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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple has discontinued its non-Retina legacy MacBook Pro, the last Mac it sold with a built-in CD/DVD drive. The 13-inch notebook had not been updated since June 2012, but it remained available for purchase on Apple's website for $1,099 until today.

mbp-legacy.jpg

Apple continues to sell a standalone SuperDrive for $79 that connects with a traditional USB cable. As with the 12-inch MacBook, a dongle would be needed to use the SuperDrive with new MacBook Pros that have switched to USB-C ports.

Article Link: Apple No Longer Sells a Mac With a CD Drive
 
Last edited:

SBlue1

macrumors 68000
Oct 17, 2008
1,936
2,366
I ordered mine minutes after the keynote 2012 and still rocking with it. Turned into a brand new computer a year ago with a new 500 Gig SSD and 16 Gig or RAM.

Now for the same configuration I would have to pay more than double the price for the new MacBooks! Would have Retina, new processor and touchbar but still not worth the hefty price raise!
 

MisterAndrew

macrumors 68030
Sep 15, 2015
2,878
2,360
Portland, Ore.
Aww I knew they were probably going to discontinue the non-Retina model today. Sad... I'm sure you could still get one from an Apple Store today and 3rd party retailers will probably discount them. Maybe they'll even pop up in Apple's clearance section. And of course it's still available refurbished. I'm going to hang onto my 2012 non-Retina 15" MacBook Pro. The new ones are awesome, but they're too expensive and I bet they'll get an iFixit repairability score of 0.
 

BreadofWonder

macrumors member
Feb 2, 2016
85
131
I really hate how Apple can get away with charging $1,099 for a 4 year old laptop. I know many schools bought these for the optical drive, storage capacity, and ethernet port. It's a shame they were ripping them off for so long.
The schools don't HAVE to buy them, you know. No one does. Apple kept it around because there was still demand for it. I'm pretty sure most people knew what they were getting (especially if it was an institutional purchase).
 

macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,100
19,598
I can't even remember the last time I used a disc based media in any form. Actually yes I can, my Xbox 360 in 2013 before I got the Xbox One and went all digital. All my movies are in iTunes now, supplemented by Netflix and Hulu, along with Apple Music and BT streaming in my car. I don't even use flash drives anymore, as I can just send someone a link to Dropbox. RIP to all the discs out there.
 

MisterAndrew

macrumors 68030
Sep 15, 2015
2,878
2,360
Portland, Ore.
I really hate how Apple can get away with charging $1,099 for a 4 year old laptop. I know many schools bought these for the optical drive, storage capacity, and ethernet port. It's a shame they were ripping them off for so long.

You're missing the fact that $1,099 still bought a brand new MacBook Pro that is user upgradeable and fixable. Some people are willing to pay for that.
 

GeneralChang

macrumors 68000
Dec 2, 2013
1,660
1,488
Huh. I guess I didn't notice that. Well, I've still got many CD drives chilling around my house, and almost no need for any of them, so... oh well. End of an era, though.
 

TheAppleFairy

Suspended
Mar 28, 2013
2,588
2,223
The Clinton Archipelago unfortunately
With what money? Most school districts in this country can barely pay the bills as-is. This is the exact same reason they're still running stuff off cds

LOL I specifically mentioned NOT buying 100 CD drives with the 100 computers you buy. using 1 external is a start...and it shouldn't cost the school money to have an IT department (which already exist) to NOT include an item that is hardly needed.
 

geoff5093

macrumors 68020
Sep 16, 2014
2,251
2,564
Dover, NH
The schools don't HAVE to buy them, you know. No one does. Apple kept it around because there was still demand for it. I'm pretty sure most people knew what they were getting (especially if it was an institutional purchase).
True, but my complaint here is that the price was the same when competitors had better products, and the cost of production was going down. Having the same price for 4 years with identical hardware is just pure greedy on Apple's part.
Kind of dumb to buy them for the optical drive....For one if the school has a need for an optical drive they can share it over the network or use a USB one externally.

The school IT department needs to keep up with the better alternatives.
Our school handed out MacBook's to teachers to use at school and home. Many used the optical drive, and going from a 500GB mechanical drive to the new smaller solid state drives with no optical or ethernet ports would have been a huge pain. Getting an external one is just an extra cost, but something we considered.

You're missing the fact that $1,099 still bought a brand new MacBook Pro that is user upgradeable and fixable. Some people are willing to pay for that.
I miss that, I just wish the processor and GPU was ugpradable.
 
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Oblivious.Robot

macrumors 6502a
Sep 15, 2014
815
2,176
Is this.. is this the one am using right now?

I upgraded few years back to SSD and 16Gb ram and this thing is better than ever, and I hope to use it for another 2 years and then pass it on to my younger sibling.

I can't believe it's almost four years old now! My very first Mac! (got it in 12/12/2012 :D)
 

TheAppleFairy

Suspended
Mar 28, 2013
2,588
2,223
The Clinton Archipelago unfortunately
Our school handed out MacBook's to teachers to use at school and home. Many used the optical drive, and going from a 500GB mechanical drive to the new smaller solid state drives with no optical or ethernet ports would have been a huge pain. Getting an external one is just an extra cost, but something we considered.

For most people 500GB is way more than enough for business use anyway....SSD are less likely to fail mainly because of no moving parts. Depending on the layout of the school and how old it is I can see wireless as being a pain or expensive to implement.

anyway back to the CD drive....why do you really need one these days? Everything thinks they need one until they have one and never use...or only use because they have one. There are alternatives out there that cost nothing.
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What's a CD drive? Does it play those black 12" plastic circle thing'a-magigies that Barnes and Nobles sells?

I think it's similar to the DVDs you get at blockbuster video.
 
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