Exactly! The new design is deceiving from the picture angles that Apple is marketing. It fools buyers into thinking its thinner, but in reality its the same depth at its center, only thinner at the edge. Absolutely no benefit at all. Instead its a trade off. A foolish design at the loss of an optical drive.
Here we go again with the optical drive argument. Move on already it's 2012! Retailers are barely selling CDs (a majority of them are cutting it out of their inventories), all major software companies offer software installations, drivers, updates etc. over the internet. There's NO excuse.
Here are a few others that you may not know:
1. Cloud storage for photos or facebook. Stop using the "I have to burn a CD for a friend/family". Use email. Don't use slow internet speeds as an excuse. Even third world countries have broadband internet.
2. Cars have an audio jack for your iPhone: why bother trying to switch between 5-10 CDs to find a song you want?
3. Backup: there are a lot of VERY CHEAP professional backup facilities online that you can use that's FAR MORE foolproof than any backup to a CD/DVD that you do yourself. I'm talking fireproof buildings. Offsite mirrored servers, biometric buildings etc. etc. Compare that to a the security of a general user's CD case.
4: If you're too cheap to afford that use a UNIVERSAL serial bus (USB) device. The hint is the word universal, it can be used on virtually any hardware today and is far easier to carry, less prone to damage etc.
5. Blu-ray movies: Why? Blu-ray is limited to specific players whereas you can download a digital version on iTunes which you can play on ANY computer, laptop, iPhone/iPad etc. etc. It's also cheaper, does not break or scratched by little kids, is weightless and can be redownloadble when you get a new computer.
There's no advantage to using CDs except for maybe the nostalgia of using it. It is inferior to technology offerings available today.