Stupid Question but is disc drive needed?

Looking at buying a new laptop, but so many of them do not have a disc drive... I know with downloading a disc is not actually used but do not know enough about computers to know if it still needs to be there for proper installation 

phflyer8784 wrote:Looking at buying a new laptop, but so many of them do not have a disc drive... I know with downloading a disc is not actually used but do not know enough about computers to know if it still needs to be there for proper installation 

Hello,

You don't need an "optical" (CD/DVD/whatever disc)-drive for installing a DRM-free version of The Sims. Pretty much any Sims game, for that matter. Just download the setup files, and follow the included instructions.

As a sidenote, discs of game installers are still sold today in some retailers. But usually, they contain a serial number, from which you then have to download the game yourself on Steam/Origin/etc. You can use the provided disc for installing part of the game, after which it will most likely have to be updated anyhow (through Steam/Origin). But that's about the only use for these discs.