See, I like the extra bulk that the SuperDrive adds (If that's the only difference), it makes me feel safer using it, and I'm not as afraid to break a .95" laptop, compared to being very afraid to break a .13" laptop.
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Why Apple will never support Blu-Ray
- Thread starter drjsway
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See, I like the extra bulk that the SuperDrive adds (If that's the only difference), it makes me feel safer using it, and I'm not as afraid to break a .95" laptop, compared to being very afraid to break a .13" laptop.
It's not the only difference but it plays a big part. Have you used a MacBook Air for an extended amount of time? It's incredibly sturdy.
If they keep the same form factor, there are also other things Apple can do with the MBP if they take out the optical drive. Better GPU, longer Battery, extra hard drive, etc. Or would you just rather watch a blu-ray every once in a while?
No BluRay on Mac vs BluRay on Mac
Optical Drive in your Laptop vs no Optical Drive in your laptop
Relax guys! These things have a way of sorting themselves out. It just takes time.
Optical Drive in your Laptop vs no Optical Drive in your laptop
Relax guys! These things have a way of sorting themselves out. It just takes time.
I have not, just some fiddling around with one in an Apple Store
I watch movies. A lot. But as I said a few posts back, I'm fine without blu-rays. DVD works on a laptop for me.
Looks like someone didn't read the first bullet point. Also you go ahead and settle for 720p, I like the best which is 1080p with DTS-MA. 720p is like settling for something less, and not forcing the corporations to innovate. God forbid someone has to get off their couch to change the disc because their heart just pumps soo much more it could kill them. Oh wait? Multidisc players for the lazy?
Whats wrong with choice? If I want to watch my blu-ray's on the go, why should I not? Apple is not a company of choice, but of predetermined choices. If you don't fit into those choices, you basically don't belong into their niche.
I got this weird feeling, that while Job's OCD is working great for him now, it could be the one thing that ends up hurting his company. God I love the ability to use a mac or a pc.
Looks like someone didn't read the ENTIRE thread.
It's funny that you quote me saying "You can download FULL blu-rays online now". Not 720p but FULL blu-rays. BTW, you cannot enjoy your DTS-MA without HDMI but even if you could... please tell me, what kind of speakers do your home theater have that you would benefit from it?
As far as your bullet point:
ISP imposing bandwidth caps? Which ones? I've downloaded over 400GB this month alone. For work, sometimes I download 25GBs at a time and it takes me a couple of hours.
Downloads cannot match blu-ray? Like I said, you can download full blu-rays now if you want (not legally, of course). Also, please read my posts on compression getting better.
As far as special features, well some people value that more than others but it's a marketing gimmick. I believe that the film should speak for itself and deleted scenes, making ofs, etc. all take away from the experience.
Ability to sell the discs and use them as coasters? Now you're just reaching.
Stats: 1/3 of US households have access to fiber connections, many more have access to technologies like ADSL2+, and a lot of countries currently have the bandwidth to stream FULL blu-ray quality (including South Korea, Japan, Finland, France, Sweden, Netherlands, Portugal, and Canada)
I've taken apart broken MacBooks and iBooks before, and the Superdrive/CD drive is slightly bigger than one of the palmrests. You could fit an extra hard drive in the space a DVD/CD drive takes up
Later on I might take out the DVD drive in my 13" MBP and put something else (like an extra HD) in here
Later on I might take out the DVD drive in my 13" MBP and put something else (like an extra HD) in here
I'm not sticking up for Apple but who could blame them? Be honest with yourself, if you ran a business selling water from the water hose in your backyard and your customers were willing to pay you $1000 for every bottle coming from your backyard water hose you would gladly sell it them, even though you knew they could get a lot better and you could offer a lot better, but if means cutting into your profits you wouldn't offer anything better.
That being said, I don't think Apple is screwing their customers just because they won't offer what the competition offers. It goes both ways, the majority of PC notebooks have poor washed out screens with low contrast, even Sony's current top model the F series, unless you pay a lot more for the premium screen you get a washed out screen.....BUT...it offers Blu-ray to view HD videos on that washed out screen. Apple's entire line of notebooks have high quality, high contrast screens. I would prefer a good screen over a niche feature like Blu-ray.
