Why are we still using discs instead of cartridges?

[Nem]

nitus10 said:

Nem said:
I confess, i do think they are the future. Disc drives just can't keep up with the rate ofdata transfer and go pretty much unused on the ps4 and x1. Everything gets put in the HDD. I would like to see cartridges make a return, because it would make games perform better.
Also, disc drives have always been easy to malfunction/deteriorate. It also results in a cooler and sturdier system.

So, the only question is: will the costs finally allow it?

Cartridges are not the future especially if you consider Digital Downloads and installing off media to internal storage.

Hard Disk Drives (HDD's) are prone to malfunction and are susceptible to shock (ie. dropping) however, you can replace these with Solid State Disks (SSD's) although at the moment the cost can be quite expensive but they are dropping in price.

What is important to realise here, is  cartridges  as well as SSD's are reasonably shock resistant and draw only a small amount of power, however even HDD's don't draw all that much power (my PC's 3TB 3.5" HDD draws less than 8W). The main power hog of any PC and consoles are a dedicated PC is a combination of CPU, Memory and Graphics card  and depending on the graphics card this can draw two to ten time or more power than the CPU and all this power in the form of heat has to be removed otherwise the system will burn out, hence a decent and usually bulky cooling system is required.

As for loading times, a solid state device will load much faster than a hard disk however once the program is in memory the performance of the storage media is really not important.

I'm sorry, but you are making a case that solid state drives are better, but those aren't discs. VS discs its obvious that cartdridges are looking better.

Also, these theories always assume everyone has an awesome internet connection everywhere and yes, theres the costs to consider. SSHD are pricy.

Costs are the most important factor in all of this.