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Do you ever miss having a disc drive?

M

MacGeekAZ

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 5, 2011
68
1
I'm ready to replace my iBook G4 in a few weeks. I was planning to buy a refurbished MacBook or MacBook Pro, but I am still intrigued by the MacBook Air. I don't travel often, but I do take my laptop with me a lot (coffee shop, library, etc.).

The one thing that I can't figure out is if I would miss having a disc drive. If you have software or data on a CD, do you just use another computer and a thumb drive to transfer it to your MacBook Air? Or is there another option I don't know about? We have two desktop Macs in our house, so I could use those. I also have an external drive for backups.

So tell me about your MBA. Do you miss having a disc drive?

I use my laptop for internet use, email, word processing, watching movies, and a few other programs.

Thanks,
Wendi
 
No.

I even have a external DVD writer and I haven't used it once and I've had the MBA for two months.
 
This also was a scary transition for me as I thought I would regret not having the disc drive. However, I got the Air the day it came out. I have used it everyday for personal as well as for college. I have yet to find a time where I actually needed to use the disc drive. Do not let this be a determining factor for you. It is so much easier and hassle free this way.
 
Very rarely, if I do, I'll borrow the Apple MBA Drive from my place of employment, but honestly I don't need to much. But the space I save is well worth not having the drive.


I wouldn't mind one on my desktop(Mac mini), but not at the price of losing my 2nd storage device.
 
I have an external CD/DVD drive (Samsung, $40 on amazon). I only use it from time to time, to import CDs into iTunes or to watch a DVD.
 
not at all.

the only time i needed a dvd drive was to install windows which i was able to get by by using a usb
 
I've had my Air for two years now, and have missed having the optical drive once. It was about a month after I got it, and I wanted to give a friend of mine some music while I was at her apartment. After a few seconds of "Ugh, no optical drive" I just threw the files on my thumbdrive and gave them to her. Problem solved, and I honestly haven't missed it since :)
 
It'd be a lie if I said I didn't miss it entirely, but it is rare. Once in a while, the convenience of having a DVD drive to watch movies on to go would be nice.

But I certainly don't miss it in respect to the Air's weight and thin frame. It is worth the trade off in the big picture.
 
I had a PC laptop for years and hardly ever used its built-in dvd drive. The transition to MBA was fine as I still don't have a need for it. The only time needed is to import CD/DVD which is rare.
 
I have one of the new Mac Minis with no optical drive. I can't rightly say I miss it.

At some point I'll grab a cheap external drive for those just in case moments, but really it hasn't been missed.

There really isn't very much boxed software available anymore that isn't also available as a direct download, which is far more convenient anyway.

I decided on a MacBook Pro over the MacBook Air earlier this year because I was concerned about the optical drive. I now regret the decision, not that the MBP isn't great, it is, but the Air would be so much more compact to travel with.
 
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No more than I miss my floppy drive. Actually I miss the floppy more. Loading 30 to 40 floppies to install a software package was so much more thrilling then tossing a single CD/ROM in the drive and letting it do it's thing. There was always that fear in the back of your mind that somewhere around floppy 37 you would get a system error.
 
I you miss these you are insane.

but space is a problem. I bought a Lacie TB drive. Problem solved.
 
i've got a desktop pc with a dvd burner..

i only use it when im burning some data, or installing windows..

so basically i use it very rarely.

i see no use for it at all on my MBA
 
Rarely need a disc drive these days.

Everything is shared over the net and videos music can be streamed.

I do need a dvd writer for making my home movies etc... so it just sits on my desk and i plug in when i need it. I used it tonight for example, watching a movie which i like to do in my study as i have a big monitor and a big lounge sofa next to my workstation.
 
I actually do miss the disc drive. For instance when I'm visiting my hometown or for holidays and vacations, I often feel the need to simply put in a newly bought dvd or to import a cd to iTunes so that I can sync it with my iPhone. I had a PowerBook 12" that will always be my favorite mac of all time. It had it all; power, small enough to take it everywhere all though it was a bit heavier than the 11" Air that I now use. I'm seriously considering buying a MBP 13" the next time, just because of the disc drive. I wish the screen was 11" on the MBP:)
 
Yes I would miss the disc drive if the MBA were my only machine. I can't stream video where I live, I don't have a TV set or anything to watch DVDs on except a laptop, so now when I watch DVDs, it's on an MBP or a really old 15" powerbook.

My all time fave machine was always the 12" G4 Powerbook. I regret giving my two away to family members now because of having so much trouble with my MBP WiFi connectivity, that stupid thing! I practically end up using the mbp ONLY for watching DVDs if I'm too lazy to fish out an ethernet cable on days the pro is misbehaving.

I love my MBA though. I have the original, and want to get the newer one sometime next year. No problems with the wireless on that thing, and the new ones really fly. Enjoy it if you buy it! :)
 
Have my MBA for only a week but even on my desktop PC, I barely use the disc drive so I don't miss it at all.. USB drives and Dropbox are more than enough in 2011 !!
 
reputationZed said:
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No more than I miss my floppy drive. Actually I miss the floppy more. Loading 30 to 40 floppies to install a software package was so much more thrilling then tossing a single CD/ROM in the drive and letting it do it's thing. There was always that fear in the back of your mind that somewhere around floppy 37 you would get a system error.
Click to expand...

You're a Man.
 
So far I used my external drive on the Air for a grand total of 1 time, and used that same drive on my desktop once as well. Both the times I was installing Windows.

Other than that I have so use for the external drive.
 
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