All MBPs will lose optical drive within a few months

[Xil3]

I think I've only used my optical drive once since I got my MBP (a year ago).

If they don't remove it, they should at least give us the option - maybe have 2 MBP models. Doubt this would happen though.

Imagine having to download Final Cut Studio, @ 50+Gb... LOL!

OP, you are crazy.

Maybe this will help with that:

I'm sure they'll start distributing all their software on usb sticks now as well, with the release of the MBAs.

 

[Hellhammer]

I'm sure they'll start distributing all their software on usb sticks now as well, with the release of the MBAs.

64GB USB Flash drive costs +100$. Flash memory is good for relatively small apps but when you start hitting +32GB, the prices go quite insane.

 

[AppleMacFinder]

Don't look to the past. Look to the future.
Ditch the optical drive from your life.
Or at least get an external (it's really cheap - just 29$ - and nice)

Last Saturday I've asked some people about how often do they use their CD/DVD drives.
And the answers were: "very rarely" "only for OS reinstallation" "don't use" etc.

For Apple, "Digital downloads" is the one of the main priorities and sources of money.

Apple has started distributing the software on the flash sticks.
(Mac OS X; the OS is the software too)

 

[DVD9]

XZOMG YELLING IN BIG RED BOLD LETTERS

Had you read the freaking thread you'd note that I am fully on board with Apple moving the drive out of the machine. I couldn't care less, really. I'm just not convinced that the yet-to-be-released App store is the silver bullet everyone's looking for.

I have read the threads. I've made several similar posts about external drives to the point I'm tired of writing them. I've read over a dozen posts from others making the same point, yet in circular fashion posts continue to appear arguing for keeping the drive inside so they can 1)install software or 2)play DVD discs. One idiot claims he brings his whole DVD collection with him and won't rip them to his drive because it's "illegal".

ENOUGH.
--

 

[CandyCane23049]

I don't want to carry around any extra stuff small or big. Also depending where you are at technology period is not available to everybody, some schools still don't have computers or if they do not up to date ones.

 

[phonk]

Bring it on.
I rarely use the Superdrive of my MacBook Pro and I think it is broken anyway (last time I used it - last year - it didn't recognize the DVD). The only situation I can remember I really needed an optical drive is when I was working at an office and had to install some software. But there were tons of Macs and PC workstations and it would have been no problem to share a drive over the lan.
Every single other software I used the last 3 years was purchased over the internet. Including all Adobe software. As well as every mp3 or movie.

I don't see a good reason to waste space with an optical drive. It's a portable device and everywhere you might need it there will be external drives (via sharing in an office or via a external superdrive at home if necessary).
Optical drives are so 1990s.

 

[revelated]

Secondly, about your logic of 'If you want a ODD buy a MBP, if not buy an Air': what if I want to run graphic-intenstive apps? Don't you think a good GPU would be needed? One that would IMPLY not having the ODD (for space purposes), like an Air, but also have the processor power of MBPs ?

If you need "graphic-intensive" apps, you need an iMac, not a MacBook.

I think I see the difficulty some of you are having. You want a custom machine. You want Apple to allow you to customize your own machine a la Dell. You want the cake AND the coffee. You're saying "my desires are all that matter, everyone else be damned" even though you have an option that you choose not to use.

So be it. Update the 15" MacBook Pro and trash the optical drive. Leave the 13" alone, leave the 17" alone. NO EXCUSES. The 15" can be as powerful as you want it, with no optical present. Regular consumers who don't want to conform to your Jobsianity can (A) buy the 13" or (B) buy the 17".

Problem solved. I don't want to hear pathetic whining about " but I need the larger screen of the 17" too!!!!" No, you don't. If you need screen res, get a Cinema Display.

Summary: There has to be at least ONE MacBook Pro that retains the internal optical drive. Period. This is critical for businesses, important for schools, etc. who all rely on optical media for their daily tasks. If you don't want it, let them junk the 15" and leave the other two alone.

 

[firestarter]

I think I see the difficulty some of you are having. You want a custom machine. You want Apple to allow you to customize your own machine a la Dell. You want the cake AND the coffee. You're saying "my desires are all that matter, everyone else be damned" even though you have an option that you choose not to use.

We'll have to remind you that you wrote this when optical drives are dropped from the range next year and you're complaining that you don't want to carry an external around.

 

[drjsway]

If you need "graphic-intensive" apps, you need an iMac, not a MacBook.

I think I see the difficulty some of you are having. You want a custom machine. You want Apple to allow you to customize your own machine a la Dell. You want the cake AND the coffee. You're saying "my desires are all that matter, everyone else be damned" even though you have an option that you choose not to use.

So be it. Update the 15" MacBook Pro and trash the optical drive. Leave the 13" alone, leave the 17" alone. NO EXCUSES. The 15" can be as powerful as you want it, with no optical present. Regular consumers who don't want to conform to your Jobsianity can (A) buy the 13" or (B) buy the 17".

People who don't want a ODD are conforming to Jobs? So you admit that Steve Jobs wants to remove ODDs.

