No need for that. Other manufacturers make subnotebooks that have optical drives (and changeable batteries) yet weigh no more than the MBA, making Apple's compromises unnecessary to suffer.

The reason I insist that my subnotebook have an optical drive is that I once used a subnotebook without an optical drive and know from experience how irrititating it was to deal with that omission. I won't make that mistake again and I don't recommend that anyone purchase an MBA unless they know for sure that they can live with the limitations & workarounds.