Optical SuperDrive in 2012 iMac Thoughts?

[MCIowaRulz]

Will Apple include the Optical SuperDrive in the 2012 iMac?
My gut is telling me "No" but i'd like to hear from the rest of the community

I still Rip CD's and burn DVD's sand I'd rather not have to pay extra for a DVD SuperDrive which is why I'm going to get this years model that has one.

 

[Joshi83]

With the mini losing it's cd drive, I would guess the iMac will too. What I'm keen to see is what they put in it's place, iMacs already have two hdd/ssd, would the space the cd drive took up provide room for a desktop GPU?
That may be worth more than the $30 for an external USB burner...

 

[iLidz]

Definite Maybe

Will Apple include the Optical SuperDrive in the 2012 iMac?
My gut is telling me "No" but i'd like to hear from the rest of the community

I still Rip CD's and burn DVD's sand I'd rather not have to pay extra for a DVD SuperDrive which is why I'm going to get this years model that has one.

My guess is the iMac will undergo another update in a year or less and still have a superdrive. Seeing what happened with the mac mini and Lion's delivery system though, I think it's fair to say that eventually iMacs (and all macs, for that matter) will lose the optical drive. Apple doesn't want to scare away potential customers that feel they still "need" an ODD built in to their machines too soon, but it is in Apple's best interest to complete the transition to ODD-less machines sooner than later.

 

[alust2013]

With the mini losing it's cd drive, I would guess the iMac will too. What I'm keen to see is what they put in it's place, iMacs already have two hdd/ssd, would the space the cd drive took up provide room for a desktop GPU?
That may be worth more than the $30 for an external USB burner...

I don't think the iMac will lose the optical. In a case the size that the iMac has, it's really not that big, compared to the mini. Even without the optical, there's no way it could handle a decent desktop graphics card without overheating. It seems that the current top end mobile cards (which are actually pretty good) are the best solution. They could slap a desktop GPU in there, but it would end up being a low clock or smaller version that would be pretty similar to the ones they use now, given the limited head dissipation capabilities.

 

[Tortri]

I think apple might try to offer a model without one but the user has the option to order a external. A very slim display (maybe as slim as the led displays). Basically slabbing a macbook air onto the back of their displays. So slim.. it's almost passable as an actually apple tv.


lol guess we'll find out soon enough..

 

[szolr]

Well, we've found out now... Was it a good call by Apple do you think?

 

[VassilyTheSkin]

At first I thought "What! No DVD" but then I thought a bit more and realized that I only ever use it for ripping CDs and only a few times a year. So now I think that losing the optical drive isn't such a bad thing.