You do realize that Steve Jobs runs the company and, based on your logic, the MBPs will lose the ODD early next year because that's what Jobs wants.

 

[Jiten]

Summary: There has to be at least ONE MacBook Pro that retains the internal optical drive. Period. .

I agree with this. I have a cousin who is a grade school teacher and they still rely heavily of DVD and CD software. Many grade school and pre school still rely on older tech (optical drives) simply because it fills all their needs.

 

[thedarkhorse]

Are you really going to constantly install 32+gb software on the go? For larger suites of applications you're probably going to install at home or in an office and hooking up a $50 DVD drive through USB is as simple as it sounds. And if you're buying $1k-$3k software suites $50 for an external OD isn't much of a financial dent.

I can't wait for them to axe the OD, it will open up so much room for more battery, give the benefits of air-style flash main drive for OS and apps plus room for a secondary HDD/SSD for large storage, and it will allow them the room to have a dedicated gpu on a new intel core 13" mbp so they can finally ditch c2d in the pro line(maybe no secondary drive option in 13").

 

[Chase R]

Summary: There has to be at least ONE MacBook Pro that retains the internal optical drive. Period. This is critical for businesses, important for schools, etc. who all rely on optical media for their daily tasks. If you don't want it, let them junk the 15" and leave the other two alone.

No, there has to be at least one MACBOOK with an ODD (for the time being). Take the ODD out of the Pros and leave it in the regular MACBOOK. That's where I see this going. Apple isn't going to "junk" (hahaha) the 15" and just leave the ODD in the 13" and 17". That is crazy talk... let's be real here.

 

[apolloa]

Since the majority of people do not use their drive on a regular basis (some people, not at all), it makes no sense to build it into the laptop anymore when that space could be used for something more useful.

Just wondering what factual evidence you have to back that statement up? I suspect none and it's just your personal thoughts.
Whilst I think the idea of no DVD drive is interesting I also think a computer that's a desktop replacement with no DVD drive at the very least in 2010 2011 is laughable for a 15" laptop. The people that remove the superdrive to install another HDD are of such a tiny minority of Mac users it's barely worth mentioning.

 

[aimbdd]

Just wondering what factual evidence you have to back that statement up? I suspect none and it's just your personal thoughts.
Whilst I think the idea of no DVD drive is interesting I also think a computer that's a desktop replacement with no DVD drive at the very least in 2010 2011 is laughable for a 15" laptop. The people that remove the superdrive to install another HDD are of such a tiny minority of Mac users it's barely worth mentioning.

Where is your evidence to back up your statement?
I think its split pretty even.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1041308/
There is not to much you couldn't do with an external optical drive and the hard drive.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Where is your evidence to back up your statement?
I think its split pretty even.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1041308/
There is not to much you couldn't do with an external optical drive and the hard drive.

Your kidding right?

No, the nerds users of this board are a very accurate representation of the population for which we can draw credible evidence from.

 

[aimbdd]

At least i presented something, but very true. I don't think this is any different then apple taking out the floppy drive. No one uses their computer's optical drive to watch movies any more... In the college I was at last year not a single person watched dvds on their computer. Netflix and hulu ruled.

Edit: Computer to computer's optical drive.

 

[Chase R]

At least i presented something, but very true. I don't think this is any different then apple taking out the floppy drive. No one uses their computer to watch movies any more... In the college I was at last year not a single person watched dvds on their computer. Netflix and hulu ruled.

Agreed, Netflix + Xbox 360 is where it's at.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

College doesn't represent the real world. College is where kids can go and get a 4/5/6(?) year all expenses paid (taxpayer and/or parent) vacation with typically fat WAN links (my dorm pipe was around 50/25 d/u).

In the real world, cable operators (et al) are trying to cut back on content providers who are cutting into their revenue streams by lowering caps and inciting fear of a slow congested future unless we all act fast and dumb our connections down to walled gardens so we can be drilled and spoonfed at the same time. In the past, there was no streaming. The technology wasn't there. I remember trying to stream "big brother" via realplayer way back in the day, and it was a miserable experience. No way to get our content via the web; everything was ridged, unlimited (to a degree). Now, caps are in place. I'm all for killing off excessive users, but the problem is, of course, what's excessive for grandma (2.1 emails per day) is nothing compared to the bandwidth saturating activities we participate in.
Yet for the majority of the populous who sees that they can shave $15 bucks off their bill if they go from unlimited data to 200 mb of data (i'm looking at you ATT), the ISPs are in control. Yes some, maybe many customers will benefit from such actions in the short term, but after a while, "acceptable use" will become a convoluted mess wherein two mp3 downloads (8.5 mb) is far to much and consistent with the usage of a dirty pirate, hence one will pay ungodly overages and pay for the privilege of account reinstating. For some reason, carrier capacity is going up, getting cheaper, and the last mile technologies are there. How did we end up paying more to get less?

Sorry. Didn't mean to go off topic.

 

[revelated]

No, there has to be at least one MACBOOK with an ODD (for the time being). Take the ODD out of the Pros and leave it in the regular MACBOOK. That's where I see this going.

