Interesting comments.
Actually, it is we techno-geeks on this board who have special interests. I deal with the masses on a daily basis. We are not the masses.
Well I'm certainly not the masses. However if you talk to a broad cross section of the population I think you will find that you are vastly overstating your case.
Case in point I was talking to a nurse the other day and she could stop talking about her brand new 3G IPad. She was very happy to point out that she got it the first day of release. In any event the most important comment was that she seldom used her Mac anymore.
It is only wasted in your opinion. People do use the ODD, even if you don't.
Exactly an opinioned shared by many others. Using your logic though the laptops AC power supply should be internal. After all it is used daily. The point is I use my power supply far more than my optical and that is external.
I have not had a problem with optical disc reliability. Perhaps you need to choose a different brand of media.
It is one of the reasons why everybody at work uses USB sticks these days. They are just less fiddly.
Maybe not, but there have been many instances when my daughter will watch a children's DVD played through the ODD of a MBP while the rest of the family watches, say, a football game.
A perfectly good use! But that still doesn't imply that every laptop needs a ODD. Remember one of the driving factors here is to provide for better laptops in the smaller sizes.
There is not always space for an external ODD and another peripheral mitigates the very idea of a laptop--a portable, fully functional and usable computer, including an ODD.
That is your definition! People who use Netbooks, ultra light laptops, iPads and other small formfactor devices would argue with that definition of a laptop.
Only if by better you mean removing functionality. Again, you may not use it, but others do.
You are completely missing the point here, people want to drop the internal ODD to add functionality. Looking at it this way you can see the positive aspect of the desire. The whole idea is to add features that modern users will find useful in compact laptops.
For example on the 13" MBP we could see a real GPU and space for a secod disk drive. Or maybe a bigger battery and a 3G radio. Or a larger battery and room for a disk array. The permutations are endless but I know many would love to see a faster graphical subsystem in the 13" MBP.
Of course is you use the drive constantly you don't see it as wasted space. If on the otherhand you don't use it every day then it is wasted space.
As I previously posted, perhaps it would be better for Apple to expand the MBA line and increase its power. I still think many of you who want laptops without the ODD would be better served by a revamped MBA, especially if Apple were to increase the port options on it.
the Mac Book AIR sucks on so many levels that I wouldn't even consider that. AIR is probably the biggest disappointment from Apple in recent history. Though honestly for me it is because of the high price you pay for what you are getting.
The thing here is that I can see your side of the story. Some people do use their opticals alot. The flip side is that many do not and I would say the portion that do not could easily justify a reconfigured model easily.
In a nut shell Apple needs to serve up machine more tailored to todays average users needs.
Dave
