Why doesn't Apple build a 13" MBP without the optical drive?

[macbook123]

It seems that simply omitting the optical drive would allow them to make it thinner and lighter. I'm getting a little tired of all the threads whining that the MBA isn't up to specs with the MBP, or that the MBP is too heavy. Why can't Apple simply satisfy both kinds of customers?

[Cassie]

A "Pro" machine without an optical drive is ridiculous. There's more people who need that drive, then people who complain about it.

[nuckinfutz]

I rarely use my optical drive.

It's a waste of space in laptops. An external drive would allow you to install the apps you need, rip the CD and backup to CD/DVD recordable but it simply doesn't need to be in a notebook full time taking up space.

iMagine a Macbook Pro 13" with discrete graphics, ExpressCard and two SATA 2.5" drive bays!

Your flexibility would be great. Want data redundancy? Run two drives in RAID 1.

Want tiered storage? Buy a SSD for your boot drive and a HDD for your larger storage.

Want external RAID eSATA ExpressCard.

But no..instead you have some 5" relic that is slower than molasses in winter taking up precious internal space. Pffffffffffffft

Optical drives are the new floppy. Make'em external and take the $60 cost and apply that towards better GPU or another drive bay and expansion slot.

This isn't rocket science.

[dejo]

They do. It's called a MacBook Air, I believe. :)

[macbook123]

A "Pro" machine without an optical drive is ridiculous. There's more people who need that drive, then people who complain about it.

I professionally use my laptop 12 hours a day and have never used my optical drive. I bet many people on this MBA forum do the same. Hence your assumption is false.

[macbook123]

They do. It's called a MacBook Air, I believe. :)

No, the MBA has less RAM, hard drive options (i.e. no 256 SSD) shorter battery life, and other shortcomings.

[nuckinfutz]

They do. It's called a MacBook Air, I believe. :)

conceptually different computers. The MBA isn't just about getting rid of the optical drive but it doesn't have networking ports either.

[jessica.]

A "Pro" machine without an optical drive is ridiculous. There's more people who need that drive, then people who complain about it.

I professionally use my laptop 12 hours a day and have never used my optical drive. I bet many people on this MBA forum do the same. Hence your assumption is false.

Correct. Those who know they can live without an optical drive attached to their machine 100% of the time know that the Air is for them. I think what the OP wants is the MBP (13") without the optical drive and let it be called the new Air.

I like the lack of ports on my Air and the form factor. I bought it to be almost forced to be truly mobile with it and I am indeed truly mobile with it. Rarely do you see me attaching my superdrive accessory add-on or anything else to it for but the power cable. It is great for long flights to and from CA and the likes.

I wouldn't mind trading the Air for a new 13" MB though but there is something about the design of the Air that appeals to me.

[mac jones]

"Air"

[liamwillib]

I'm all for ditching the optical drive in favour of other functionality like additional space.
However (as always) I thinks its too much of a niche/specialist wish at the moment and in too much of a limbo between the air and an optical drive macbook. I don't think the average 'non macrumors' consumer would understand or welcome it. Until then its optibay for the extra space/raid. Shame there's no way to swap the drive for discreet graphics for the 13" macbook.

[Balthezor]

I professionally use my laptop 12 hours a day and have never used my optical drive. I bet many people on this MBA forum do the same. Hence your assumption is false.

How is his assumption false when your just "betting" that your correct? And are all Mac owners members of this forums?

If you don't use your optical drive, it doesn't mean everyone else is the same as you.

Your assumption is not only false, but meaningless.

[nuckinfutz]

How is his assumption false when your just "betting" that your correct? And are all Mac owners members of this forums?

If you don't use your optical drive, it doesn't mean everyone else is the same as you.

Your assumption is not only false, but meaningless.

I think assumptions are neither true nor false. Without having any substantive data about how many consumers use their optical drive and how many Pro use their optical drive there really isn't much to go on.

The MBA does point to a future where the optical drive is optional. I'd invite discourse from many on how and how many times they use their optical drive. My own personal experience is :

1. I rip my CD and then listen to the digital file.
2. I rarely backup to CD anymore once USB Flash went above 4GB (faster and easier)
3. Much of the software I install can easily be downloaded and activated via a license key.

Digital files are a more green solution. I'm looking to eradicate polycarbonate discs as storage. Don't we have enough in landfills across the globe?

