Well , optical media is being phased out in favor of online distribution and rewritable media such as flash drives . I ' m unsure as to why someone would want one nowadays if it ' s a must , you can get an external one for cheap . I think the best laptop for you , aside from the optical drive , is this one an external drive can be purchased here Sorry to hear about your employer , I feel your pain . <| sep |> Yeah but I take those with a grain of salt also it ' s Black Friday so everything ' s cheaper I always can buy it when it comes out tbh <| sep |> Honestly i couldn ' t tell you why 144 hz . I see a lot of people IRL as well as online with 144 hz and they say its crazy good . Compared to 60 hz anyway which is what I ' m gaming on now .