WOW thats so simple!!
Just like how they don't sell MS Office at the Apple Store because they want to force customers to buy iWork.
Or how they don't sell Logitech Mice at the Apple Store because they want to force customers to buy the magic mouse.
Or how they don't sell CD drives in their Macs because they want to force customers to buy music from the iTunes store.
Oh wait... they do all of those things.
How is worse video and audio quality a "better technology"? That's right, it isn't.
Apple's thinking is, "You already have a iTunes account, and an Apple TV. Why do you need a blu-ray player?"
Its a good business move if you ask me!!
So I'm sticking to my NEVER GONNA HAPPEN thinking!
Just look at the Macbook air. It already doesn't have an Optical drive. And look at how well netbooks are selling. No one seems to miss Optical drives in them.
Now I actually use my optical drive, I burn alot of DVDs.
Well, Apple thinks wrongly. I don't have an iTunes account and I don't have an Apple TV, and I don't plan on getting either. I would, however, get a McMini in a heartbeat if it would offer Blu-ray and HDMI. If Apple fails to meet my demands, they will fail in getting my business.
Apple said :"We don't want independent application in our iphone rather than webapp"
Then Apple said :"we will work with Adobe to support flash in Iphone OS" (then later its turned in .. youtube compatibility)
And then Apple said :"And from now,matte screen is not an option, glassy is more crispy"
FYI :shareholders have the last word.
BTW :Almost the entire Disney-Pixar catalog is available on Blu-ray.
Then Apple said :"we will work with Adobe to support flash in Iphone OS" (then later its turned in .. youtube compatibility)
And then Apple said :"And from now,matte screen is not an option, glassy is more crispy"
FYI :shareholders have the last word.
BTW :Almost the entire Disney-Pixar catalog is available on Blu-ray.
This has indeed been a tactic of Apple in the past, and it still is to some extent (you correctly point to the iPad's lack of Flash). However, it's simply not applicable to this Blu-Ray-situation. The Floppy-less iMac and the Flash-less iPad were pretty bold business decisions that infuriated some people but are actually based on rational reasons. In both cases, Apple, like some benevolent dictator, tried to nudge its customers towards a newer, better or more open standard. With the iMac, this gamble obviously paid off - it remains to be seen whether it will work out for the iPad, but at least you can support both decisions with valid arguments. In both cases, Apple is withholding something for good reasons, and in the case of the iMac, they simply provided a better alternative (a CD-drive).
When it comes to Blu-Ray, the situation is different. Here, Apple is withholding what is actually the current standard for optical media; they are withholding the latest and greatest, which they have not done before. The Floppy and Flash are/were things that were dying or should have died a long time ago. Everyone realizes this. Blu-Ray is actually a great technology, it's state-of-the-art, it's the current standard, and it's not going to go away for at least a few years.
And another thing that's different this time: Apple is withholding something without offering a better alternative (e.g. the iMac's CD-drive) or at least a vision of a better alternative (e.g. HTML5 for the iPad). Again, they're simply withholding current technology and forcing their customers to settle for obsolete or inferior technology (the Superdrive or iTunes downloads). That's infuriating! If Apple's stance on Blu-Ray were actually comparable to their stance on Flash or Floppies as you theorize, they should be a lot more radical. If they're serious about abandoning optical drives and media, they should simply DO IT ALREADY and start offering laptops without these drives and start selling digital media at 1080p all over the world. That would be a believable strategy. Instead, they're still offering downloads at terrible quality and they're still including the obsolete technology in their Macs (Superdrive) and pretending that there's nothing better around. And now you're telling me that customers should give them an incentive to offer something better by downloading lots and lots of movies and making the iTunes store (more) profitable? Hell no. I'm fine with Apple not giving me everything I want, but if they decide to omit the current standard for optical media from their computers, they had better be ready and willing to provide an alternative. They're not. Realize this: it was easy to wean customers off the Floppy drive, because there was a superior CD-drive in every iMac. They realized Apple's point as soon as they turned on the iMac. Apple might even be able to wean customers and content-creators off Flash, since their arguments against Flash are valid. But how are they going to get us to let go of optical media when they are only half-heartedly offering a vastly inferior alternative to only one set of their customers (Americans), while still building obsolete Superdrives into all of their Macs? If there's a strategy behind that, it's not comparable to the "no-Floppy"-move. It's stupid.
