Will Apple remove the optical drive from future models?

[maflynn]

When and if Apple starts making Macs without optical drives I don't think they would care about how you install Windows on their Macs and that shouldn't be their priority anyway.

They do care, hence bootcamp, why would they knowingly close off a large market segment that's buying Macs at this stage. I use windows and need it for my work, without an optical drive, and inability to install windows, I'd not buy any more macs (And yes I still buy macs even though I built a hackintosh).

The Macbook Air is one example of it already. You can plug in an external optical drive for stuff like that. There will be plenty of external drives for years to come.

That is a great example because you either have to buy an optical drive or share one, proof positive that optical drives are still needed. They may not be needed on a daily basis but the need is still there.

 

[jlc1978]

As for playing DVDs, this should be a joke. It's called "dvd decrypter". Rip and encode like the rest of the world. Or just download rips. That's called bittorrent.
--

Apple already has a optical driveless Mac - the MBA. It hasn't really taken off, for various reasons, but the lack of an optical drive is no doubtbone of them. Will optical drives be replaced by other tech? Sure, but right now nothing offers the combination of low cost per mb, and ease of production for retail software that it does.

As for ripping DVDs, many people simply don't want the hassle or even know how to do that. They buy or rent a film, an just pop it in and watch it. Bitttorent - your joking, right? You expect someone who just wants their Mac to work to go through the hassle of using Bittorent to find movies? They are more likely to buy it from iTunes or use an on demand service such as Netflix before they do that; and either way that requires a constant and decent Internet connection to work reasonably well.

 

[OllyW]

As for playing DVDs, this should be a joke. It's called "dvd decrypter". Rip and encode like the rest of the world.

How are you going to rip the DVD if you haven't got an optical drive?

 

[whitedragon101]

Many of the responses say we need optical drives for:

Installing Windows
Watching DVDs
Installing Programs
etc

I agree, but an external drive would achieve this. So you would still have the use of the drive.

Really how frequently do you use your optical drive?
I download most of my software as its always cheaper direct2drive and steam provide every game online at lower prices. I store data on HD or on the cloud and transfer via USB or wireless. The only thing I use the DVD for is a very rare watching of a DVD film.

The question is. If you saw the following laptops on the apple store which would you want if given the choice:

A laptop with a high end GPU and high clock quad core CPU
+external optical drive
or
A laptop with a midrange CPU and CPU
+internal optical drive

 

[charlieroberts]

swappable modules FTW !!!!!


ok, being serious, Apple would never do that.


My guess is that DVD drive is dead and external solutions are the future for dinosaurs that wish to read such ancient technology. I would be one of those

 

[melterx12]

You can order external DVD drives for around $30 online. That means Apple could buy in mass for $15 each and include one in the box with the laptop.

As for playing DVDs, this should be a joke. It's called "dvd decrypter". Rip and encode like the rest of the world. Or just download rips. That's called bittorrent.

The removable of optical drives began with the introduction of netbooks and other ultraportables. This end is not only inevitable, it actually should have occurred already.
--

bypassing dvd copy protection is illegal, but thats not even my point. the point is i dont want to store DVDs on my hard drive, i much prefer to have the on a disk to play in my internal dvd drive.

 

[DVD9]

Apple already has a optical driveless Mac - the MBA. It hasn't really taken off, for various reasons, but the lack of an optical drive is no doubtbone of them.

I'm sure the $1.500- baseline price is the first, second and third reasons for the MBA not being a hot seller. The netbook specs combined with the Windows i7 quadcore battery life are the fourth and fifth reasons.

If the MBA was $500 I would buy one. If it got five hours of battery life and sold for $800 I would buy one. It is simply grossly overpriced for what it is, the slickest, coolest netbook.

the point is i dont want to store DVDs on my hard drive, i much prefer to have the on a disk to play in my internal dvd drive.

Then why would you mind carrying an external drive? They weigh about what two DVD discs in their cases go for. Most people prefer to rip and encode their movies. In a rather small section of their drive they can store several dozen films.
--

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Most people prefer to rip and encode their movies. In a rather small section of their drive they can store several dozen films.
--

most?

most?

Do you have a link to qualify such a claim? I didn't know most people knew how to operate handbrake/fairplay and rip BR, troll usenet, or use bittorent.

 

[wirelessmacuser]

I would be thrilled to see Apple remove the optical drive. That would be one very welcome change...

 

[vant]

Optical drives are on their way out. It's 28 year technology that is severely outdated.

I give it another 2 years at most before we see CDs dropping out of mainstream laptops.

 

[n2arkitektur]

The optical drive takes up a HUGE amount of space.

You can definitely put me in the 'kill the optical drive' column, but does anyone know how much the internal Superdrive weighs? I get that we could get smaller, thinner notebooks sans the optical drive, but how much lighter would they be? Significantly or marginally? Ever since I picked up the Macbook Air at the Apple Store, every other notebook feels like a portable desktop to me, but it looks to me that Apple is going to EOL the MBA to make way for 'airized' Macbook Pros.

 

[macbookpro13]

I would rather lose the optical drive and use the space for discrete graphics.

An external dvd drive only costs about $30 so I could use that for the few times I need to install and OS or burn/rip some discs.

 

[Perdification]

You can definitely put me in the 'kill the optical drive' column, but does anyone know how much the internal Superdrive weighs? I get that we could get smaller, thinner notebooks sans the optical drive, but how much lighter would they be? Significantly or marginally? Ever since I picked up the Macbook Air at the Apple Store, every other notebook feels like a portable desktop to me, but it looks to me that Apple is going to EOL the MBA to make way for 'airized' Macbook Pros.

