And that's good for you. I could have bought a PC with a DVD burner 3.5 years ago as well. Your powerbook would have had the advantage of being easier to use. My PC would have the advantage of being cheaper. The debate over which is more important will not be solved between the two of us, but the point was that I had the option of NOT getting that stuff if I didn't want to. You did not.
3.5 years ago I didn't need or want a DVD burner. In fact I've never needed or wanted one until recently. So now, for 80 bucks I have a much faster and higher capacity one than I could have had years ago. I'm happy and you are happy.
I'm glad that you are glad. But I got my PC 5 years ago and didn't need any two other computers (or any other computers) in between.
I'm not a laptop guy so I'm talking about desktops, not laptops. The advances in laptops over the past 5 years are much greater than those in desktops. Perhaps we are comparing (forgive the expression) Apples and Oranges.