Optical drives take up a huge amount of storage. If many of us are not using them often enough Apple should consider making them optional for notebooks.

The MBA is a step in this direction but it also reduces port count and what a ideal (IMO) MBP does is maintain the port count and in fact increase it.

[cube]

You don't need to cripple a computer to make it thin and light. Just look at the Toshiba R600. 1.1 Kg and it also has ExpressCard (which subsumes FireWire).

[IgnatiusTheKing]

They do. It's called a MacBook Air, I believe. :)

In the words of Simon Williamson, "Beautifully ******** illustrated."

[andiwm2003]

I rarely use my optical drive.

It's a waste of space in laptops. An external drive would allow you to install the apps you need, rip the CD and backup to CD/DVD recordable but it simply doesn't need to be in a notebook full time taking up space.

iMagine a Macbook Pro 13" with discrete graphics, ExpressCard and two SATA 2.5" drive bays!

Your flexibility would be great. Want data redundancy? Run two drives in RAID 1.

Want tiered storage? Buy a SSD for your boot drive and a HDD for your larger storage.

Want external RAID eSATA ExpressCard.

But no..instead you have some 5" relic that is slower than molasses in winter taking up precious internal space. Pffffffffffffft

Optical drives are the new floppy. Make'em external and take the $60 cost and apply that towards better GPU or another drive bay and expansion slot.

This isn't rocket science.

i'm sure the 13"MBP will lose the optical drive within the next 12 month. That is the reason we get SD card slots now. Apple will sell OS X on SD cards starting in a year and then slowly phase out the DVD.

I'm not sure that you get two drive bays or an express card slot though. i also don't expect a discrete GPU. nvidea will double the speed of their 9400 and apple will go with that.

There will be a 8-10hr battery life and a OLED display and USB3 and maybe 4G/wimax buildt in.

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Apple will sell OS X on SD cards starting in a year and then slowly phase out the DVD.

Not buying it.

[qubex]

The optical drive is an archaic piece of legacy hardware that could be easily dispensed with. I've never used mine. It seems a total waste of space and mass to be dragging around a large device that never gets used.

I'd be in favour of the DVD Superdrive disappearing but that won't happen. Anytime soon we'll be awash in Apple-borne BluRay hype and the friendly slotloader will become a new hot item.

Apple's well aware that the optical disk is a dying technology: not only did they exclude it from the Air but they also didn't build a DVD drive into the AppleTV where it might've been more obviously useful. I think it's a case of Apple (quite correctly) not trusting the consumer to know what's good for them. Everybody wants a disk drive because everybody has a disk drive. Everybody exchanges files by solid-state USB drives but films and software still come on disks. Until this abates the wide majority will still reflexively recoil from a device that lacks an optical disk drive - indeed they'll complain it's a cynical move to force them into buying an external unit at additional cost.

[nick9191]

Open up your MBP, take out the SuperDrive. AFAIK, the whole lot is user serviceable, it wont void warranty.

[Tilpots]

Good Luck upgrading to Snow Leopard without an optical drive.


EDIT-

Well here's something new... (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7763649#post7763649)

New MacBook Pro can boot off SD card

Wow, that might come in handy as an emergency boot solution... takes less space than a disc. Or simply clone your OSX install DVD onto an SDHC card and carry it around.

Could this be the beginning of Apple slowly phasing out the DISC (CD or DVD), just as they phased out the floppy disc with the first iMac? Imagine how slim and light a MacBook Pro could get if it didn't include the SuperDrive. Yes, a bit like the Air...

[nuckinfutz]

Good Luck upgrading to Snow Leopard without an optical drive.

No one's saying that having an optical drive around isn't necessary the question is:

"Do I need an optical drive in every computer?" wouldn't a single external USB drive allow me to install CD/DVD based program an all my computers?

Doesn't a network afford me the benefit of device sharing?

How is it that we have access to such fantastic technology yet we as computing users are still blind to the benefits of a network and device sharing and new methods for distribution (digital)

How have we become so "dumbed down?"

[dejo]

Doesn't a network afford me the benefit of device sharing?
As long as that network is not a wireless one, perhaps. Otherwise, still too slow.

[aleksandra.]

i'm sure the 13"MBP will lose the optical drive within the next 12 month. That is the reason we get SD card slots now. Apple will sell OS X on SD cards starting in a year and then slowly phase out the DVD.

