Will Apple remove the optical drive from future models?

[miata]

Does anybody remember the old PowerBook 500 series where you could swap out a floppy drive for a second battery?

It would be great if you could swap out the optical drive on a future MBP for additional battery power or a second HDD/SSD device.

BTW, if you don't know what a floppy drive is don't worry.

 

[Blues003]

Does anybody remember the old PowerBook 500 series where you could swap out a floppy drive for a second battery?

It would be great if you could swap out the optical drive on a future MBP for additional battery power or a second HDD/SSD device.

BTW, if you don't know what a floppy drive is don't worry.

You can!

 

[GGJstudios]

It would be great if you could swap out the optical drive on a future MBP for additional battery power or a second HDD/SSD device.

anybody replace optical drive with a hard drive?

 

[jagger27]

I think he's trying to get at a BTO option.

 

[jav6454]

It should be made an option to have or not an Optical drive.

 

[Jamesta]

It should be made an option to have or not an Optical drive.

Agreed.

 

[miata]

I think he's trying to get at a BTO option.

Not I bad idea, but I was thinking of a module that the user can swap out. For example, swap the SuperDrive for a battery when traveling and swap it back when you need to burn a DVD.

A MBP with a striped set of SSDs would deliver pretty awesome performance, but that would obviously not be swappable.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Hmmm...a modular macbook pro?

ROFLMAO

never gonna happen. Not while jobs is still alive.

 

[miata]

Hmmm...a modular macbook pro?

ROFLMAO

never gonna happen. Not while jobs is still alive.

You are probably right, but what if he were to take a long vacation or something? Is that possible?

 

[talmy]

I had a Dell Inspiron that was a great modular design. Two slot in front, one with battery and the other with a floppy drive and you could put in a second battery for extra capacity instead of the floppy or a second hard drive for extra storage. The hard drive and CD drive each would slide out after removing a single screw and were upgradable, and the memory and WiFi card slots were each accessible in easily opened compartments. The palm rests were customizable (I had fake walnut). It was a beautiful computer, but I still liked my smaller screen, slower iBook I bought three years later much better.

 

[analogkid]

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.

I agree... I doubt I'll buy another computer with an optical drive. The last mac I bought didn't have one.

 

[lifeguard90]

A BTO option would be great if and when it comes to the removal of the optical drive. I'm willing to bet that this next refresh, and near future one after that will keep the drive. People, many many people, have dvd's, software for school/work/fun, burn itunes, etc.. still The macbook air originally never had the drive to begin with, obviously it is not here now. Plus tons of software from the apple store and other pro software do come on dvds, who would of guessed? Snow Leopard was recently upgraded to the current release on dvd, Office mac is on dvd. Students and many others don't or won't have immediate access to another computers drive to read a disc for installation when need be, let alone games which require the disc to be in. The MBA originally and currently was intended for the audience who wanted the most portable and a well reliable notebook. This remains true, and even better. Now what is much more likely is the inclusion of flash storage either standard, or BTO due to the MBP having to include more than a petty 64gb of flash. Possibly removal of the ethernet port to slim down the body, yet probably not because wifi in many locations sucks and people use the cord. So flash, better battery and maybe some port changes are likely for the next refresh besides the obvious Sandy Bridge and a gpu upgrade. Highly highly doubt they wouldn't upgrade the 15 & 17" gpu, especially if SB is incorporated. Such a significant refresh of SB, possibilities of MBA flash, etc.. battery, Instant on would be terrific. Just hope this time around Intel won't be retarded with shortages of chips, thus pushing apple into extended wait time for upgrades.

 

[grahamnp]

I can't imagine apple putting up the with the seams and lines caused by having a modular component and there is no way they would put a battery or 2nd HDD in there while the DVD slot opening is still there on the outside but not functional.

 

[miata]

I can't imagine apple putting up the with the seams and lines caused by having a modular component and there is no way they would put a battery or 2nd HDD in there while the DVD slot opening is still there on the outside but not functional.

The old PowerBooks were done pretty well. It would definitely be a different design, and I'm sure that Apple has designers that could pull it off. They would have to design the thing so that the seams would be natural. I would imagine that one replaceable module would include the SuperDrive and slot, and the a battery replacement unit would show LEDs.

