Will Apple remove the optical drive from future models?

[bigjnyc]

It seems like every time I feel like I haven't used my optical drive or feel like I dont need it anymore... something comes up for me to need it. I guess its just one of those things thats there and you dont really need it until you need it. That sounded like Yogi

 

[Macsavvytech]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

Electricity is an even older technology. I predict that it will be replaced in the next 2 years or so, too!

Electricity isn't outdated. There are no other alternatives.

You could use a quantum computer in the antarctic that wouldn't need electricity ....
Almost

 

[Fubar1977]

Well, today was the first time in over 3 months that I actually used my optical drive.
I don`t think I`m ready to abandon it altogether yet but I personally don`t need it built into my laptop anymore an external would be fine.

 

[Abstract]

On consumer laptops that you'd use at home, you can survive without it.

However, for businesses in many industries, I can't say the same. I wouldn't be willing to give up on the optical drive for the next 5 years, minimum. Realistically, I'd say 8-10 years.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Not going to happen until ISP's stop with the stupid bandwidth caps and throttling. (Also it would help if I could get more than a 700Kbps "broadband" connection).

 

[Fubar1977]

On consumer laptops that you'd use at home, you can survive without it.

However, for businesses in many industries, I can't say the same. I wouldn't be willing to give up on the optical drive for the next 5 years, minimum. Realistically, I'd say 8-10 years.

True, I must admit I was only really considering the home market but for business users I suspect you may have a point (as usual)

 

[AppleMacFinder]

Not going to happen until ISP's stop with the stupid bandwidth caps and throttling. (Also it would help if I could get more than a 700Kbps "broadband" connection).

You can buy an external drive.
They are ridiculously cheap nowadays, in XXI century

 

[AppleMacFinder]

External drives are very cheap.

If I had to choose between high-end GPU and SuperDrive,
the high-end GPU is no-brainer.

 

[OllyW]

If I had to choose between high-end GPU and SuperDrive, the high-end GPU is no-brainer.

You've got to remember we are talking about Apple. They'll probably drop the SuperDrive, make the case a bit thinner and keep the same GPU.

 

[Fubar1977]

You've got to remember we are talking about Apple. They'll probably drop the SuperDrive, make the case a bit thinner and keep the same GPU.

Also very true, slightly cynical but true

 

[talmy]

Optical drive for businesses?? There are plenty of companies that buy computers which have no removable media capabilities at all. All approved software is installed over the LAN. I maybe use my optical drive at work once a year.

On my home systems (of which I have many), on my iMac I've ripped my CD/DVD collection and burn CDs with software I've written for sale, so that drive gets heavy use. My MacBook's DVD drive has been used for a few Netflix movies on trips, but otherwise not at all. My Mac mini server has no optical drive. My two Mac mini's as entertainment centers have drives that have never been used, although I did verify that they worked when I bought the systems. I've got a 7 year old Windows PC for which its CD drive was only used once, to install Windows 7 years ago. I took a risk with that one, leaving off the floppy drive.

As far as I'm concerned, the drive is about as useful now as a floppy drive was then. If I just had a single external DVD drive I'd do fine.

 

[Abstract]

As far as I'm concerned, the drive is about as useful now as a floppy drive was then. If I just had a single external DVD drive I'd do fine.

Ah, so you need one.



And with regards to what you said about businesses, I meant there are many industries where they may use somewhat specialised software that isn't just downloadable. Well, perhaps it is, but only the latest version, and if you haven't been paying the service contract for more than 2 years, then you're SOL when you need help. That's why companies keep DVDs of software.

I can think of quite a few reasons why businesses in certain industries would like the optical drive to stick around. Perhaps they'll never move to Blu-ray, but they may have lots of data and software stored on disk.

 

[barkomatic]

Let's lay down the facts:

-people are using them less and less
-Apple has shown intent to remove it from their notebooks ("future of notebooks"
-they still haven't adopted Blu-ray
-introduction of movie and TV show rentals (removing any need for optical media on that front)
-introduction of Mac app store
-USB OS/iLife installation with MBA

The next revision of the MBP will not have an optical drive.

Flame wars being below this line.
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I wouldn't say that the *next* revision of the MBP will not have an optical drive. However, I'd agree that Apple is clearly moving in that direction.

I'm able to stomach the closed nature of the iPad and iPhone because they've been that way from the beginning and are low powered enough at this point where I don't mind it as much.

However, I'm afraid that one day Apple will *require* all applications to be installed on the mac to come through their appstore. That means they will all need to be approved and Apple will exert its standard (and sometimes unreasonable) censorship to everything. Eliminating the optical drive would help them bring the mac into the closed ecosystem that the iPhone and iPad are now in. Yes, for now there is an external optical drive option but that could easily disappear at a certain point.

Additionally, all your media content will have to come from iTunes. You won't be able to rip your own movies or even just pop in a disc and watch them. New macs aren't going to come standard with flash. Of course we can install it after the fact--for now. However, how long will it be before flash is not allowed on macs anymore at all? No more Hulu.

I'm not sure, but I think Apple is taking baby steps towards total control of the entire line--from soup to nuts.

 

[deeddawg]

Ah, so you need one.

Valid points about software packages and the like, but still I don't see where anyone but a few special cases would need an optical drive on a day to day basis. Occasional need can be easily handled with an external drive.

At the risk of speaking blasphemy, I like the solution on the Lenovo Thinkpad T4xx & T5xx series with an easily removable optical drive and manufacturer supported 2nd SATA drive bay to go in its place. I know there's a similar third-party solution like this for Apple, but with Lenovo's solution you can swap drives without a reboot (including swapping 2nd HDD's). Would Apple adopt similar? Probably not.