I'm not sure that you get two drive bays or an express card slot though. i also don't expect a discrete GPU. nvidea will double the speed of their 9400 and apple will go with that.

There will be a 8-10hr battery life and a OLED display and USB3 and maybe 4G/wimax buildt in.

1. Will they also attach an USB card reader for MBA and 17" MBP? Optical drives are popular enough for the lack of one to be circumvented by remote install, but it isn't really the case for SD readers.

2. What happened with Nehalem licensing battle (nVidia can't make chipsets for Core i7 yet, or did I miss something)?

3. I don't see 4G coming so soon. There's still no 3G in MacBooks.

[giorfa]

My bet is that the next gen MBP will have a tape recorder. A lot of customers have all their eighties tapes to rip into files and being Apple a nerd minded company born in the 80's, it won't disappoint us.
Believe me.

[IgnatiusTheKing]

The optical drive is an archaic piece of legacy hardware that could be easily dispensed with. I've never used mine. It seems a total waste of space and mass to be dragging around a large device that never gets used.

I use a Mac Pro in my professional life and burn CDs/DVDs every day. The world is not ready for an optical drive-free pro machine yet, whether its a desktop or a notebook.

[nuckinfutz]

I use a Mac Pro in my professional life and burn CDs/DVDs every day. The world is not ready for an optical drive-free pro machine yet, whether its a desktop or a notebook.

What has you burning CD/DVD every day? The needs of a desktop are different than that of a notebook. Many people prefer to carry around a lighter notebook but they still want battery life and a reasonable amount of connectivity.

[IgnatiusTheKing]

What has you burning CD/DVD every day?

I work at a professional live theatre production company, so I burn DVDs of TV commercials and video elements for shows, archives of artwork, music score CDs for cast members and many other things.

The needs of a desktop are different than that of a notebook. Many people prefer to carry around a lighter notebook but they still want battery life and a reasonable amount of connectivity.

For some the needs are different, but for professionals who need the power and portability of something like a MacBook Pro, they may often find themselves in need of an optical drive.

[Mactagonist]

I replaced the Superdrive in my MBP with an additional hard drive and it is great. Once there is a similar solution available for the 13" MBP perhaps I will make the move!

[nuckinfutz]

Yup

I figured you'd be doing some sort of production where you're sending drafts or dailys to people.

It's not as simple as saying "hey let me email you this 600GB file" lol.

The Cloud is gonna have to get a whole lot bigger.

[RedTomato]

I almost never use my optical in my white MB. I've contemplated removing it to save weight, but couldn't be bothered.

I last used it this morning to burn a CD of Windows XP Home to reinstall a work computer (yes, spare me the comments). That was the first time I've used it in months, and to be honest, there were 30 other Windows machines around me that I could have used - I just like using my Macbook to fix Windows problems :cool:

I'd love to have a removable drive bay. IBM's ThinkPads had this years ago (I had one of them)

With a flexible bay, you could choose if you wanted optical, extra HD, SSD, ExpressCard, 8-in-one card reader, extra battery, extra Firewire, eSATA, extra monitor port, links to external engineering sensors etc in your laptop.

Clearly not suitable for the Macbooks, but this would be a true pro feature for the MBPs.

There's one company that sells drop in second HD drives for MB and MBP, I can't find them, but they offer up to 1TB in your macbook. Quite expensive though.

I can't see Apple doing this though, as it weakens the unibody. I think IBM had problems with the optional bay parts being expensive and not selling very well.

[andiwm2003]

1. Will they also attach an USB card reader for MBA and 17" MBP? Optical drives are popular enough for the lack of one to be circumvented by remote install, but it isn't really the case for SD readers.

2. What happened with Nehalem licensing battle (nVidia can't make chipsets for Core i7 yet, or did I miss something)?

3. I don't see 4G coming so soon. There's still no 3G in MacBooks.

1.)there will be sd cards and dvd's in parallel for a while of course

2.)that's a good one. i hope they resolve that soon otherwise we are stuck with the 9400 for a long time. remember how long the intel integrated gma950 was around.

3.)i don't really believe in 4g in mbp's anytime soon.;) maybe if 4g is covering all of US and Asia and EU. so in 10 years. seriously this will be a USB thing for the forseeable future.