It ain't about the weight of the drive, its about the bulk that it takes up, almost half the space of the MBP 13'.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

I get that we could get smaller, thinner notebooks sans the optical drive, but how much lighter would they be?

They may be able to be more liberal with with the PCB layout but it's not the magic bullet to a lowfat MBP , as you already suspect. The MBA isn't a MB without an optical drive; It's made with overall less aluminum, a smaller motherboard w/ less ports, a cooler chip, a smaller 1.8" disk, a single speaker, intergrated ram modules, and some expensive design ingenuity (despite some people thining it should be free solely on specs )

 

[wakeborder556]

I hope they give an option, I removed mine for adding an SSD.

 

[HunterMaximus]

For those talking about how it's needed for Windows install, you can actually install Windows 7 off a USB stick, Microsoft even has some instructions posted.

 

[HLdan]

They do care, hence bootcamp, why would they knowingly close off a large market segment that's buying Macs at this stage. I use windows and need it for my work, without an optical drive, and inability to install windows, I'd not buy any more macs (And yes I still buy macs even though I built a hackintosh).


That is a great example because you either have to buy an optical drive or share one, proof positive that optical drives are still needed. They may not be needed on a daily basis but the need is still there.

The Macintosh was already successful before Apple switched to Intel and gave Macs the ability to run Windows via Bootcamp. I can assure you many people buy Macs not even knowing they can install Windows on them so don't make it sound like Mac's sole reason for being successful is because of being able to install Windows. I've been on Macs for 14 years and being able to install Windows was never a buying consideration. I'm not a kid that needs game all the time, I have plenty other things to do on my Macs that don't need Windows intervention.

I can bet that as the bridge gaps start to close up and Apple's "closed in" environment with it's iOS system (which is OS X BTW) expands to a point the majority is using their system, Windows won't be a part of a Mac. If your have no point in buying a Mac if can't install Windows, then you shouldn't have bought in the first place.

 

[vorpid]

My optical drive died awhile ago. It would read media, but almost from the very beginning it would burn nothing but coasters. In the end I got tired of its inability to write media, be it new or old. I rarely use it, and the few times I am using it, it is more often to write media. But I already had a perfectly good dvd burner from my tower, so I just used adapter cables to connect. While it is not the prettiest it works great and can be booted off of. So with the space available I stuck in a second HD on my 15" macbook pro. More than compensates for an inconvenience of not having an optical drive.

 

[olletsocmit]

How will apple provide OSX then? I mean will they start selling OSX on a thumbdrive or SD card? This will seriously impact the ability of Macs loading windows into bootcamp.

I don't see this happening until a medium that exceeds the optical drive's ability occurs. There's nothing in the near future that will make this possible, current technology means serious of back bending maneuvers for the consumer to deal with a computer without an optical drive.

They will most likely have u pay online and then send u a code for a download link. They will have u in the system that you bought it, so it u ever need again, u just login and download. a lot of compaines are doing it now. ...or thumb drive

 

[thebeautyisfake]

We saw the original Envy ditch the drive, but then they just brought it back in the latest revision.
Assuming digital distribution increases as it has been, there's not gonna be much point in having a drive nobodys using. It'll happen, but not for a long time yet.
But as has been said, you need the DVD to boot an OS. Moving that to a USB stick fixes the inclusion of an optical drive, but then we'll end up with over 9000 USB keys instead of CDs. Pointless.

 

[Xtremehkr]

Now that SD readers have been added to most of the Apple lineup we should be on the cusp of seeing this happen.

I don't see optical drives disappearing on the Mac Pro line for quite some time because of the nature of the work done on them.

For the iMac though, it doesn't seem like there are a lot of people making use of their optical drives. Even more so on the MacBooks, there isn't much that can't be downloaded anymore.

It seems that the first products to lose the optical drives will be the portable lineup, the increase in space for everything else creates incentive to introduce the new format there. Not everything has to be MacBook Air thin either.

 

[Inconsequential]

Once flash memory drops down to 10p for 4.7gb/8Gb like DVDs are then there may be a chance for the DVD drive to be dropped.

You can already install OS X and Windows from a USB stick.

One day it will happen but not soon.

 

[old-wiz]

most?

most?

Do you have a link to qualify such a claim? I didn't know most people knew how to operate handbrake/fairplay and rip BR, troll usenet, or use bittorent.

And some people are honest and do not believe in using bittorrent as we consider it stealing. Even storing ripped movies on the hard disk is a waste if you are only going to watch it once or twice.

 

[DVD9]

most?

most?

Do you have a link to qualify such a claim? I didn't know most people knew how to operate handbrake/fairplay and rip BR, troll usenet, or use bittorent.

Where would I find such a link? Do a search for the Pirate Bay at the New York Times. The Bay has more traffic than the Times, but the Times has never written an article where the Pirate Bay was more than briefly mentioned, always in regard to legal sanctions.

It would make more sense to contact the FBI and ask if them if they have any such data and could they post a link. That's all the New York Times would do anyway. If you think that there are real journalists working in the corporate media in the United States of America then your head is completely up inside your rectum.

And as for ripping content being illegal, I doubt that even five percent of police households are "rip free".
--

 

[Perdification]

Why can't the new MBP be like the MBA which has it's ODD taken out and replaced by an external one instead? No one wants to lug a dinosaur ODD around anyway, and you have the option of bringing it around with you or not at least.