It was a last minute Christmas gift for a friend's young daughter that I bought on his behalf with his money. I bought a Toshiba Satellite C50-B03E 15.6" Laptop aka PSCMLA-03E07Q from Officeworks http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/toshiba-satel… believing that it had a CD ROM drive since it had the 'look' of one. My friend has since told me that it doesn't. I haven't had the opportunity to look at the laptop but I assume that there is an empty spot internally for the drive. Can anyone verify this? If so, what internal drive can I purchase that would be compatible. I do not want an external drive at this stage. Grateful for any help.
Accidentally bought a laptop without a CD ROM drive
EmCKay on 05/01/2015 - 20:41
Comments
Unfortunately there is no optical (CD/DVD) drive with this one. You can see some more specs and pictures confirming this here.
External is the only option I would say.
Might sound stupid but it has the little door and it looks like it has space behind it.
I have to apologise, I thought it simply didn't have space and ports for CD ROMs.
If it is similar to C50-A, it looks like it might support 12.7mm optical drives.
You can see them taking out the cover thing here in this youtube video for C50-A.
I'd check with someone who can open the laptop and check though, because I actually don't know what your laptop looks like exactly, and it is possible that your laptop model doesn't support it.I should've emphasised more, but check the motherboard first :S It is plausible that the motherboard doesn't have the port, like what Davo1111 said.
exactly. My older Toshiba had space for two hard drives, in fact some models came with two drives. Mine didnt and did not have the port on the mother board to be able to plug one in.
Just tried to search and cant find anything i looked at pictured on toshibas website and id say it would bit i can say for certain without looking at it myself.
I found Nd ebay listing which lists a optical drive in its specs idk is its a mistake or they added one. Here the link http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Toshiba-Satellite-C50-B03E-Intel-…
only high end business laptops (lenovo) will have a removable cd drive - swappable with a battery/additional hard drive etc.
Most likely the laptop shell was used with a similar model that has a drive. Quite likely the components are not on the motherboard, even if there was a hole.
Buy a USB DVD drive, they're like $20. Or spend a bit more and buy a slim usb drive. They're basically a laptop drive in a plastic case.
Is this what it looks like?
http://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/hnausfp/5/images/thum…
If so, you should take it back for a refund on the basis of deceptive practices.
If you didn't ask specifically or indicated your purpose when you bought it or was told otherwise, it's not deceptive. You can't just assume things based on look or brand.
If you buy a PC with what looks like a CD drive on the side, and it turns out that its just a fake door + button, you could argue it is misleading.
In fact that's exactly what happened to the OP - he was misled by the "look" of the drive.
How far would your logic go:
- what if the PC had 4 USB slots but none of them were live?
- what if they were labelled "USB" but in the brochure it explained that USB means "unavailable slot bus"?
- what if there was a trackpad shape below the keyboard, but it was just a moulding, and you had to buy a mouse?Isn't that why the specs are always clearly listed with products like these…? You don't just go browsing a store for a computer and buy whatever based on how it looks.
You read the specs. No?
Of course I read the specs.
But that doesn't mean its not deceptive to engineer a CD drive door and button, but not include the CD drive.
@mrmarkau67:
It's worth trying at least if you want to return it, maybe if your willing to swap/pay a bit more for one with a cd drive they might be more open to you doing so.
On the Toshiba website the specs don't include an optical drive. On the same website they are selling an external optical drive for this laptop as an accessory - which leads me to think that an internal fit may not be possible due to the limitations AznMitch and Davo have pointed out.
As suggested above, if a DVD drive is absolutely required then your best/cheapest option is a USB burner which can be had for around $30.
MSY appear to stock two models within this price point:
http://www.msy.com.au/nsw/ultimo/pc-components/9863-samsung-…
http://www.msy.com.au/nsw/ultimo/pc-components/9788-lg-exter…I'll ask the question no one has, why would anyone in 2015 want an optical drive?
Some things come only in CDs.
That being said, I think my CD/DVD ROM is collecting dust.
yep pretty much
i think i last used a cdrom to install XP on a laptop i bought in 2005!
I think I used mine once when I was installing drivers for my USB wifi modem.
They shouldn't!
It still is cheaper options out there for distributing drivers and stuff. I had no access to the wired internet, and CDs worked to my benefits.
For kids to watch DVDs.
To watch dvds/blu ray?
How can you install windows otherwise? (non troliing question)I still backup my stuff on dvds cos:
A. I have used hard drives to backup before, until one day it died. Lost all my work :(. I still use a hard drive now, but backup on dvds just incase.
B. I've got a lot of blank dvds
How can you install windows otherwise? (non troliing question)
You can install windows from a usb.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/a/install-windows-7-u…To add to this point, digital distribution of Windows 8 gives you two options, either get ISO files or burn Windows 8 installation files straight to USB. I was actually surprised that Windows 8 digital distribution didn't have the option to burn the files straight away to DVDs.
It probably has a cassette tape instead of a cd-rom. Or maybe a 5 1/4 floppy drive. Brrrrrp.
I have the same laptop and can confirm it is a dummy CD drive installed on the laptop. But it has a slot on motherboard so you can install a real CD/DVD drive into it. Though I'm not sure which particular model will fit in that.
Thanks so much everyone! So appreciative.
You should have just bought a custom Clevo from Affordable Laptops or a custom Lenovo. That is one rubbish laptop though, its nothing but a beefed up tablet - slow CPU, only 2GB RAM (phones have more), slow 5400RPM HDD, and only a single USB 3. Bleh.
Please send the OP a Affordable Laptops giftcard to the value of $600 and then you have a good point.
Agreed!!!
Did you return it on the basis of being misled by a fake CD drive cover?
@mrmarkau67: mislead? lol
It doesn't say CD drive at all, or have the button… it's just a blank panel.
Is that what it looks like?
http://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/hnausfp/5/images/thum…
It sure looks like a laptop with a CD drive to me.
Dude thats not even a photo provided/displayed on OW webpage, you can't just throw in a random photo and accuse them of being misleading. The photo you link does look like it has a CD drive, but thats not advertised on OW's website, thus your link and reference is irrelevant.
$600 for that piece of trash? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
He would have paid around $300 for the Toshiba. I was assuming Clevos start at $900, so you'd need to give him $600 so he can afford a Clevo.
Don't be rude to people who want to spend less money on a PC than you think they ought to.
What your PC is doesn't determine what you do with it. If I don't need to play games on the go, I'd rather buy a laptop that doesn't weight tonnes or buy something cheap.
I have since discovered that some of them have CD drives and some don't. Same model, same everything just luck of the draw as to whether you got the older stock with the drive or the one without. I saw the display laptop at OW Parramatta which has a drive (I went and checked) but they didn't have any so rang Castle Hill OW to put one aside for me. I didn't realise that there could even be a slight possibility that it didn't have a drive so of course I didn't check. Yep, feeling a bit silly but if I can get the computer back off my friend's 11 year old daughter I intend to take it up with OW management. I know, I know, good luck to me!
PS Did you notice that, ethereal88? The recipient was an 11 year old girl. No need to spend heaps on what will be used to gather information for classwork and as a glorified portable DVD player (but I stuffed that one up)Thanks for your judgement though!
What does the side look like?
I don't think you can.
1. I don't think this laptop has more than 1 SATA port
2. Even if it did, I assume that it doesn't have a room for the CD ROM door.
Though, I'd be happy to be proven wrong.