Re: optical drive.
Unlikely. Probably will use USB or Firewire to connect to an external. Or, who knows, maybe WIFI(n) transfers to and from your home computer. You really don’t need every application on your Mac ThinBook (I just coined that name today, catchy, ain’t it?)
Not sure WiFi would be fast enough for most optical transfers. Firewire would be good.
I like MacThinBook.