PCs Shed Pounds And CD Drives, Gain Touch Screens

JESSICA MINTZ

SEATTLE (AP) — Personal computers are changing — and not just because of the recent launch of Windows 7. Visit an electronics store and you might also find laptops are missing a familiar component. You could experiment with new ways of controlling some computers. And you'll see portable PCs slimming down.

Even with all the attention lavished on Apple's iPhone and Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle this year, your PC likely is still the center of your digital universe. Here's a look at what the season's computer trends mean for you.

— We're over drives.

Computers have come with "optical drives," slots for CDs or DVDs, for years. They've been useful for installing new software, watching movies or transferring music libraries into digital form. But one of the biggest lessons from the craze for "netbooks" — inexpensive little laptops designed mainly for browsing the Web — is that people were so excited about the small, easy-to-carry size that they didn't miss having a CD or DVD drive.

Apple Inc. got rid of an optical drive two years ago when it introduced the first sliver-thin MacBook Air. That wasn't seen as a trendsetting step at the time because the computer, which cost $1,800 then, wasn't meant for mainstream consumption. But netbooks, which start at $250 on BestBuy.com, surely are made for everyone. The wee laptops' popularity is proof that people are finding it easy enough to download software, movies and music to portable computers, especially with the widespread availability of Wi-Fi and cellular Internet service. And plenty of services let you store files over the Internet, eliminating the need to burn backups to discs.