[Scottsdale]

. i hope they resolve that soon otherwise we are stuck with the 9400 for a long time. remember how long the intel integrated gma950 was around.


There will be NO 9400m working with an Intel Nehalem CPU! Nvidia's license doesn't permit it according to Intel. Intel isn't stupid, and it's not going to let Nvidia steal its business. It definitely learned from this loophole!

When Apple switches to Nehalem in the Mac notebooks, we will see an Intel integrated graphics solution, OR Apple will completely have to remove the integrated graphics and just use a dedicated card. The problem with the newest Intel integrated graphics for Nehalem is they operate at around 55 to 60% of the power of the Nvidia 9400m!

So, the problem is all of these MBPs now with ONLY a 9400m. MBP users are not going to be keen on losing 40% of their graphics capabilities! So, Apple will have to put a dedicated card in there???

My hope is that somehow Nvidia will pay Intel to make them happy. Or, that some moderator will show that it's good for competition to make Intel compete with the GPU!

But in all truth, the next Mac notebooks will probably NOT have an Nvidia GPU... so we should all pray that something changes. The Nvidia GPU has been absolutely amazing for Macs! Not just the MB/MBA now... The Mac mini. The 13" and low end 15" MBPs. The iMacs have it! And with mini Display Port, they all have become capable of driving up to a 30" ACD!

It will be a sad sad day for Mac customers when Nvidia loses this battle. It's heating up and Arrandale is just around the corner. No Nvidia with Clarksfield or Arrandale for sure (unless something happens)! It will not be fun going back to Intel integrated graphics!

[theBB]

At work I use the DVD drive a few times a year to access an archive of papers on DVD. Otherwise, it never gets used. At home I use my iMac to rip CDs and I occasionally burn a DVD for my parents, but I would not mind an external burner for those situations. We also watch DVDs while traveling or at home when we feel too tired to be watching them in the living room. Still, these are very rare instances, so I could give up on an integrated DVD player easily in return for other advantages or features.

[stevenlangley1]

here's one option I found real quick...might look into it.

http://tinyurl.com/ncw6xp

http://tinyurl.com/y6hbev

[rotorblade69]

I've said it before and I'll say it again only this time using a cuter slogan. Some people I know friends and professional types wanted the MBP 17" to be "Airish".
If they can't have a BluRay Drive then ditch the optical drive all together. They don't care about the non-user replaceable battery some seemed to like it in their 17" Pro.
One guy bought his wife an Air and likes the way it is angled up in the rear, says its easier to type on and wishes his pro 17" and sons 15" was like that. YEAH wife has air, son has 15 Pro, and he has 17 Pro. Dude do you want to adopt a 33 year old perverted gun slinger.
Think about how much more stuff could be put into it. OR how would a 17" look with a little "Airish" form factor thrown in. Could get to about 5 pounds. Yeah maybe loose a usb port or some ports would have to be moved to the right hand side. Heck I would buy 2 right now. First rule of spending on macs "Why buy one when you can have two at twice the price." Wife has to have one so she will leave mine alone. BUT really how cool would that be. Now think about this What about a second drive bay and it will be a 256GB SSD too. Can you say totally cool cool like Albert Einstein just came over along with Teller and we will debate the question that has haunted man for decades.
















Ginger or Mary Ann. :cool:

[macbook123]

I replaced the Superdrive in my MBP with an additional hard drive and it is great. Once there is a similar solution available for the 13" MBP perhaps I will make the move!

Wow, can you give details? How hard was that?

[dukebound85]

its the air

[darngooddesign]

Wow, can you give details? How hard was that?

Google Optibay.

[bloodycape]

The answer is simple, but not legal a hackintoshed Levnvo X300 with an HD or SSD where the DVD would sit, the same with the Sony Vaio Z.

I doubt will see the death of the optical drive any time any time soon since, CD drives are still a big feature in cars, millions of dvd are watched everyday, and believe it or not but some people still use cd/dvd based receivers to play all their music.

[qubex]

Nobody's denying optical disks are still used.

What isn't necessary is dragging around the necessary devices all the time whether you need it or not.

If I'm certain I won't be needing to read/write a CD/DVD disk, I shouldn't be forced to drag the drive around and endure the weight.

[Santabean2000]

I use a Mac Pro in my professional life and burn CDs/DVDs every day. The world is not ready for an optical drive-free pro machine yet, whether its a desktop or a notebook.

