With a hefty 34% discount, this plug-and-play CD/DVD drive with 5Gbps data transfers is an absolute steal on Amazon.

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.

It's true that most PCs sold today lack high-speed I/O ports, but that may not be the case much longer. Blazingly fast USB 2.0 interfaces, boasting throughput in the same class as FireWire, are poised ...