Based on what logic?

People here are claiming that people don't use their machines to watch DVDs or rarely install software. You guys are comedy.

So what you're saying is, you don't want the Pro line to have an optical drive. Yet you won't buy the Air, which is basically a lesser powered Pro 13" without the optical drive (refute that statement, I dare you). So Apple gave you EXACTLY what you all say you want, yet you won't let it go. You want them to butcher the entire line of Pros because you want a second hard drive (which you could install yourself, mind), a second GPU (which is pointless, mind), or no....wait...it's that you want to drop weight out of the thing (which the Air already does, mind).

This is what I'm talking about. You guys don't have a clue WHAT you want.

• "Add a second hard drive!!!" Which negates the weight argument.
• "Drop the weight!!!!" which turns it into an Air - a device that already exists for those that want it.
• "Add a second GPU!!!" for what? The Mac has nothing that would even make proper use of a second GPU.
• "The Air is too weak!!!" of course it is. That's what you get when you slim the crap up.

THEN you say "leave it in the white MacBook!" Based on what logic? None.

LOOK. I'm all for a future without optical drives. When I say "future", I would say about 4 revisions from now at the earliest. This nonsense of "...within a few months" is the BS I have a problem with. We still depend on optical and will for the immediate future irrespective of the minority who want to throw two hard drives in their MacBooks. Paying $80 - $100 for an external optical drive that we then have to carry around with us is not practical now. Internet access is not prevalent. There ARE ISP caps regardless of whether they tell you about them or not. There are various news articles right now about them doing metering and tiered pricing which are designed to negate any financial benefits to these radical changes proposed under Jobsianity. The "App store" is something not yet proven, not yet tested, not yet released. For all we know it's DRM laden junk and people are eating it up like suckers before it's even been released.

The optical drive can go when the time is right. That time is not now, it's not 2011. 2012, sure. Let's look at it again. Hell, I'm even ok with Apple encouraging its software makers to start distributing on the USB flash sticks to ease the transition, that's cool. But some of you need to think about the many businesses, schools, colleges, hospitals, libraries, churches, etc. who are still dependent on the physical media. Your little bubble is not the be-all-end-all of it.

 

[jnpy!$4g3cwk]

I agree with this. I have a cousin who is a grade school teacher and they still rely heavily of DVD and CD software. Many grade school and pre school still rely on older tech (optical drives) simply because it fills all their needs.

Yes, you need the capability, as I do. But, we don't need the drive to be in the case, taking up space and adding weight, so that we can use it once in a while. I would much rather have the optical drive as a small portable external unit, just as in the MBA.

Come to think of it, that is what we did we those small portable SCSI tape drives back in the day. Shared them, maybe one per office, because we didn't all need to use it very often, or, at the same time.

 

[jnpy!$4g3cwk]

At least i presented something, but very true. I don't think this is any different then apple taking out the floppy drive. No one uses their computer's optical drive to watch movies any more... In the college I was at last year not a single person watched dvds on their computer. Netflix and hulu ruled.

Edit: Computer to computer's optical drive.

Actually, I know people who use their optical drives to watch movies all the time, including some college students. But, do they need to carry the drives to class? No. Might as well leave the external drive (see MBA) back in the dorm.

 

[aimbdd]

Based on what logic?

So what you're saying is, you don't want the Pro line to have an optical drive. Yet you won't buy the Air, which is basically a lesser powered Pro 13" without the optical drive (refute that statement, I dare you). So Apple gave you EXACTLY what you all say you want, yet you won't let it go. You want them to butcher the entire line of Pros because you want a second hard drive (which you could install yourself, mind), a second GPU (which is pointless, mind), or no....wait...it's that you want to drop weight out of the thing (which the Air already does, mind).

This is what I'm talking about. You guys don't have a clue WHAT you want.

No not really... the air is in no way a replacement for a pro. Gpu? Storage? Processor? Ram? Screen Size? They did not give us exactly what we wanted, not at all. Hmm... You have no clue what you are talking about. The 15 and 17 already have a second gpu. Why not just have the movie on your hard drive instead of dvd. No worry about loosing or scratching it. External drive solves all these problems. No need to always carry it around. Only when you need it. That empty space can be used for something better.

 

[karsten]

1. Quality. IT's well known that even HD downloads are not identical to Blu-ray quality in terms of audio or video. HD downloads are compressed to optimize download and therefore do not yield the full experience.

thats actually the only reason i need to abhor this whole shift to a download-only model. some people can tell the difference between mp3 and the 'real thing.' until we get fiber to the home, FLAC downloads for cd's from the vendors, itunes for me is nothing but a way to rip and organize my bought cd's.

 

[Chase R]

I'm done going back and forth with this guy revalated. He obviously doesn't get it.

Whatever, you win. I just can't seem to wrap my mind around your logic, especially when you say things like "the Mac has no use for a dedicated GPU".

Just don't come cryin' to all of us when your ODD gets axed

 

[gonnabuyamacbsh]

when the mbp does lose the optical drive come next update I'm gonna come here and lol at the idiots arguing so passionately against it.