I may: I'm surprised to see a modern build optimized for video editing with no eSATA ports. Ever since the death of Firewire I've used eSATA extensively.