A:Answer BarbAnn, like you, I'd been looking for a laptop that still has an optical drive (the CD/DVD player). The other day (May 2019) I took notes on 4 laptops that have it. Basically, not many do any more, but there are some. None of the 14" laptops seem to have it. But these 15.6" laptops do:
Acer Aspire E 15, model # E5-576-392H (there are other Acer Aspire E 15s that do NOT have it, so make sure you see it in the specs). Retails $379.
Acer Aspire E 15, model #E5-576G-5762. Core i5 processor, 8GB memory. Retails $500-$600 range.
HP Notebook with AMD processor, 4GB of memory, retails $259 (the most affordable option I found with optical drive). (Did not write down model #).
HP Notebook Touch Screen with Core i3 processor and 8GB of memory, retails around $600 (did not write down model #).
One thing I learned is that people get around the lack of optical drives these days with an external DVD drive - something you buy separately and just plug in to the laptop when you need it. The best rated one I saw was called ASUS ZenDrive 07M, and it retails for around $30. When I realized that, I decided I'd rather have a smaller laptop, and will just buy the external DVD drive separately. Hope this helps a little!