Right, because the MP has a lot to do with the price of fish in China...:confused::confused::confused:

Apples and oranges my friend.

Your world might not be ready, but the 'Brave New World' is. A 13" MBP with discrete graphics and/or twin HDs would sell like the proverbial hot cakes.;)

EDIT: The Air is way too limited at present, (2GB RAM..?!, 4200RPM, no Firewire etc etc)

[nuckinfutz]

Right, because the MP has a lot to do with the price of fish in China...:confused::confused::confused:

Apples and oranges my friend.

Your world might not be ready, but the 'Brave New World' is. A 13" MBP with discrete graphics and/or twin HDs would sell like the proverbial hot cakes.;)

Shazaaam

I'd toss in a 32GB Intel SLC SSD for my boot. Mate it up with a 500GB Seagate Momentus 7200.4 and 8GB of RAM. Smokin.

[Santabean2000]

Shazaaam

I'd toss in a 32GB Intel SLC SSD for my boot. Mate it up with a 500GB Seagate Momentus 7200.4 and 8GB of RAM. Smokin.

Listen up Mr Jobs!!:D

[federikk]

reading this post takes me to remember the unforgotted X40.
that was the best, the x300 is not on pair, even of mba.
really sorry of have it switched for air.

cheers

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Right, because the MP has a lot to do with the price of fish in China...:confused::confused::confused:

Apples and oranges my friend.

Negative. A lot of professionals use the 17" MacBook Pro in the same way they would use a MP, only they can use it portably (on a movie set, for instance).

Bottom line: if there was no demand for an optical drive in pro machines, they wouldn't be there.

[macbook123]

I'm concluding from the answers in this thread that Apple needs some staff changes in who gets to make product design decisions. The Air is a great idea, in itself the beginning of a new era, but the execution is terrible.

Just to mention a few more (since the low RAM, SSD sizes were already brought up): missing SD slot, wide bezel, low resolution screen like all the Macbook/Pro's except for the 17" one (with poor quality i.e. horizontal lines in many cases of the MBA).

I just bought the latest MBA, the screen lines were clearly visible, the overall image quality was poor as well. I'm sending it back. I decided to buy a Dell Mini 10 for a while (10 inch screen with higher resolution than the Air!). Not OS X, but Linux. $500, so not much to loose.

[zsnow]

i might need use the dvd drive often. as i just got a ssd drive. which i think will release a firmware every month. have to boot from dvd and flash it

[RedTomato]

wide bezel,
OT, but I went from a Powerbook which had one of the thinnnest bezels I've ever seen, to a MB with a pretty wide bezel.

At first I hesitated to get the MB, thinking the wide bezel would put me off, but now I actually love it.

The wide bezel on the MB forms a useful breathing space between the clutter and distraction of whatever is behind my MB (the wall, other people, cars in the street), and helps me to focus on the MB screen.

Consider yourself told.

[thejadedmonkey]

There will be NO 9400m working with an Intel Nehalem CPU! Nvidia's license doesn't permit it according to Intel. Intel isn't stupid, and it's not going to let Nvidia steal its business. It definitely learned from this loophole!

When Apple switches to Nehalem in the Mac notebooks, we will see an Intel integrated graphics solution, OR Apple will completely have to remove the integrated graphics and just use a dedicated card. The problem with the newest Intel integrated graphics for Nehalem is they operate at around 55 to 60% of the power of the Nvidia 9400m!

So, the problem is all of these MBPs now with ONLY a 9400m. MBP users are not going to be keen on losing 40% of their graphics capabilities! So, Apple will have to put a dedicated card in there???

My hope is that somehow Nvidia will pay Intel to make them happy. Or, that some moderator will show that it's good for competition to make Intel compete with the GPU!

But in all truth, the next Mac notebooks will probably NOT have an Nvidia GPU... so we should all pray that something changes. The Nvidia GPU has been absolutely amazing for Macs! Not just the MB/MBA now... The Mac mini. The 13" and low end 15" MBPs. The iMacs have it! And with mini Display Port, they all have become capable of driving up to a 30" ACD!

It will be a sad sad day for Mac customers when Nvidia loses this battle. It's heating up and Arrandale is just around the corner. No Nvidia with Clarksfield or Arrandale for sure (unless something happens)! It will not be fun going back to Intel integrated graphics!

