Consumers have demanded thin and light - and manufacturers have responded. Additionally, just about all the Windows PC makers are playing follow the (design) leader - Apple.
If you're looking for dual-drive (M.2 + 2.5") they do exist -- most gaming-class systems have the option.
The XPS 15 offers M.2 and a 2.5" bay as long as you get the version with the smaller battery. I think there are some 15"+ Inspiron and Latitude models where this is also the case, and there are definitely Precision models that will allow this even without having to use a smaller battery. But yes, Dell is responding to market demands. People who use multiple hard drives in laptops are a tiny minority. Increased use of cloud storage means some people don't even need as much local storage on their PCs anymore, and those who do are often willing to bite the bullet and buy a larger SSDs these days rather than using a small SSD for the OS and a large spinning drive for "bulk" data. Yes it's more expensive, but it means everything on your system is faster, you get longer battery life from not having a spinning platter, and your laptop is both thinner, lighter, and physically smaller from not having to have that extra 2.5" bay -- or that space is instead used for a larger battery, which of course means more battery life.
ejn63
9 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
0
September 26th, 2017 04:00
Consumers have demanded thin and light - and manufacturers have responded. Additionally, just about all the Windows PC makers are playing follow the (design) leader - Apple.
If you're looking for dual-drive (M.2 + 2.5") they do exist -- most gaming-class systems have the option.
jphughan
9 Legend
•
14K Posts
0
September 26th, 2017 09:00
The XPS 15 offers M.2 and a 2.5" bay as long as you get the version with the smaller battery. I think there are some 15"+ Inspiron and Latitude models where this is also the case, and there are definitely Precision models that will allow this even without having to use a smaller battery. But yes, Dell is responding to market demands. People who use multiple hard drives in laptops are a tiny minority. Increased use of cloud storage means some people don't even need as much local storage on their PCs anymore, and those who do are often willing to bite the bullet and buy a larger SSDs these days rather than using a small SSD for the OS and a large spinning drive for "bulk" data. Yes it's more expensive, but it means everything on your system is faster, you get longer battery life from not having a spinning platter, and your laptop is both thinner, lighter, and physically smaller from not having to have that extra 2.5" bay -- or that space is instead used for a larger battery, which of course means more battery life.