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Why don't apple kill the superdrive?

A

aibo82

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 11, 2010
507
469
USA
Hi

I was just thinking about this there is alot of wasted space in the macbook pro I mean do we really need a DVD drive now? or Blu-ray anymore? with virtually all music,games,books,media online and in itunes and usb flash storage so cheep!

I've never used my dvd in my desktop only to install windows just why not kill the superdrive distribute there software on itunes and give the option for a usb key order with it on for people with slower connections!

THEN!

Put the hard disk in the space of the superdrive add a few more ports were the slot was and extend the macbook pro battery by over a 3rd!

You'll be clocking up 15-20 hours on battery then!

:D
 
Why?

Because its Super! :rolleyes:

On the note of putting a Hard Drive in its place, it is already possible!

I am looking at doing that to my MacBook Pro, as you can get 1TB 2.5" drives! (which I only found out about today)
 
I won't scold you for searching before posting, because I haven't been able to find the previous thread on this topic, but there has been at least one extensive thread on this topic in the last couple of months. If anyone can link it, I'd be glad to merge this into that thread, where a lot of good observations on this topic have been made and then subsequently beaten into a useless pulp.
 
If Apple isn't going to bother to update the current superdrive to blu-ray I'm not sure why they keep it either. If physical media is truly dead -- like the anti-blu ray crowd keeps saying -- then the current drive which predates blu-ray by a decade should have died long ago.

The only explanation I can think of is that Apple does not want to redesign it--because they *are* going to update the drive to blu-ray at some point. :)
 
they should remove it asap, like the 3.5" floppy it is obsolete. haven't used a dvd disc in over a yes. And make a SSD default as well, so there are near to none mechanical moving parts in it. more robust. longer battery lifetime, more room for a better GPU and CPU. it is a win-win situation
 
what if I want to burn a cd for my car because it doesn't have an ipod aux?? I mean, a lot of people still use the superdrive, maybe not for storage, but for music etc..
 
I did a mockup pic to show you what I mean!
mbp.jpg


I mean over a 3rd more battery the POWER!!!!!! burn a cd for your car I aint done that since the 90's? what about that ipod on your dash? lol!
 
mkrishnan said:
I won't scold you for searching before posting, because I haven't been able to find the previous thread on this topic, but there has been at least one extensive thread on this topic in the last couple of months. If anyone can link it, I'd be glad to merge this into that thread, where a lot of good observations on this topic have been made and then subsequently beaten into a useless pulp.
Click to expand...

I remember that thread, as well. These are the only ones I see at the moment that are close:

Will they Get Rid of the Optical Drive in the 17 inch?
Apple, why the optical drive, why not double the battery life?
Why doesn't Apple build a 13" MBP without the optical drive?
Would you miss the optical drive on MBP if apple removed it?
 
It would be a terrible idea to be rid of it because some people, such as myself, use it.

Quite often I cannot be bothered to turn on my huge gaming PC so I burn downloaded stuff with my MBP.
 
That mockup really makes me think we could have that option, but options have never been the apple way for laptops. As soon as my warranty is up I am taking out my superdrive and putting in a 1TB. I never use the thing except for a few times a year.
 
Mine was removed within 5 minutes of getting home with my MBP 15 I7 . Replaced with a second drive. Give us this option to have a second drive bay or a DVD drive. They can put a hard drive bracket in there and charge for it. I would have gladly paid for the 100 dollar option. If they are doing BTO than give us some options like this so the end user has the choices to make. One it makes the customer happier, gives the buyer a better reason to go Apple and certainly puts more money in Apples pocket. The bottom line there are power users out here that are willing to pay extra money for some of these higher end options than just making a consumer grade laptop.
Just looked at one of the polls on the forum and most folks went for the I7 and most went for the high res. screens. If that is not a clear indication that folks will pay more for options than Apple is seriously not paying attention to what is being ordered. Hell they can even use the DVD drive put it in a nice fancy aluminum housing that looks like a MBP and sell that as a option as a external drive for the folks that went for the second hard drive bracket.