 

[Sirmausalot]

That's not entirely true. There are many reasons you can break DVD encryption legally. If you're a college professor for one. I think to make backup copies or to play on other devices you own. You own the license for personal use by buying the DVD. As long as you do not redistribute or charge anyone for screening, legally you're probably just fine.

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.

 

[Sirmausalot]

Pretty Clear

Steve was perfectly clear. All Macbooks will be going optical free and flash storage as soon as possible. If you remember, part of the problem with the 13" was to get an i5 with a higher end graphics card. So they stuck with the core2.

They've stayed away from Blu-ray because they've seen, and I think likely so, it's a dead end format. Everything is download now. When was the last time you purchased a CD?

Flash (SSD) is so much faster than optical drives. Obviously not if, but when. And when I'll predict the next product refresh for the Pros.

 

[WelshBluebird]

That's not entirely true. There are many reasons you can break DVD encryption legally. If you're a college professor for one. I think to make backup copies or to play on other devices you own. You own the license for personal use by buying the DVD. As long as you do not redistribute or charge anyone for screening, legally you're probably just fine.

Depends where you live.
In the UK it is still technically illegal to rip a music CD to your computer. Of course, you are not going to get done for it (the police probably don't even know its technically illegal), but still.

They've stayed away from Blu-ray because they've seen, and I think likely so, it's a dead end format. Everything is download now. When was the last time you purchased a CD?

Sunday
I seriously can't see an optical drive going away anytime soon.
Too many people still like to buy a physical copy, and too many people have crappy internet connections.

 

[gianly1985]

Mac AppStore.

And then probably Windows AppStore.

Cee deez and dee vee deez gone for software.

'nuff said.


Ps: movies? Wake up, friggin BlockBuster is going out of business. BlockBuster.

 

[deus ex machina]

Ps: movies? Wake up, friggin BlockBuster is going out of business. BlockBuster.

As a place to rent movies.... Netflix and Redbox DVD rentals killed BB. Walmart and Bestbuy still sell Movies as does Amazon and several on line stores.

 

[you-of-eh]

I always see people complaining about Mac GPUs. I don't know much about computers. What are the benefits of a better GPU? Just things like gaming and movies and image rendering software like autocad? Is the reason these people are not happy because there is a better GPU on the market but apple doesn't use it? If so, why don't they?

 

[Tyrion]

I've written about this before, but what really bugs me about the SuperDrive is that it's neither here nor there. It's an optical drive, but a half-hearted one, since it doesn't support the current standard in optical media (Blu-Ray). It's a lingering residual of what are essentially dead media (CDs and DVDs). It's a rotting carcass stinking up the beautiful MBPs, as if Apple had somehow forgotten that they stuck this useless thing in there which takes up about a third of the computer's real estate. All I want is for Apple to finally make a decision. Do they want to commit to optical drives for another couple of years? Fine, but then make the optical drive useful - make it a Blu-Ray Combo Drive. That way, I could actually watch movies in decent quality and use Blu-Rays to backup my stuff. Or do they want to get rid of the optical drive? THEN PLEASE DO IT ALREADY. Sooner or later, Apple will have to go down one of these paths, and I'm about done with waiting - because if there's one thing I'll never do again, it's buying a computer with a SuperDrive. CDs and DVDs are long dead to me.

Also, an actual and embarrassing problem: The optical drives used by Apple are extremely low quality. My MBP's Superdrive lost its ability to read Audio CDs when it was barely a year old; my old Powerbook's Combo-drive was no longer able to burn media after a few years, and my parents' iMac's drive is just starting to act up.

 

[bigjobby]

I can't see Apple getting rid of the SuperDrive for at least the next couple of years simply because there are still plenty of people out there who use it more regularly than others and from a marketing point of view, the case for them to remove it just isn't strong enough yet. Until the competition catches up with them, say on battery life, I think Apple would then strongly consider removing the internal drive.

Not trying to get in a "should they/shouldn't they" discussion but I just see it as Apple are in a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" over this issue.

Personally, I do use the drive and find it very convenient having it internally but I could easily live with it being external. Having the SuperDrive is a cheap solution to filling the gap in the MBP and filling the space with something 'more' useful would increase the overall price of the MBP or cut into Apple's margins (which I can't see happening). Saying that, I use it more than my firewire port but this doesn't mean that they should get rid of this port either.