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Really No Opt Drive?

If they're going to redesign the iMac, it will not have an optical drive that's for sure :) and I'm sure it will be flash based as well. If you look at the Mac mini, they removed the optical drive as well :D

I really hope there will be a redesign this year, not a spec bump!
 
My concern is will you still be able to install windows with no optical drive? I hate windows but still need to run certain applications with it.
 
The same people on this forum complained when they got rid of floppy drives. Can't keep antiquated tech around forever.
 
Puevlo said:
The same people on this forum complained when they got rid of floppy drives. Can't keep antiquated tech around forever.
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Nope. Superdrive was not bad as alternative to floppy at that time. Flash thumb drive was also emerging. But internet download as alternative to optical media?... Not everyone has >100Mbps internet connection like you guys.
 
knapp40 said:
My concern is will you still be able to install windows with no optical drive? I hate windows but still need to run certain applications with it.
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Don't need to buy anything if you've got a USB thumb drive :D
 

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I want the drive, I rip all the dvd's I purchase and place them on my media server. No, I don't want an external, I like the IMac because there are less wires and crap all over the place.
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Puevlo said:
The same people on this forum complained when they got rid of floppy drives. Can't keep antiquated tech around forever.
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Optical drives are not antiquated and are still very widely used, the floppy was just plain outdated and had no storage, even for the time.

50GB Blu Rays aren't exactly outdated.

Also, Blu Ray movies offer MUCH higher quality than anything you'll get off streaming.
 
I still have clients who want jobs sent to them physically, burned to disc. Yeah, I could get an external drive, but that's just more clutter on the desk.
 
G51989 said:
Optical drives are not antiquated and are still very widely used, the floppy was just plain outdated and had no storage, even for the time.

50GB Blu Rays aren't exactly outdated.

Also, Blu Ray movies offer MUCH higher quality than anything you'll get off streaming.
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True. Optical is still the best and cheapest solution for physical backup and content. I certainly don't want the future depends entirely on the cloud or streamed online.
Remember internet bandwidth is a limited resource. And people keep abusing it more and more since dial-up era. Cloud and stream services are making it even worse.

One thing about physical media (optical or not), I hold control and ownership over my contents.

Anyone saying clouds are the best and only way for future is a tool. How about buying a house in the cloud later so you can redownload your house whenever it's accidentally evicted. Nice :rolleyes:
 
I would like to see Apple do the same thing to the iMac as they did with the Macbook Pro. Create a vision of the future iMac and then an updated iMac with the optical. Let the sales numbers determine it's fate.
 
G51989 said:
50GB Blu Rays aren't exactly outdated.

Also, Blu Ray movies offer MUCH higher quality than anything you'll get off streaming.
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Yeah, but Apple doesn't do Blu-Ray so the only way to get Blu-Ray playback on a Mac is to use an External drive (or buy a Mac Pro and use an internal there), so therefore your justification for Optical media holds no water....

The next redesigned iMac (and I am not talking about a spec bump) will not have an Optical drive and I'm okay with that since I have an external Blu-Ray burner.
 
paulrbeers said:
Yeah, but Apple doesn't do Blu-Ray so the only way to get Blu-Ray playback on a Mac is to use an External drive (or buy a Mac Pro and use an internal there), so therefore your justification for Optical media holds no water....

The next redesigned iMac (and I am not talking about a spec bump) will not have an Optical drive and I'm okay with that since I have an external Blu-Ray burner.
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Then maybr its time Apple embraced blu ray?

And I don't want external, I don't want more random **** on my desk.

So because it will probably be solid state with no optical drive, lots of people will need external optical drives and external hard drive. So much for desktop nirvana!
 
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I don't use OD, but I'm in a minority

I think we're still at a silly point to remove OD from new desktops. It really doesn't take up much room.

That being said, I had to remove my OD from my old Wintel box last year and I've not missed it one bit. Everything I *need* is done via streaming + USB + Network drive.


But... that's just me. To a lot of people, the DVD is still required. Especially considering one of the big Advantages Apple used to tout was how easy it was for Grandma to make a DVD of her video of little Timmy's recital. And what-not.
 
I would love to go digital/streaming only. But really, I don't think the world is ready, and there's a lot of content I'd have to give up because the provider hasn't "embraced the future" if I had no ODD. And if this is the state of the world, asking everyone to buy an external is just silly.
 
If the update is just a bump, even a simple Ivy bump, it will stay there. If they go for a total redesign, for example a shrink-to-TBD-size, the drive will be lost. If Apple takes itself serious, they do the latter as it makes the profit even healthier.
 
I would bet on apple losing the od disc if not this year next year, Sony has recently dumped the od from its vaio so its a growing trend, I am now buying what tv shows I can from iTunes to prepare myself while using a MacBook retina I am getting used to the idea of no need for a drive
 
boot camp

Yes,I am planning on putting bootcamp onto my new Imac. My question is...Just HOW can this be done with no optical drive??
 
emjaymert said:
Yes,I am planning on putting bootcamp onto my new Imac. My question is...Just HOW can this be done with no optical drive??
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Same way it's done on the Macbook Air, Mac Mini, and Retina Macbook Pro.

On those machines the Bootcamp assistant allows you to specify a Windows .iso disk image. It then puts the disk image and bootcamp drivers combined onto a USB stick and then you use that to install Windows.
 
If you are hoping for a user swappable video card or HDD dock in the old ODD bay ... dream on. The ODD will go away, the price will stay the same, Apple's profits will increase. It will not be replaced with anything useful.

And for those of you advocating using an external drive ... why would I buy an AIO with wireless keyboard and mouse and then buy a freaking external drive?? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of an AIO??

ODD's are not dead and there are many people that use them. This situation is not analogous to the end of floppies. When it was taking 400 floppies to back up my picture files, it was clear they were no longer practical.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if Apple phases out the optical drive in iMacs.

Why? Because Apple pushes things forward.

And they want to make money on software purchases via the app store.
 
Zwhaler said:
Not old timer technology lots of clients still want optical media. Yes it is on its way out but its definitely not dead yet.
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This was the same thing that was said about floppy media back in 1998 when Apple so rightfully removed it from the machine with the iMac. Optical media has had its day, it shouldn't be necessary anymore.
 
Sleix said:
This was the same thing that was said about floppy media back in 1998 when Apple so rightfully removed it from the machine with the iMac. Optical media has had its day, it shouldn't be necessary anymore.
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No, it's not the same thing as they replaced it with better physical storage device...The difference here is many folks don't want their content storage in a virtual space especially home movies or other items in the hands of another party...I don't think folks would have as much issue with it if was replaced with better physical storage technology that they can control.

It's like suggesting that someone who prefers physical books is stuck in the stone age...It's nonsense.
 
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