This Thin Madness

I really don't understand the 'thin' and 'ultra-thin' craze for notebooks - and it's all Intel's fault - at least for now. If the objective for the 'thin' craze is weight - i.e., the thinner it is, the lighter the resulting notebook, then it is understandable although there are other ways of reducing weight. If the objective is purely aesthetics, then I think the whole thing is crazy. As a direct result of the notebook being very thin, the number of ports (USB or otherwise) tends towards zero; plus the disappearance of the optical drive. Personally, I object to this - so, I will not even consider purchasing an 'ultra-book' (as Intel terms it). I would rather spend my money on a laptop with as many port as possible and with an optical reader/writer built-in.