So really, this is not the same thing as Apple's expediting the death of the Floppy or their understandable attempt to kill flash. This is like releasing the iMac with a ZIP-drive instead of a floppy drive and calling CD-ROMs a "bag of hurt". Or keeping the Floppy around while offering stripped-down inferior downloads of CD-ROM-content, all the while pretending CD-ROMs don't exist. They are once again withholding something from their customers, but this time they have no valid reason to do so and are not offering any viable alternatives to the thing they're withholding. It's a massive blunder, as I said before.
It'll be a couple of years before digital downloads match both the quality and availability of Blu-rays. Until it takes less time to download a full HD movie than it takes to drive to the store, digital downloads won't cut it for me. Until DRM is removed and I can play back these digital downloads on as many players as I have access to, digital downloads won't cut it for me.
And on this point, I am the majority of people. Digital downloads is a very "geek" thing still, a niche.
And on this point, I am the majority of people. Digital downloads is a very "geek" thing still, a niche.
Very good points and I agree with all of it but I still think it's silly to complain about blu-ray.
I watch blu-rays in my home theater and 720p on my MBA. Is the 720p as good as blu-ray? No but on a 720p TN display, I could care less. iTunes is a touch over-compressed, although compression artifacts is not horrible by any means, and it's been getting better.
I don't see how anyone could need more than this on a laptop. Watching a movie on a laptop is already a compromised experience (unless you have an IPS or OLED display and surround sound headphones). Complaining that you want it slightly less compromised seems kind of petty.
I've also never felt the need to buy a second copy of a blu-ray I own for my computer. How many people watch movies more than once? And if iTunes (or any other HD movie store) is not available in your country, there are... more questionable ways to get your content.
In the end, does blu-ray in a laptop offer any benefits? Yes but those benefits (slightly better picture) don't outweigh the cons (adds weight/bulk, noise, lowers battery life).
But I agree with you that if Apple continues to stick with the SuperDrive, blu-ray is a slightly better option. I will also concede that for some people (college students), their mac is their only all-in-one entertainment system.
You've got to be kidding me. Even my non-tech savy 54yr old mother immediatly noticed the picture quality different from our old TV to our HDTV, and it's only a 32'' 720p TV.
There is a very visible difference between blu-ray's 1080p picture and regular DVD's 480p. Go on apple's website, choose a movie trailer, play it back to back, full screen on your ACD, first with the normal file, then with the full HD 1080p file, and tell me you don't see a difference.
Actually, I think the majority of people could care less about HD in any form. I read that half of the people with HDTVs have never watched HD content before. The switch from VHS to DVD happened not because of picture quality but other factors (less bulky form factor, eliminates need to rewind/fast forward).
I can download an HD movie faster than going to the store but I know not all households have fiber connections. Everyone in South Korea and Japan has access to 100Mb/s connections.
Agree with you on DRM. Studios don't realize that they are competing with illegal downloads. If the legal alternative is more restrictive, it only leads to more piracy.
Thanks for your response. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'll concede that for many people, people like yourself, the absence of Blu-Ray is not a big deal. For others however, depending on how they want to use their laptops, it is. I'm happy that we can both acknowledge that. What always drives me up the wall in these threads are people who, unlike you, are unable to abstract from their own needs and simply believe that because they do not use or need a certain feature, it's automatically redundant (I'm looking at you, brentaal).
The music quality on iTunes isn't that bad is it? I've been using it for ages, and all my songs are from the iTunes store. When I plug my MBP into my stero and turn it up pretty loud the quality's fine. And as for video, you can get a Blu Ray player on your TV and watch movies/TV programes on your TV...? If someone offered me $20 for all the optical drives in all my Macs I'd take the offer lol... Is there anyone else that doesn't use optical media?
In its 3rd year (last year), Blu-ray had a higher adoption rate than DVD had in its 3rd year.
People are flocking to it. Fast.
So what you read was crap.