Bolt II Slot Loading Drive

You'd have to ask them, or see if Alex or Nav drop by.   From a previous conversation , a case change might be in the works but no official mention on the forums.   The specs still mention slot loading but not the configurator.

Hi Alex, on this thread, another member mentioned they had be talking with one of you at DS and that the chassis height has been increased by 1.75" and can now accommodate taller graphics cards...is this true?

Thanks for the confirmation, Alex.

I think another design route could have been with going with the integrated slot in the cover.  The faceplate on the ODD was really the only tricky part of removing and installing the ODD; it is very thin and felt like it could break at a number of points.  If the slot was integrated into the chassis, you could just do without the plastic one that comes with the drive and simply install it sans faceplate and it would be much easier.

While a lot of people feel they can have everything they want without an ODD, currently, in the future, that may not be the case.  The reason why 4K (really, UHD) streaming content is only available over dedicated devices is because of how vulnerable files are on a computer.  It may be that the only way to get that content on a computer is through an optical disk (most likely a BD-XL disk).  It may piss people off, but the entertainment industry is trying to make it difficult for piracy (can't blame them), and this is the direction they've chosen.