I think you have said this a few times in this thread. And it is honestly a load of bull.
It is bull. The whole point to the initial statement to begin with was simply saying "the ODD is a dinosaur, it needs to be removed" is about the most ignorant reason one can give for removing it, where valid reasons actually exist to do so (nevermind that Apple would never do it for any of them). Hence me offering up a similarly stupid thing to say such as "we should remove UNIX and replace it with a newer OS underbelly" as comparison. This comparison seems to have been lost on a lot of people, so I'll just drop it.
Optical media (in Macs) has seen no major changes or enhancements. The DVD and CD of today are much like they were years ago. Even Blu-ray isn't picking up traction. I think the death of optical media has much to do with moving away from a reliance on mechanical mechanisms in computing, but also more reusable forms of distribution.
Blu-Ray is picking up as much traction as any new format at its age is. Pending actual data to back this up, I'd say more BluRay movies have been purchased than movies from the iTunes Store. You can't get BluRay quality video-on-demand yet as 720P is still the most economical (in terms of bandwidth and drive space) format of online High-Definition content.
Unix on the other hand has seen many substantial improvements over time. If Unix had not been changed and enhanced over time it would be living with Windows 95 right about now and the internet would be run on a different platform.
As a technician, I can tell you that you'd be surprised at how many changes these Mac optical drives have actually gone through. Mind you they do nothing but comply with the anorexia that Apple's engineers seem to impose on their portables and fix the problems caused therein. But to say that no substantial improvements are happening there is kind of...well...wrong. In any event, you're taking the comparison that I made in response to one of the more ignorant comments made in the favor of the death of the ODD more seriously than even it was intended.
In other words, "old" in this case has some additional ideas packed in. Not just age but also relevancy and progress. CD and DVDs (and optical media in general) are simply not as relevant today as they were even just a few years ago and there has been no significant advancements in optical media that warrants its continued usage.
The argument of "if it isn't being advanced, it should be tossed" is not a good one. FireWire has seen many advances past IEEE 1394b (FireWire 800), yet Apple hasn't used a single one, nor will they. FireWire was primarily used for Target Disk Mode and DV camera editing; now Target Disk Mode can just as easily be used via Thunderbolt, and DV cameras that use FireWire are all but extinct. Now please point me in the direction of the forums where people all say "get rid of the FireWire Port, it's old and we don't use it!" I'd make the same case with Ethernet, but I don't think I need to and if I do, then it's a futile argument to even have.
We're talking about trends, declining technologies, and surfacing technologies, and all the rumors and directions are pointing that the MBP will ditch it soon enough.
If you follow the trends OF rumors, you'll know that large sweeping rumors like "The MacBook Pro line will merge with the MacBook Air line" and "All MacBook Pros will become ultra-mobile" tend to and probably will only end up meaning that Apple will announce the rumored-about 15" MacBook Air and that there will be overlap between the two lines.
That being said, the MacBook Air is an ultra-portable laptop; an "ultrabook" if you will. Many companies make ultrabooks. But all of them don't JUST make ultrabooks. Just because the MacBook Air dominates the spotlight, doesn't mean it's going to take over Apple's laptop line.
If by "soon enough" you mean this year, I'd wager actual money against that. I'll happily eat my words if I'm wrong.
The built-in optical drive will be touted, much like Ethernet and FireWire 800, as a high-end feature only for those who need it before it finally disappears from all Macs. The 17" MacBook Pro will find itself the only portable Mac with it before it's gone from the line altogether. At the very least, if we're talking about trends, I'd wager EVERYONE uses their optical drive more than their ExpressCard slot.
Like I told you before, from many discussions ago, that Apple would ditch the white Macbook, but you were too adamant and too blind to see that they wouldn't. I really don't think your foresight is quite good if you cannot see the trends developing right in front of you.
And I said that they wouldn't due to the education market, hence it lingering even post-discontinuation for as long as it did.
I actually do see the trend of optical media disappearing believe it or not, but given that I don't foresee all BluRays and DVDs disappearing within this (or even the next) calendar year, and given that software (yes, even Mac software) is still predominantly sold on discs and in stores, I think it's safe to say that Apple won't pull the optical drive from every portable machine it has this calendar year. In 2015, sure. Not today and not tomorrow.
Nope, more common? No one will take you seriously if you cannot provide your argument with data to prove that people who use the ODD are more common at all.
Right, like you telling me that the MacBook Air is Apple's best selling computer without providing any data to support that claim is any different. Oh, hi pot, I'm kettle, did you know that we're both black?
I work in IT. I live and breathe it, even when I don't want to and would rather be out drinking with the friends or doing something else. I have surveyed a plethora of people on this matter, and with one or two real-life exceptions, most use their optical drive very seldom, but would still be upset to see it gone and would never buy a machine without one. Case in point: none of them would ever consider a MacBook Air and the mobile-Mac-prefering among them always default to a MacBook Pro.
I've given my side of the data, and thats an easy one: the Macbook Air is the best selling Mac product, and it does not have an ODD, and thats where real data about real trends happen: in the sales numbers, not the trivial complaints you find and read here on MR. Furthermore, why do you think starting this CES 2012, this has been called the year of the "ultrabook"? Why do you think Intel, Asus, HP, and Dell are all now trying to copy Apple and jump on the super thin, light-weight notebook aesthetic that does not include an ODD?
The Ultrabook craze is no different from the Netbook craze. They're all crazes and much like the Netbook craze, the Ultrabook craze will eventually die down. Once the costs go below $999, Ultrabooks will be replacing traditional notebooks for users whose notebooks are given to them and managed by their IT departments. For all other users (gamers, digital artists, mobile video editors, Pro audio people), the traditional notebook will stick around as the Ultrabook is a poor solution for those people. See Steve Jobs' now-famous "truck analogy".
Come on, stop being so defensive and emotional about a technology, just because you think its inconvenient for you and others to use. Look at the industry as a whole, and not to yourself and a few others anecdotes on this forum.
I don't take others anecdotes on this forum at all seriously. Nor do I see any reason to. I am being no less unreasonable than anyone else on here, I just happen to have a differing opinion and not be in love with the MacBook Air or things about it.
And really, just because the Macbook Pro has a "Pro" in it's name, you don't think consumers are buying these models too?
They absolutely are. I'm a consumer and I'll be buying one. But Pro tends to mean "More features than the other models", which is entirely why I'll be buying a MacBook Pro and not a MacBook Air. That being said, I expect the MacBook Pro line to offer features that stand apart from the MacBook Air as they each fill two entirely different needs.
Obvious is obvious? Uh, it tells me that was the past. I'm talking about the future. What was the purpose of pointing that out?
You said that Apple is moving in that direction as the Mac mini no longer has the optical drive after its 2011 refresh. I made the counter-point that the MacBook Pro still has its optical drive after both of its 2011 refreshes, the latter of which took place AFTER the Mac mini refresh, which to me is a clear indication that it'll stick around this next refresh, whether you or others think it should go away or not. Apple doesn't listen to the MR community, it acts on its own volition.
So your argument is "UNIX is older"?
No, my argument is that killing the optical drive because it is "old" is the worst reason to do so. I don't want it gone personally, as I really don't want to have to tie up my WiFi network using remote disc to install the gigabytes of Adobe software that I just bought onto the MacBook Pro that I'm going to buy at the refresh, but even I can come up with much better reasons for its demise. "Old" is a weak argument, hence the point about UNIX, which shouldn't go away anytime soon, though I guess that analogy wasn't picked up by many.
