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Why the hate for optical drives?

Martyimac said:
I see a lot of folks saying they are disappointed that :apple: continues to use Optical drives. My question is why?
What happens when you can only get a program you want on an optical drive (DVD or CD). How about doing personal file backups on optical like itunes or iphoto backups? What do you use to do your backups if you don't have an optical drive?

This is a serious question, I don't know of a viable alternative and need educating, or at least other options.
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For the times I need an optical drive, I'd honestly be willing to spend a few dollars for an external SuperDrive if I don't have another machine to operate as a Remote Disk. Especially if this could reduce the size and weight of a laptop. I go between client sites and my home office and revolving office a lot, so weight matters to me, as does battery life. The use of an optical drive for me is "about never". I don't need to be saddled with the weight of something I might use once a year.

Most software I have nowadays is through digital distribution. I'm an MSDN Premium member as well, and for some time now even Microsoft has been simply allowing .ISO downloads from the MSDN Subscriber and Partner sites.

For personal backups, I have a Time Capsule that Time Machine uses. I also do some additional data backups via Mozy, and important stuff is on the company JungleDisk or in our Mercurial repository.
 
So........ what happens if your hard drive crashes and fails, and you need to replace it?

No disk drive = no OS

Correct me if I'm wrong, i have like no knowledge on this.
 
Prodo123 said:
1. You can't install Windows without a DVD drive, nor can you boot into Windows via drive sharing. False. You can install Windows via a bootable usb drive. Or use an external drive
2. Ripping of music CD's, though less prevalent nowadays, still is popular. It is unlikely you will be constantly ripping CDs, because the whole point is to not use the CD once it has been ripped. Again, use an external DVD drive for the infrequent times you need one.
3. Ripping DVD's. See above
4. Ripping Blu-Ray via external HDD Huh? How can you rip a Blu-Ray with a HDD?
5. PC and Mac games are mostly on DVD's. Get real buddy. Steam controls the vast majority of the PC gaming market, and is practically the only way to get games on the Mac, other than Blizzard, where you can download straight from the internet via battle.net
6. Adobe's Master Collection is always on DVD sets. You can download it straight from Adobe.com. Or use an external drive
7. Recovery boot disks like Knoppix Bootable USB drives exist, pal
8. Burning CD's and DVD's. You can use an external drive just fine.
9. Watching DVD's rented from Redbox, or for watching hard copies of DVD's that was bought for a TV. Fair enough, but online video rental is increasingly prevalent, and purchased DVDs can be ripped
10. Software developers and programmers use CD's to distribute necessary drivers, kexts and programs.Drivers are always available on the manufacturer website. Software and DVDs is almost always outdated, its better to just go online and get the latest version directly
11. Movies on DVD's and CD's save hard drive space. True, but how much does a 1TB hard drive cost nowadays? Storage is cheap.
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There is a ridiculous amount of ignorance and incorrect information in your post. Nearly all of your usage scenarios are extremely infrequent, and many are flat out wrong.
 
I don't hate optical drives but I could count how many times I've used one in the last 3 years on one hand. I was hoping they'd ditch it in the refresh like the MBA. So how do I manage my digital life without carrying around a bunch of dvds?

I use usb & external HDD. All my documents and small things I store on my usb, My media is stored on the HDD. I also backup docs to google documents incase I forget/lose my usb.
 
