Sorry, I disagree. Every time you touch your computer you will use the keyboard. Just participating in forums like I'm doing now would be nearly impossible with just a touchscreen. Same goes for long emails. I haven't done any surveys, but I'm certain that for the average user (ie, NOT a video or music pro), the optical drive gets little if any use on a daily basis. Apple is moving us AWAY from optical media (iTunes store, streaming, etc), and although we are a long way from that, it's a start. They'll need to offer an external option (or include it), but for the average user (and especially road-warriors), the optical would be the first thing to chuck from a light laptop. Get a USB drive for backups.