Conjecture thread: Why 3Gb/s ODD connection? Empty SATA III port?

[idea_hamster]

So it's become clear that the SuperDrive in the 2011 MBP is connected to a SATA II port, leaving one of the two SATA III ports empty and effectively crippling the design from supporting a SATA III SSD in the ODD bay.

This strikes me as bizarrely irrational, since SATA III is backwards compatible, meaning that there would be no problem connecting the ODD to that port.

Did they really do this just to stymie the OptiBay people from running an aftermarket SATA III SSD in the ODD bay? Did they do it in the hopes that we would buy a new machine at some later date? Or is it a function of Apple's infuriatingly patronizing attitude that assumes that we don't need a SATA III connection or a second hard drive or an upgrade path or, really, anything that didn't come off their drawing board?

Can someone -- anyone -- please propose a rational basis for this?

Somebody talk me down off the ledge, here, folks!



Edit: Thanks to recent MacRumors addition johnsock for finally clearing up just what connection the ODD is on.

 

[aznguyen316]

My guess? That little SATA connector that can simply disconnect from the ODD may not support 6Gbps speeds. It's not has hefty as the one to the main drive. I've removed the ODD optibay several times. It's purely a small little connector that can be removed from both ends, not much bigger than a guitar pick. Maybe Apple never bothered to upgrade that piece to run 6Gbps rather than the old standard of 3Gbps. My guess!

 

[idea_hamster]

That little SATA connector that can simply disconnect from the ODD may not support 6Gbps speeds.

I'm confident that you're right, in part because the SuperDrive cannot saturate SATA II. So if the designers are the kind of jerks^H^H^H^H^H people who think that no one will ever do anything with their MBPs other than use them as they configured them, then this is fine.

But (unless I'm hugely mistaken -- and I encourage people to disabuse me of any misconceptions) since SATA III is backwards compatible, they should have been able to connect it to the SATA III port and have it run, as always, at SATA I speeds.

Perhaps this is Steve's way of making sure we don't add a BluRay drive? I'm grasping at straws here -- these explanations all sound so vapid.

 

[bwrairen]

This is really bothering me as well. They are both listed in system profiler as series 6 chipsets, so why is it not capable of 6gb/s? Did Apple really intentionally slow port 1 down?

 

[idea_hamster]

This is really bothering me as well. They are both listed in system profiler as series 6 chipsets, so why is it not capable of 6gb/s? Did Apple really intentionally slow port 1 down?

If only it were so good -- were that the case, they could have fixed this with a firmware update.

They didn't even use a SATA III port. The SuperDrive is on port 2.

 

[idea_hamster]

Do we think that this could somehow be related to a heat issue? This was mentioned elsewhere.

Perhaps Apple thought that there would be an overheating problem if we added a second hard drive in with the new higher-wattage quad-core system?

I don't buy it....

 

[RainCityMacFan]

Do we think that this could somehow be related to a heat issue? This was mentioned elsewhere.

Perhaps Apple thought that there would be an overheating problem if we added a second hard drive in with the new higher-wattage quad-core system?

I don't buy it....

I'm sure it's Apple's way of stymieing the whole OptiBay thing.

The heat shouldn't matter since one can put an SSD in there and if otherwise, we would be voiding our own warranties. Perhaps it has something to do with cost as well? The SuperDrive is SATA 2, so they'll probably just stick with a SATA 2 port.

 

[idea_hamster]

I'm sure it's Apple's way of stymieing the whole OptiBay thing.

Right? It's starting to seem like this...

The heat shouldn't matter since one can put an SSD in there and if otherwise, we would be voiding our own warranties.

I didn't think the heat idea made much sense either -- I was just trying to brainstorm some kind of non-malicious rationale for this decision.

Perhaps it has something to do with cost as well? The SuperDrive is SATA 2, so they'll probably just stick with a SATA 2 port.

Well, the cost would only be in designing the connection to the logic board, because SATA III is backward compatible. And something tells me that all that cost savings did not get passed on to the buyer!