leetlamer said:
1. You can't install Windows without a DVD drive, nor can you boot into Windows via drive sharing. False. You can install Windows via a bootable usb drive. Or use an external drive
2. Ripping of music CD's, though less prevalent nowadays, still is popular. It is unlikely you will be constantly ripping CDs, because the whole point is to not use the CD once it has been ripped. Again, use an external DVD drive for the infrequent times you need one.
3. Ripping DVD's. See above
4. Ripping Blu-Ray via external HDD Huh? How can you rip a Blu-Ray with a HDD?
5. PC and Mac games are mostly on DVD's. Get real buddy. Steam controls the vast majority of the PC gaming market, and is practically the only way to get games on the Mac, other than Blizzard, where you can download straight from the internet via battle.net
6. Adobe's Master Collection is always on DVD sets. You can download it straight from Adobe.com. Or use an external drive
7. Recovery boot disks like Knoppix Bootable USB drives exist, pal
8. Burning CD's and DVD's. You can use an external drive just fine.
9. Watching DVD's rented from Redbox, or for watching hard copies of DVD's that was bought for a TV. Fair enough, but online video rental is increasingly prevalent, and purchased DVDs can be ripped
10. Software developers and programmers use CD's to distribute necessary drivers, kexts and programs.Drivers are always available on the manufacturer website. Software and DVDs is almost always outdated, its better to just go online and get the latest version directly
11. Movies on DVD's and CD's save hard drive space. True, but how much does a 1TB hard drive cost nowadays? Storage is cheap.
Click to expand...

1. I, for one, cannot hack a Windows 7 DVD onto a USB thumb drive with a dead computer, but sure, other people could. But, most people are lazy and go to Office Depot for the DVD copy anyway.
2. People like FLAC files because they are lossless copies of the original CD, therefore sound better. That's why they still rip CD's. Also, Apple's ALAC is supposedly "bad sounding" to audiophiles.
3. Offline movie watching? Don't know why people still use DVD's for movies, but they do and people like to rip them.
4. Oops, meant ODD. Still, 1080p Blu-ray copies beat iTunes 720p.
5. Sure, Steam's a good game manager and downloader. If it controlled a vast majority of the PC gaming market, then GameStop wouldn't be in business, would they? Also, Steam's a known resource hog on Windows, not sure about Macs.
6. Downloading 15GB from Adobe takes too long. Sure, they could use an external drive, but that costs an extra $50 nowadays..
7. See reason 1.
8. Sure, external ODD works just fine.
9. See reason 3.
10. Packaged software is unavailable in those downloads. For example, Seagate Dashboard for GoFlex drives.
11. iTunes costs almost the same as cheap DVD's and even some Blu-ray movies. $100 for 1TB of storage + 20 movies is more expensive than an external $50 ODD and 20 DVD/Blu-ray discs.

I can deal with external ODD's, as long as they are on Thunderbolt.
 
Some of these arguments are pretty lame, and rather thoughtless.

I don't think people are arguing the death of optical drives, rather the death of internal optical drives. If you need one, buy an external. Because, honestly, when was the last time you used your optical drive in class, or on the way somewhere.
 
Gen said:
Some of these arguments are pretty lame, and rather thoughtless.

I don't think people are arguing the death of optical drives, rather the death of internal optical drives. If you need one, buy an external. Because, honestly, when was the last time you used your optical drive in class, or on the way somewhere.
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Exactly this. External is the way to go. The real question is, when have you last needed to use an internal optical drive ON THE GO?
 
Gen said:
Because, honestly, when was the last time you used your optical drive in class, or on the way somewhere.
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Last year, on a three-day photo shoot out in the country in the car, where I had to burn copies of the raw files onto some DVDs before giving them to various people involved in the shoot and putting one disc in secure registered mail to send back to London for backup. Wasn't going to hand out half a dozen 4Gb USB keys to everyone to not see them returned.
 
Blue Velvet said:
Last year, on a three-day photo shoot out in the country in the car, where I had to burn copies of the raw files onto some DVDs before giving them to various people involved in the shoot and putting one disc in secure registered mail to send back to London for backup. Wasn't going to hand out half a dozen 4Gb USB keys to everyone to not see them returned.
Click to expand...

Slimline external drives work miracles. I own one.
 