 

[talmy]

Ah, so you need one.

The operative word is "one". I've got 8 computers, but only need one optical drive! And it could be an external.

And with regards to what you said about businesses, I meant there are many industries where they may use somewhat specialised software that isn't just downloadable. Well, perhaps it is, but only the latest version, and if you haven't been paying the service contract for more than 2 years, then you're SOL when you need help. That's why companies keep DVDs of software.

My optical drive-less Mac mini can use the drive on my iMac. I even installed Quicken for Windows on it from CD on the iMac. All done remotely. There's no reason for the employee's computers in a company to have DVD drives since the IT department can install all software remotely.

However, I'm afraid that one day Apple will *require* all applications to be installed on the mac to come through their appstore. That means they will all need to be approved and Apple will exert its standard (and sometimes unreasonable) censorship to everything. Eliminating the optical drive would help them bring the mac into the closed ecosystem that the iPhone and iPad are now in. Yes, for now there is an external optical drive option but that could easily disappear at a certain point.

Nothing like a little paranoia to start the day. If that were happen, they would lose at least their more sophisticated customers (those that need custom software, for instance) to other platforms. Really, Windows 7 and Ubuntu Linux aren't that bad!

 

[mark28]

Let's lay down the facts:

-people are using them less and less
-Apple has shown intent to remove it from their notebooks ("future of notebooks"
-they still haven't adopted Blu-ray
-introduction of movie and TV show rentals (removing any need for optical media on that front)
-introduction of Mac app store
-USB OS/iLife installation with MBA

The next revision of the MBP will not have an optical drive.

Flame wars being below this line.
___________________________________________________________

I don't think so. Macbook Air never had an optical drive to begin with

And I need the optical drive for my software. Unless you pirate software, you will need an optical drive for installing software.

 

[mrsir2009]

I wouldn't mind seeing the old DVD drive go in the MBPs. I'd sacrifice for a bit more storage, battery life or something else

 

[BornAgainMac]

I would rather see the DVD drive dropped on all Macs and have it as an external option. Maybe the Mac Pro could keep it but that is it. The sideways CD on the iMacs is not optimal anyways.

The laptops could get thinner and have more battery and / or disk space in exchange.
I DMG'ed all my software and placed it on a small portable USB powered drive. Much more efficient. I don't mind an external drive for those rare tasks that need it.

 

[gonnabuyamacbsh]

may the optical drive rest in peace...

 

[Velin]

Should Apple Eliminate Optical Drives From Macbook Pro?

Have had my 13” MBP for a couple years now. Number of times I’ve used the optical drive: once. And the one time I used it was to install Snow Leopard on an iMac via target disk mode.

I doubt I’ll ever purchase another laptop that has an optical drive. I no longer see the point of carrying around an optical drive daily. Optical drives add size, weight and cost. That’s a lot of compromise for a piece of rarely-used tech in a portable machine. Further, on the rare occasion you do need an optical drive, you can simply plug one in via USB.

And with the latest Macbook Air release, the future of OS installs is here. Airs ship with an entire OSX operating system on a slim SD card. This is a great idea by Apple, and the indusry will soon copy Apple’s idea.

Look at portable storage today: blazing SSDs coming down in price and are now standard with one of Apple’s notebook lines. USB 3.0 is very fast. And thin and slim SD cards getting faster, bigger, and are far more transportable than CDs or DVDs. And if you need lots of storage, you can easily pick up 128 gig, or even 256 gig, USB flash drives. This is far more storage than optical can provide.

Against this backdrop, optical drives and their scratch-prone discs increasingly look obsolete.

Consider what Apple could do with the Macbook Pro line if the DVD drive were eliminated, freeing up the weight, space and cost. Now you’ve got even more space for significantly improved graphics card, cooling, and battery to power it all. Or perhaps even more RAM. Given how well the Macbook Airs are performing in tests, if Apple applied this to a Macbook Pro sans optical drive, I could see Macbook Pro being an absolute performance beast, with enough GPU, battery and RAM to run the most intensive apps, audio, videos and games. Look how much Apple was able to squeeze into the Macbook Air frame. Lots of possibilities when you eliminate optical in the 13" and 15" Pro line.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

holy cow again?

you figure with all the griping going on, Optibay and other available variants would be constantly out of stock of their hdd caddies.

 

[kernkraft]

Yes, they should, so they can sell us an overpriced external one. They should also exclude an SD card slot. And USB, for that matter - get the accessories for silly prices!

Once they're at it, they should also take away the keyboard and fit a crap processor from an ancient mobile device. Also, they should just eliminate the desktop OS. There you go, your iPad is done. Do you want any accessories with it, sir?

 

[Winter Charm]

I completely see your point, however i dont think they'll do it next generation. I do expect it by 2012 though. and i should also add that if they remove it from the macbook pro, i expect to see:

1. Faster processor (sandy bridge)
2. Better graphics (Nvidia 4xx series)
3. Built in flash memory - its a great technology

 

[robanga]

I would guess 2013 will be the last year to get optical drives. There is a big installed base of software and movies will continue for some time to be out there, but you can put a fork in optical media it will be done (but slowly).

Probably they will continue to offer a USB optical drive accessory for some time after that.

We'll see if the 2012 or 2013 predictions come true

 

[7thMac]

It's a good tradeoff to eliminate the drive, at least for those that use optical infrequently. External drives aren't very expensive (but I'm not sure if any old USB optical drive will work with the MBP).