Volume control obsolete?

For some reason the gaming computers these days find it useless to have physical volume control with quick access on the side of laptops like they used to have..? Example: My mom bought a new Toshiba computer from Best Buy the other day. The ONLY volume control that's physically able to be manipulated is a VERY annoying pressure sensitive on that beeps according to the level of volume. I've seen this on a lot of the Toshiba models lately. Then on an Asus computer I had seen in Best Buy, the description says it has "Two discrete ons for volume control." Since when does volume control need to be discrete? It's one of the most important parts of a gaming computer! Can anyone tell me why they found it necessary to completely remove a rotating volume control dial for some annoying ons, or some "discrete" ons?