looking to get MBP with optical drive - should I buy cMBP NOW?

NickH88 · Feb 12, 2013

I'm most likely getting an MBP, and while I do like the Retina display, a built-in optical drive is important to me, so I'm planning on the classic MBP model rather than the Retina. I want one of the customized configurations of the cMBP. I understand that the next set of MBPs (released in July) will likely all be Retina, so do you all expect that they will be without the optical drive like last year's Retina models? I'm thinking that this will be the case, and if so, then I will regret waiting to find out. I also don't know how long I will have after the reveal of the new models before the 2012 classic models will no longer be for sale outside of the Refurbished Mac section of the Apple Store (does anyone have any idea?), where my custom configuration would be very hard to come by and may require waiting a long time.

Is now the time to buy the classic MBP if I want an MBP with an optical drive, or should I wait and see whether any of the summer models have them?

Thanks!

simsaladimbamba · Feb 12, 2013

If 2013 MBP models all have Retina Displays, they will not have an ODD anymore.
But you can still purchase 2012 cMBPs via the Refurbished Mac section in the Apple Online Store once 2013 MBPs are released, if those 2013 models are not to your liking.

gnasher729 · Feb 12, 2013

NickH88 said:
I'm most likely getting an MBP, and while I do like the Retina display, a built-in optical drive is important to me, so I'm planning on the classic MBP model rather than the Retina. I want one of the customized configurations of the cMBP. I understand that the next set of MBPs (released in July) will likely all be Retina, so do you all expect that they will be without the optical drive like last year's Retina models?!

"All Retina" is unlikely. Retina requires a much bigger battery, taking more space. Less space for anything else means no hard drive. No hard drive means no storage over 256 GB for money that most people are willing to pay. The cheapest MBP is £999. The cheapest Retina MBP is £1449. The £999 MBP can be upgraded to 16GB, 1TB very cheaply. Switching to "all Retina" would lose Apple an awful lot of customers.

NickH88 · Feb 12, 2013

simsaladimbamba said:
If 2013 MBP models all have Retina Displays, they will not have an ODD anymore.
But you can still purchase 2012 cMBPs via the Refurbished Mac section in the Apple Online Store once 2013 MBPs are released, if those 2013 models are not to your liking.

I understand that, but I've also read that my custom configuration will be hard to come by on there (it may be quite awhile before it shows up). Plus, I'd rather buy now and not wait months for the reveal of the July models, but if there's much of a chance that any of them will have optical drives, then maybe I'll wait.

NickH88 · Feb 13, 2013

Since I want an MBP with an optical drive, do you all suggest that I wait and see whether any of the summer models have them, or should I go ahead and buy a classic MBP now?

simsaladimbamba · Feb 13, 2013

NickH88 said:
Since I want an MBP with an optical drive, do you all suggest that I wait and see whether any of the summer models have them, or should I go ahead and buy a classic MBP now?

We do not know, if Apple continues to offer the cMBP, it probably still sells quite good, but today's announcement of reduced prices for the MacBook Pro with Retina Display might indicate, that they sell quite good and do not need to be that expensive anymore due to better factory settings.

It is really up to you.

And if you live near an Apple Store, you might still be lucky enough to get a cMBP on the day of a 2013 release in case the 2013 MBPs shed the ODD.

26139 · Feb 13, 2013

Huh?

NickH88 said:
Since I want an MBP with an optical drive, do you all suggest that I wait and see whether any of the summer models have them, or should I go ahead and buy a classic MBP now?

No new model of Apple laptop will ever again come with an optical drive.

The ones out now are the last you'll see.

blueroom · Feb 13, 2013

Can't see Apple keeping any internal optical drives in future Macs (except the Pro)

Why lug around a optical drive anyway. Better to use the space for batteries.

26139 · Feb 13, 2013

Yeah, but...

blueroom said:
Can't see Apple keeping any internal optical drives in future Macs (except the Pro)

Why lug around a optical drive anyway. Better to use the space for batteries.

Yeah, but I can see his point. When floppies disappeared, it was a while before USB drives became ubiquitous so that everyone could afford one, so many people switched to CD/DVD.

