How many games for Mac require a CD inserted to run? If the games are old enough, wouldn't a virtual drive app easily get around the obsolete copy protection? And what is wrong with external optical drives for the few people who really need them?
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iMac Update to Haswell Expected in June or July as Shipments Sink
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I don't know what your professional usage is. But as a client of almost any service, I would much rather get the bits I want by downloading them instead of optical disks that are subject to delivery (time/cost), breaking (physically), loss (too much stuff).
2GB is not much. I download games of steam that can be up to 14GB.
At least in my country 10/10Mbps or so broadband is pretty much standard.
I hope its true
Sick and tired of the abuse I get when I say that the iMac would be updated with Haswell. Some idiots on the forum keep insisting, no, Apple won't do it until Broadwell since Haswell is just for laptops and battery life improvements.
Oh please, its a processor update, of course they can update without affecting the design. Those who keep saying it won't be updated until Q4 or next year Broadwell are just hurt because their late 2012/early 2013 models will be out of date so soon.
Sick and tired of the abuse I get when I say that the iMac would be updated with Haswell. Some idiots on the forum keep insisting, no, Apple won't do it until Broadwell since Haswell is just for laptops and battery life improvements.
Oh please, its a processor update, of course they can update without affecting the design. Those who keep saying it won't be updated until Q4 or next year Broadwell are just hurt because their late 2012/early 2013 models will be out of date so soon.
It's not the cost, it is all about the footprint.
You can't have a magical, even slimmer OSX device if you put brick inside it, like the current PC's from Windows stable.
Most people return flash drives and even it they don't they are around $8.00. A cost you should easily be able to pass on. DVD drives are quickly becoming a thing of the past...
There are many decent slim external DVD drives for $15-$20. If you want to splurge for quality it bumps you up to $30. These are normal prices on Amazon or Newegg too. At least a few times per year the prices on the nice drives drop into the <$20 range. Yes, it's $20 but if you are intent on playing old games that require the disc in drive, an extra $20 is nothing when compared to the cost of a $1500 - $2500 iMac or MacBook *.
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Edit: Merged posts. See above. If you want one for occasional use, get a sub-$20 one. If you use one a lot, splurge for the $30 one.
If people are worried about desk clutter, then put the drive in a drawer until needed.
I use the optical drive in my MacBook Pro but in the 1.5 years that I've had my computer I've used the drive less than 10 times (and most of those uses were installing Windows and some particular Windows programs under BootCamp).
40 million people or more own a blu-ray player and that number is growing. Some people want a physical media they can take and play at someone's house or put on a shelf and collected, why is this concept so unattractive to Apple freaks AND more importantly why is the thinest design more important than the most functionality? Last years iMacs with the slot loaded drives weren't ugly. What is ugly is another external drive with a cord draped on my desk. I received a prospectus in the mail. Guess what: it was on DVD! "Earth to Jonny Ives...Earth to Jonny Ives... DVD still exists." If he wasn't so pudgy I would swear that guy was obsessed with anorexia
You must be basing that on the half dozen or so dorks who posted on Macrumors. Not a fair assessment of the general populace. I would guess that almost none of the millions of housewives, high school kids, hipsters and business people who bought one thought about it at all.
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Why is the issue of the lack of optical drive still a big thing here? Move on already, nobody is forcing you to buy an iMac. 
One of my all time buys.....that and my bluray writer
One of my all time buys.....that and my bluray writer
I'd be happy if they let the late 2012 iMacs upgrade the WiFi. That's something I'd be more then happy to pay for.
With faster and faster in-home internet faster wifi is a must. I guess I can always go the USB3 route....
With faster and faster in-home internet faster wifi is a must. I guess I can always go the USB3 route....
I do to, but don't say that too loudly around here otherwise you will be lynched. Too many mp3 enthusiasts who only listen to music on an iPhone maybe?
You can get an external DVD drive, but Apple seems to have decided that the majority of iMac buyers do not need a DVD drive. For me, it takes longer to burn 2GB than it does to upload it, I think.
Oh yeah, you also run the risk of a disc getting stuck in the ridiculous iMac slot-loading optical drive. I had a disc stuck in my 2006 iMac for TWO YEARS. It was trying to eject it constantly. One day, it just popped out.
Presuming this machine has the same ports as the the late 2012 model, I would be looking at the Sonnet Dock which has an optical drive and room for a disk inside. And of course add more USB ports. More importantly, it would add a FireWire port which I still have uses for.
In truth having the optical drive being external is a good thing. In this case it would be tray loading which is more forgiving of bad discs. And also I could see the tray where the disc is going in instead of a slot that you have to insert the disc by feel.
I presume you meant Apple and not App. Anyway, it means something is getting updated. We won't know until it's back up.
Although I do agree that an update to at least one Mac line is probable.