Totally random computer hardware question

askywalker98

Well-Known Hunter
Hey everyone, I can't think of how to search for this online, and I know there is quite a variety of people on this board.

I have a laptop, and I never use the DVD Drive. I know the drive is basically the same as one in a desktop. My question is, is there anything out there that I can buy that replaces the DVD drive with something else, such as say, more USB ports?

I'm not entirely sure if this is possible and it's hard to search for it without getting guides to replace a DVD drive tutorial.

Thanks everyone!
 
Up to about 3 years ago, they used to make swapable optical/floppy drives in laptops.

I've never seen the ability to swap out for more USP ports. Your best bet there is buying a powered USB hub and using that if you need more ports.
 
I think if it actually is more USB ports you are looking for that you can buy some kind of device that hooks to a computer through a USB port that you can then hook about 4 more USB devices to through the ports on the device.

EDIT:
NovallTalon beat me to it. That is exactly what I was referring to is a USB hub.
 
You can get a 7 port, USB hub(3.8A) from STAPLES for like $20. It comes with it's own DC power supply too.
 
Yep, USB hub as mentioned above. If you have a laptop with a hotswap bay, you can put all sorts of stuff there. I had an Inspiron a machine ago, that I had a floppy, dvd rom, battery, and extra hard drive I could swap in there. As stated before, never seen an ability to hotswap extra USB ports
 
Well thanks for all the responses. I'm just using USB ports as an example, but I was just wondering if there were any cool things anyone had heard of to put in the drive. I'd love to throw more battery life in the place of the DVD Drive, or another Hard Drive. I can see the Hard Drive happening before a Battery though.
 
I don't think you can swap out the DVD drive, but I wouldn't do it even if you could. Knowing that you can use it for bootable disks in case of a system crash or reconfig, the moment you would take that away you would probably need it... or at least, that is how computers work ;)
 
Alright everyone, thanks for the tips! I'll probably just leave it as-is. Adding another hard drive in there sure wouldn't help battery life!
 
ya pretty much what was said above. I will say though, that you just don't have the same customability options with your laptop as you would with your desktop, so I would just leave as is. Especially since you will need your DVD drive at some point.
 
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