But if you're looking to make a DVD for someone with a DVD player (I'd bet a huge majority of people still have and use them)....

blueroom · Feb 13, 2013

26139 said:
Yeah, but I can see his point. When floppies disappeared, it was a while before USB drives became ubiquitous so that everyone could afford one, so many people switched to CD/DVD.

But if you're looking to make a DVD for someone with a DVD player (I'd bet a huge majority of people still have and use them)....

I guess it's like the Floppy disk die hards. Even worse is DVD isn't the pinnacle of optical media, that would be Blu Ray and Apple's never offered a Blu Ray player. PC's on the other hand will offer them for the next decade, hell they still have VGA ports on most laptops.

Apples USB DVD or any , after all unless you need access to DVD's everyday you can leave it behind. Ripping software means you can copy your media to the MacBook, compression like H.264 can get it down to ~700mb / hr. Modern i5 & i7 CPUs can make short work it.

Apple TV and other media streamers are the future, features like AirPlay and AirPlay mirroring make this a no brainer IMHO.

26139 · Feb 13, 2013

Okay...

blueroom said:
I guess it's like the Floppy disk die hards. Even worse is DVD isn't the pinnacle of optical media, that would be Blu Ray and Apple's never offered a Blu Ray player. PC's on the other hand will offer them for the next decade, hell they still have VGA ports on most laptops.

Apples USB DVD or any , after all unless you need access to DVD's everyday you can leave it behind. Ripping software means you can copy your media to the MacBook, compression like H.264 can get it down to ~700mb / hr. Modern i5 & i7 CPUs can make short work it.

Apple TV and other media streamers are the future, features like AirPlay and AirPlay mirroring make this a no brainer IMHO.

I'm not disagreeing with you, it's just that even the earliest adopters I know still have DVD players in their homes and CD players in their cars.

Ripping optical media still requires a drive, which is why I'm holding on to my Mac Mini.

NickH88 · Feb 14, 2013

simsaladimbamba said:
And if you live near an Apple Store, you might still be lucky enough to get a cMBP on the day of a 2013 release in case the 2013 MBPs shed the ODD.

Unfortunately, the custom configuration that I want is not available in stores, so that wouldn't really work for me.

blueroom said:
Why lug around a optical drive anyway. Better to use the space for batteries.

In most cases, the additional battery life from having an extra battery in place of the optical drive seems unnecessary to me. I don't really see myself needing to use my laptop for longer than what the basic battery life provides without access to an AC outlet unless I'm on a long flight or car ride (and in the case of the latter, I could even use a power inverter).

26139 said:
But if you're looking to make a DVD for someone with a DVD player (I'd bet a huge majority of people still have and use them)....

The vast majority of movies that I own are on DVD (the other, more recent ones are on Blu-Ray... I've never bought a single movie from iTunes or any other online store), so I still play DVDs (usually on my Blu-Ray player though).

I am going to be burning home movies for my family. My plan was always to do it on DVD, although now I am considering doing it on Blu-Ray instead, in which case I'd need an external optical drive anyway.

blueroom said:
Even worse is DVD isn't the pinnacle of optical media, that would be Blu Ray and Apple's never offered a Blu Ray player.

Very true... I really wish Apple had included Blu-Ray drives in their MacBooks!

26139 said:
I'm not disagreeing with you, it's just that even the earliest adopters I know still have DVD players in their homes and CD players in their cars.

Ripping optical media still requires a drive, which is why I'm holding on to my Mac Mini.

Yep, I have both, although my DVD player is a Blu-Ray player, and I rarely use my car's CD player (I connect my iPhone to my car stereo and play my music that way). I do occasionally still buy CDs (generally albums of my favorite bands or things that aren't available in the iTunes store), and when I do, I need to rip them to have the songs in iTunes.

I'd obviously buy an external optical drive if I were to get a laptop without a built-in one, but it just seems like a pain to have to buy and use an external one instead of just having it built-in...

gnasher729 · Feb 14, 2013

gnasher729 said:
"All Retina" is unlikely. Retina requires a much bigger battery, taking more space. Less space for anything else means no hard drive. No hard drive means no storage over 256 GB for money that most people are willing to pay. The cheapest MBP is £999. The cheapest Retina MBP is £1449. The £999 MBP can be upgraded to 16GB, 1TB very cheaply. Switching to "all Retina" would lose Apple an awful lot of customers.

Two days later... the cheapest Retina MBP is £1249...

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