Hypothetical situation. I've bought a new MacBookProAir or whatever it's going to be called without an optical drive. I don't want to shell out for an external DVD drive and the reason I bought it in the first place is because my current MacBook Pro has died. On my shelf are boxed copies of Quark Xpress 8, CS5 and Microsoft Office. Are Apple making me HAVE to buy an external drive as well as my shiny, new, EXPENSIVE laptop just because I have software I can't download..?
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Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Notebook
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I seriously doubt this would jump into the Macbook Pro line at this time.
Macbook Pros are stuff where you expect to be able to upgrade or replace the memory and Hard-drives yourself. User-capable laptop expansion and support for classic devices are the MBP thing, not to mention (especially when going 15" or above) a dedicated graphics card. Since I don't see any near future where integrated would remotely compete with dedicated graphics cards, I think the Pro line is secure for a while.
(Unless somebody comes up with some fairly cool-running dedicated graphics that can really perform and fit in such a tiny space)
Macbook Pros are stuff where you expect to be able to upgrade or replace the memory and Hard-drives yourself. User-capable laptop expansion and support for classic devices are the MBP thing, not to mention (especially when going 15" or above) a dedicated graphics card. Since I don't see any near future where integrated would remotely compete with dedicated graphics cards, I think the Pro line is secure for a while.
(Unless somebody comes up with some fairly cool-running dedicated graphics that can really perform and fit in such a tiny space)
You know you can take your boxed software to a friend along with external HDD and make disk images with Disk Utility. Problem solved.
Depends on whether you have another machine, in your house, that has a DVD drive, and it's on your home network. With the Air, they already advertised that it comes with software to steal use of any DVD drive of any computer on your home network. Though I would say, you'd want the external drive anyway. You'd buy it only once, and it will work with new machines that may not have a built in DVD drive, like the new Macbook Mini. There is 1 piece of software, I know, in which the only easy way to install it is with the external drive. (Windows itself). Apparently, installing Windows via Bootcamp requires an actual connected drive, if you don't find a way to hack a different method.
So does this mean that they'll phase out the 13" MBP? If everything is essentially going to be a MBA with the new updates, there may not be much purpose in Apple's eyes to sell two 13" models. Of course, that would suck, because the current 13" MBA is not as powerful as the current 13" MBP, so there will be a power gap between the 13" MBA and the future 15" MBP. Perhaps Apple will have the option of choosing a faster 13" as they have different options for the current lineup?
I just hope they keep the black facia around the screen. I really hate the silver one on the MacBook Air. I also want to keep the dedicated graphics card, firewire port (never used it but would like to keep it), but I'm not bothered about the express card slot. The DVD drive I'm not sure about, I do use it (for music) but I could probably make do with the USB one for the amount that I do use it.
Everyone of the softwares you mentioned can be downloaded. All you need is your license key. Also, remember, you don't have to buy the Apple drive, you can get an external CD/DVD drive for about $30.
I just don't get your concerns. It's like complaining about the price of premium gas that you have to buy for the $60K Corvette you just bought.
To carry this hypothetical situation further, I only know one other person with a Mac and he lives 60 miles away. I don't have another Mac and the only stuff networked to my Powerbook is a printer and a scanner - I do not have an external drive.
Holy crap Batman, someone who is breaking the mould!! You should be in one of those shampoo/ styling gel adverts?
Totally agree with everything you said too, a lot of ignorant and arrogant opinions in this thread, and as for getting rid of the RJ45!
yeah, I can state right now not ONE company will every buy a Mac without a network port unless the business heavily depended on Mac only software. And not many I.T. departments would consider a $40 plus dongle as value for money either. And not every hotel has WiFi etc.And another nice scenario is if your home router's wireless stops working, you cannot connect to it and therefore anything else on the network or the internet, you loose all internet and email access etc.
So you are forced to reboot the router to it's default settings which means loosing all your custom settings just because your Mac lacks the ability to plug into a router......