Or maybe all of the macbook pro's will get a descrete graphics card, and Apple saw it comming, which is why they renamed them :)

[Scott6666]

So does the external optical drive for the Air work with the other mac laptops so if you take yours out you can quickly use that when you need to?

[RedTomato]

So does the external optical drive for the Air work with the other mac laptops so if you take yours out you can quickly use that when you need to?

Nope. Works with nothing else. Apple playing shenigans with the USB standard on the MBA.

Shame as it's one of the nicest external opticals on the market. Apple would really be onto something if they made it work with all USB standard laptops.

[Veinticinco]

Nope. Works with nothing else. Apple playing shenigans with the USB standard on the MBA.

Shame as it's one of the nicest external opticals on the market. Apple would really be onto something if they made it work with all USB standard laptops.
Recall it's more a firmware 'fix' than a bus-power issue - seems some people overcame it and got the SD to work on a MB.

I have a redundant SD left over from my THREE attempts at getting an acceptable MBA. Not sure I'm going for a fourth, so got a nice looking paperweight. Also annoying that it has a fixed and very short cable.

[RedTomato]

Recall it's more a firmware 'fix' than a bus-power issue - seems some people overcame it and got the SD to work on a MB.

I have a redundant SD left over from my THREE attempts at getting an acceptable MBA. Not sure I'm going for a fourth, so got a nice looking paperweight. Also annoying that it has a fixed and very short cable.

Does it not work with a USB extension cable? ISTR it will work through a USB hub.

[mcnallym]

[QUOTE=Scottsdale;7765803]There will be NO 9400m working with an Intel Nehalem CPU! Nvidia's license doesn't permit it according to Intel. Intel isn't stupid, and it's not going to let Nvidia steal its business. It definitely learned from this loophole!

When Apple switches to Nehalem in the Mac notebooks, we will see an Intel integrated graphics solution, OR Apple will completely have to remove the integrated graphics and just use a dedicated card. The problem with the newest Intel integrated graphics for Nehalem is they operate at around 55 to 60% of the power of the Nvidia 9400m!
QUOTE]

I can't see Apple going i7 with the laptops. What we are more likely to get is i5 in the iMac/mini and MB/MBPro. i5 is the mainstream chip and Nvidia does have a license to make chipsets for i5 as it doesn't use QPI bus, but uses a different bus that Intel have licensed to Nvidia.

i7 is for extreme/enthusiast market, and it will also help them differentiate between the Mac Pro and the other products. Mac Pro will take the Xeon 3500/5500 based on i7 with the other products using the mainstream i5.

Of course some of the i5 cpu's are supposed to have the gpu integrated as well so that may be an alternative.

[Scottsdale]

[QUOTE=Scottsdale;7765803]There will be NO 9400m working with an Intel Nehalem CPU! Nvidia's license doesn't permit it according to Intel. Intel isn't stupid, and it's not going to let Nvidia steal its business. It definitely learned from this loophole!

When Apple switches to Nehalem in the Mac notebooks, we will see an Intel integrated graphics solution, OR Apple will completely have to remove the integrated graphics and just use a dedicated card. The problem with the newest Intel integrated graphics for Nehalem is they operate at around 55 to 60% of the power of the Nvidia 9400m!
QUOTE]

I can't see Apple going i7 with the laptops. What we are more likely to get is i5 in the iMac/mini and MB/MBPro. i5 is the mainstream chip and Nvidia does have a license to make chipsets for i5 as it doesn't use QPI bus, but uses a different bus that Intel have licensed to Nvidia.

i7 is for extreme/enthusiast market, and it will also help them differentiate between the Mac Pro and the other products. Mac Pro will take the Xeon 3500/5500 based on i7 with the other products using the mainstream i5.

Of course some of the i5 cpu's are supposed to have the gpu integrated as well so that may be an alternative.

I didn't know there was a difference with licensing. One of the three sources I read about it specifically stated Macs were going to lose it when they move to "Arrandale???"

I hope, no I pray, you're 100% correct as the 9400m has changed the game for Macs. I love that little GPU that could!

[jf8]

I have a laptop without an internal CD or DVD drive. (It came with an external one)

I've used the external drive twice in two years.

Installing OS X (or Windows) is possible from a USB drive, and much faster.