Im glad I'm not the only person who doesn't want the optical drive to go already...I may not use it daily but I know for a fact I'd rather have it built in then have an external one sitting on my desk or something.
LoL, agreed-mine too! Thats all I need is yet one more gizmo attached to my machine. Enough. Leave the drive or at least offer 2 models, one w/ and one w/o.
I wish they would offer a 2nd FireWire port on the high end iMac and give it its own discreet bus. Sort of bridge the gap between the iMac & the Mac Pro for the more advanced audio/video guys who don't want the tower. Adding a USB port on the side for flashdrives as suggested earlier is also a great idea!
Don't think getting rid of the optical drive is so smart. They could try to incorporate blueray though, that would be a plus. Perhaps USB 3.0 and a eSATA port would be nice too.