Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Will the MacBook Pro line be free of optical drives in 2 years?
- Thread starter mrsir2009
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Do you mean add an optical drive to the Time Capsule? That would be cool! You don't have to have another full computer to borrow its optical drive, and while Time Machine is backing up your Mac, you have an optical drive to work with, but your Mac doesn't have to power it, and you don't have to carry it!
Here it is:
I posted this in the thread about MBPs with Flash Storage instead of HDDs
I would push for this set up here:
Keep the MacBook and MacBook Pro Line.
Add a New Line: MacbBook Studio (For lack of a better name)
MacBook Studio:
15"/17" (or go the route of 14"/16" (i'd rather go 16:10))
i5/i7 Processor, 4-8GB RAM (or more?)
64/128/256GB of Flash Memory
500/1TB HDD
No Optical Drive
Cut Body a bit thinner than MBP
Add more Batteries in place of Optical Drive/Add better Graphic Options/Add more ports
Hence we now have a MacBook Studio that includes a main Flash Storage for the Core OS, a HDD for storage of Media and large Files. Extra Room with the subtraction of the Optical Drive for added value/performance upgrade.
Couple this with the small hardware footprint in the MBAs we can achieve a really powerful MacBook "Studio".
I would push for this set up here:
Keep the MacBook and MacBook Pro Line.
Add a New Line: MacbBook Studio (For lack of a better name)
MacBook Studio:
15"/17" (or go the route of 14"/16" (i'd rather go 16:10))
i5/i7 Processor, 4-8GB RAM (or more?)
64/128/256GB of Flash Memory
500/1TB HDD
No Optical Drive
Cut Body a bit thinner than MBP
Add more Batteries in place of Optical Drive/Add better Graphic Options/Add more ports
Hence we now have a MacBook Studio that includes a main Flash Storage for the Core OS, a HDD for storage of Media and large Files. Extra Room with the subtraction of the Optical Drive for added value/performance upgrade.
Couple this with the small hardware footprint in the MBAs we can achieve a really powerful MacBook "Studio".
//sigh
if only the optical drive really were a scapegoat to everything that is wrong in the Macbook Pro.
if only the optical drive really were a scapegoat to everything that is wrong in the Macbook Pro.
lol. you mean it's NOT?
funny though. there is quite a witchhunt going on right now for this poor optical drive.
Its a big trade-off. Especially for those who need the power that don't use the optical drive, its dead weight in my MBP.
Im holding out from updating until they do remove it, its useless. Remove the optical drive, make the external one cheaper, add an extra USB to compensate, use the room for a bigger battery and for a better video card. then im sold!
Better processors, discrete graphics, higher storage capacity, better battery life. I'm no designer, but the optical drive takes up a lot of space. Surely two or three (or all?) of these things should be feasible if they remove it...
There is a market of people who want the Optical Drive, Studio should be aimed for people who are Future-Thinking.
For Sure. and people with Optibays will tell you the benefits they are recieving by running a dual SSD, or SSD+HDD set up. I'm planning on making this move if it isn't introduced by Apple within the next 5 months.
Do you mean add an optical drive to the Time Capsule? That would be cool! You don't have to have another full computer to borrow its optical drive, and while Time Machine is backing up your Mac, you have an optical drive to work with, but your Mac doesn't have to power it, and you don't have to carry it!
Here it is:
That would be totally WICKED!
Great pic. This should have been shown at the top of the thread. This really highlights now much space is wasted by the SuperDrive if you don't use it.
Notice that the OD is almost as big, if not bigger, than the logic board
Notice that the OD is almost as big, if not bigger, than the logic board
Kill that superdrive, stretch the board across, add a more substantial video card and processor, fill the rest of the space with battery. one HDD is enough, especially if its an SSD, an external will suffice for everything else!
If you really never use it, the drive can be removed. A few apps may freak out when they can't find an optical drive. You will have to use an external if you need to install anything from a disc. A few rare apps have problems with this. Otherwise not too much hassle for your savings of a few ounces of weight.
There are several different things that different users would like to use that space for. This is why it should be a modular bay. This has been done before so there are no technological hurdles. It is a design decision that would be appropriate for a pro model.
I would probably add an extra HDD. Others might add an SSD or extra battery. Many would probably just use a dust cover and leave the bay empty to save weight most of the time.
Simply ditching the optical drive from the design to allow some marginal weight savings or performance boost would make the model unappealing to many users although some other users would be pleased. Those users looking for maximum weight savings already have the Air. Those users looking for maximum performance have the 15" or 17" models. The 13" model is a compromise and will likely remain so.
I hope they get rid of the optical drive this 2011 update of MBP and replace it with more battery and 2nd hard drive (1 ssd and 1 hdd) sweet!
Do you mean add an optical drive to the Time Capsule? That would be cool! You don't have to have another full computer to borrow its optical drive, and while Time Machine is backing up your Mac, you have an optical drive to work with, but your Mac doesn't have to power it, and you don't have to carry it!
Here it is:
Put a Blu-ray drive in there and a big hard disk (or two small ones like in the Mac mini Server) for external backup.
I am definitely for scrapping the internal optical drive across all the Apple notebooks. That said, I refuse to buy another iMac unless they begin shipping with Blu-ray.
I dont see it gone for at least 10 years as there are a lot of people in areas of the united states that dont have the ability to use broadband internet they use a telephone dial up for there internet. netflix and itunes will crawl trying to stream or even download digital content so i cant even see even trying to use the mac app store then as it would take forever trying to get something downloaded. so there are people that still need there optical drive built into the computer and a usb telephone modem
Lucky you're not I'm charge of Apple then.
Buy an external. Everyone else will be loving life.
I got the 13'' MBP over the 13'' MBA because of backlit keyboard and longer battery life not the lack of optical drive, I could easily gotten
by with out I rent dvd from netflix once in a while and that is the only time i use it, and I think I will cancel the DVD part of the service
the streaming is plenty good for me, optical media is going the way of the dinosaurs and I doubt Apple will have optical drives in any of
their Mac laptops in few years if not sooner. With cheap removable Flash drives and online backup services and streaming from such as
Netflix getting much better we dont really need them anymore
by with out I rent dvd from netflix once in a while and that is the only time i use it, and I think I will cancel the DVD part of the service
the streaming is plenty good for me, optical media is going the way of the dinosaurs and I doubt Apple will have optical drives in any of
their Mac laptops in few years if not sooner. With cheap removable Flash drives and online backup services and streaming from such as
Netflix getting much better we dont really need them anymore