Prodo123 said:
1. I, for one, cannot hack a Windows 7 DVD onto a USB thumb drive with a dead computer, but sure, other people could. But, most people are lazy and go to Office Depot for the DVD copy anyway.
2. People like FLAC files because they are lossless copies of the original CD, therefore sound better. That's why they still rip CD's. Also, Apple's ALAC is supposedly "bad sounding" to audiophiles.
3. Offline movie watching? Don't know why people still use DVD's for movies, but they do and people like to rip them.
4. Oops, meant ODD. Still, 1080p Blu-ray copies beat iTunes 720p.
5. Sure, Steam's a good game manager and downloader. If it controlled a vast majority of the PC gaming market, then GameStop wouldn't be in business, would they? Also, Steam's a known resource hog on Windows, not sure about Macs.
6. Downloading 15GB from Adobe takes too long. Sure, they could use an external drive, but that costs an extra $50 nowadays..
7. See reason 1.
8. Sure, external ODD works just fine.
9. See reason 3.
10. Packaged software is unavailable in those downloads. For example, Seagate Dashboard for GoFlex drives.
11. iTunes costs almost the same as cheap DVD's and even some Blu-ray movies. $100 for 1TB of storage + 20 movies is more expensive than an external $50 ODD and 20 DVD/Blu-ray discs.

I can deal with external ODD's, as long as they are on Thunderbolt.
Click to expand...

Microsoft provides an official tool to create USB installers for Windows 7. Also software like UNetbootin automatically makes USB installers for many linux distros.

You obviously know nothing about Steam or the PC gaming market in general. Gamespot? Seriously? They barely even sell PC games anymore, stores like that are totally dedicated to console games and hardware.

It is true that originally Steam was disliked by the PC gaming community, because it had lots of problems. That was almost 10 years ago though, and Valve has improved the service dramatically and Steam almost universally seen in a positive light in the PC gaming community. Steam controls the PC gaming market with a share of 50-70%. I'd say on Mac that number is even higher, since other than Blizzard, Valve is pretty much the only other developer to make big-time Mac games.

I don't understand why you are bringing Blu-Ray into the discussion, because Apple won't ever put a Blu-Ray drive in any of their computers.

I'm not following what you are saying on points 2 & 3. Yes, many people like FLAC files. Yes, people like to rip DVDs. But I'm saying is that those are one-time usage scenarios that are so infrequent it doesn't warrant a permanent DVD drive that takes up precious space in a notebook computer, that could be put to better use.

Yes, an external DVD drive does cost $40-50 dollars, but I would certainly pay that much to have a 50% bigger battery. There is no reason that something I use very infrequently should take up 25% of the space inside my computer. It is wasted space that could be use much more efficiently.
 
Final thoughts

As the OP, I guess I should throw out what I have learned.

Okay, I can now see why folks want something else besides an ODD in their laptops. For me, I have learned that external ODD's are a viable alternative given their costs and how much I use my drive while traveling (Never). I don't use my drive much but when I do, I find it indispensable.
I think we all learned that we all use optical drives in different ways and have different needs.

I posted this thread to get input and I, and all of us, got a LOT of input. So thanks to all that posted.
 
The real question should be "Why the hate for DVD/CD drives?".
My awnser to that is "Because the year is 2011 and I am not Amish".

I would be ecstatic if they gave me the option to put in a BlueRay drive. But since Apple (read Jobs) seams to be allergic to BlueRay, I wouldn't mind if they ditched the optical drive all together to make room for a larger battery or second HDD/SSD.

The ComboDrive in the 2011 MBP's is a joke.
 
Last edited:
GA84 said:
The real question should be "Why the hate for DVD/CD drives?".
My awnser to that is "Because the year is 2011 and I am not Amish".

I would be ecstatic if they gave me the option to put in a BlueRay drive. But since Apple (read Jobs) seams to be allergic to BlueRay, I wouldn't mind if they ditched the optical drive all together to make room for a larger battery or second HDD/SSD.

The ComboDrive in the 2011 MBP's is a joke.
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I'd be keen for a larger battery :D Then there'd be no worries about having an i7 in the 13" MBP (except the heat perhaps).
 
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