Yeah, wow that's common sense right there. If Apple made the Pro line into machines with no Network port, no fire wire port, no user upgradeable ram or storage, it would become even more of a laughing stock of computer manufactuers then it already is, it would loose market share like a stone in business, and possibly the consumer market too.
I could possibly live without a DVD drive, but I would not touch a Mac I was not able to change the memory in or the storage drive and didn't have all the ports I have now and a powerful quad core GPU and CPU unless it had a small screen.
And also think how is a manufacture going to sell to the market a 15" model lacking all these features anyway? It just won't, not at Apple's prices. The Air's are successful cause they have small screens, the 15 and 17" market are supposed to replace a desktop, not go backwards in specification just to look pretty!
About 6 months ago I replaced my optical drive in my mbp with an ssd. I bought an external enclosure for the times when I'd need to pop in a disc. I've needed it exactly 0 times. It's very practical to use disc for nothing these days. CDs are dead, movies can all be downloaded or streamed, and software can be downloaded 99% of the time. I don't get how Apple is killing disk? Seems to me like we all are.
Everyone of the softwares you mentioned can be downloaded. All you need is your license key. Also, remember, you don't have to buy the Apple drive, you can get an external CD/DVD drive for about $30.
I just don't get your concerns. It's like complaining about the price of premium gas that you have to buy for the $60K Corvette you just bought.
So, taking this hypothetical situation STILL further, all my fonts, all my files, all my CD-based music... I'm somehow supposed to download that lot out of thin air, am I? Regardless as to whether an external drive can be bought for $30 or not, I see it as an (albeit for only those who need it) Apple tax - I'm being forced to buy it. There are Mac-heads on here who wouldn't DREAM of putting a cheap non-Apple SuperDrive alternative (although that's up to them) on their beloved machines - so it's going to cost someone in that situation even more...
It sounds like an external optical drive would be ideal for the case where you sometimes need to install software from disc: you pull out the drive when needed but don't need to lug it around all the time.
A few notes: If $30 is too much for your budget, you probably arn't in the market for this thing anyway. Also, in the specific case you mention, you'd actually probably restore your apps from your MBP backup.
edit:
Again, restore from backup.
Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. You should keep a backup of your files as it could turn out to be highly expensive (or maybe not even possible) to recover your files if your hard drive dies on you one day.
As an engineering student and person who travels over seas and has a whole collection of old cds, i enjoy having an optical drive, especially when i am over seas and do not have access to wireless internet or any internet for that matter.
In regards to the separate optical drive that i can purchase from Apple, I shouldn't have to spend an extra $100. When I pay $1200 for a computer, I expect it to have the basics (including hardware) that laptops have always had.
Your argument seems pointless. If you don't want a machine without a super drive, then don't buy one! And if the "Apple tax" is too much for you, don't buy an Apple product. Simple.
It's obvious that Apple is doing something right. They're sales in PC's have been consistently growing more than all the other PC manufactures put together. Most are declining while Apple is seeing double digit growth.
LOL, so you want a 3.5" floppy drive on your laptop? Laptops used to "always have" a floppy drive. Somehow we all got over not having one.
An optical drive is no longer part of the basics.
Yes, Apple is making you to shell out another $50 on top of the $2000 you paid for the laptop. If that breaks the camel's back, tough luck. BTW, my Mac did not ship with 8 GB of RAM from Apple, they made me shell out another $500 for it.
(All prices are for third-party providers.)
External storage on my home network shared to all computers. External options guys.
It might not be enough to power a high-res 15" screen + 30" screen. But it is easily enough to power a high-res 15" screen on its own. In the 13" MBA is powers a built-in screen of 1440 by 900 pixels + 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external screen, ie, a total of 5.392 m pixels.I think it will have a dedicated GPU. The 3000 IGP just isn't enough to power a 15" high-res screen
The current high-res 15" screen is 1680 by 1050 pixels, adding a 27" Apple display with 2560 by 1440 pixels would result in 5.45 m pixels. That might tip things over the edge or it might not. But even if it worked, Apple would prefer to have its 15" MB(P)s to still support the 30" display (even though it is no longer sold).