Hey Steve need a marketing guy. LOL
 
It's funny but I hadn't used mine in months but last night I had to use it. My aunt lost her cable for her sony camera so she couldn't import a bunch of pictures that she had on there. I told her I had a card reader so I can import the pictures and burn them on a CD for her. I guess it's one of those things that you don't really use but the minute it's missing you'll need it for something.
 
BTW i have had 2 drives in my old 2.93 since day one back last year in March, there are several venders that sell the brackets and trust me it is not very hard to remove the optical drive.

Need to update my signature now to a MBP 15 I7 8gb and TWO SSD Crucial 128gb drives.:D
 
doktordoris said:
It would be a terrible idea to be rid of it because some people, such as myself, use it.

Quite often I cannot be bothered to turn on my huge gaming PC so I burn downloaded stuff with my MBP.
Click to expand...

Its people like yourself why Mr jobs is still in business if theres the odd user for a superdrive they will flog it for more than its worth!

We should be really pushing for flash media and storage online its the only thing thats holding back small powerful and cool laptops is big optical drives!

The iPad that your seeing now is the way macbooks are heading with no optical storage but still maintain the keyboard and speed and OS X
 
bigjnyc said:
It's funny but I hadn't used mine in months but last night I had to use it. My aunt lost her cable for her sony camera so she couldn't import a bunch of pictures that she had on there. I told her I had a card reader so I can import the pictures and burn them on a CD for her. I guess it's one of those things that you don't really use but the minute it's missing you'll need it for something.
Click to expand...

I deal with clients to deliver images so i just bought a external DVD burner last year that is actually much faster anyway. I never need one in my laptop itself. Worst case I give someone a thumb drive with images on the road. Everyone has USB
 
D0rk said:
Then it would just be a thicker, heavier MacBook Air.
Click to expand...

The macbook air aint a CORE i7 with 15 hour battery! The Macbook pro is the best form of a laptop at the moment just that superdrive is like a clown at a funeral!
 
aibo82 said:
Its people like yourself why Mr jobs is still in business if theres the odd user for a superdrive they will flog it for more than its worth!

We should be really pushing for flash media and storage online its the only thing thats holding back small powerful and cool laptops is big optical drives!

The iPad that your seeing now is the way macbooks are heading with no optical storage but still maintain the keyboard and speed and OS X
Click to expand...

Steve Jobs is in business because I cannot be bothered to pick my 19 inch monitor up from next to my pc, put it on a table, plug it in, look for the mouse, plug that in and then burn a film for my mum with it?

I doubt that, but if you dislike the drive chuck it away. I do think apple should offer an option, but I think the standard machine should posses it.
 
I'm sure Apple is dying to get rid of the superdrive. But based on their own research, we can see their decisions.

They tested the waters with the MBA a little, and based on sales/responses it hasn't been doing as well as the MBP13.
 
doktordoris said:
Steve Jobs is in business because I cannot be bothered to pick my 19 inch monitor up from next to my pc, put it on a table, plug it in, look for the mouse, plug that in and then burn a film for my mum with it?

I doubt that, but if you dislike the drive chuck it away. I do think apple should offer an option, but I think the standard machine should posses it.
Click to expand...

Yeah and it should have a floppy cos bob down the road has a 486 he needs a text file on? move on! optical needs to be killed its only there because of the movie industry need cheep way of putting films out!

Soon as internet TV has taken off its a goner with beta max, cds bluerays vhs and floppies!

Even Magnetic media has gone like cassette and hard disks wont be long! its all about miniaturization!

The iPAD users a micro sim? a normal sim card is small enough for the size of an iPad is there really need for a micro sim other then i cant put it in my iphone!!!
 
wow I use my CD drive often for listening to music and watching DVDs I also use my PS3 for my blu rays I think Apple should just make the supperdrive external and use the other space for ummmm bigger battery and SSD/HD space.
 
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