Will the next redesign remove the optical drive?

[Apple...]

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I'm hoping so. I never use it, and for me it just wastes space. Maybe if they could keep it as an option?

Yes or no?

 

[MacOCD]

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I'm hoping so. I never use it, and for me it just wastes space. Maybe if they could keep it as an option?

Yes or no?

I think it is too early. Maybe 2 or 3 more refreshes.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

yawn. this again?

Anyway, nope.

External cds don't boot correctly on the MBP (atleast from what i've heard).
Still no easy way to write ISO to bootable flash on OS X when disk utility doesn't work properly.
Still can't buy Snow Leopard on Flash Stick; MBA exclusive atm.

And as for reasons why we should keep the optical drive:
Apple probably won't slide water cooling and a new GPU into the space occupied by the removal of the ODD. More likely to make it tapered on the edges or do whatever else is necessary to decrease thinkness.
Optical drive presence now = operators choice of RAID 0/1 HDD/SDD with the help of a caddy. Yank the ODD and there goes your second SATA port.
Opti media is still in use. I used some two days ago.

 

[Michael383]

Personally I don't mind the optical drive but it wouldn't surprise me if they made it an option on the 2012 MBP's

 

[XQYZ]

I like them personally, because I still buy lots of CDs and DVDs. However, I think they might want to start offering it as an option. In the long term it's going away.

 

[tblrsa]

No.

Sent from my MBP with Superdrive

 

[grahamnp]

External cds don't boot correctly on the MBP (atleast from what i've heard).
Still no easy way to write ISO to bootable flash on OS X when disk utility doesn't work properly.
Still can't buy Snow Leopard on Flash Stick; MBA exclusive atm.

And as for reasons why we should keep the optical drive:
Apple probably won't slide water cooling and a new GPU into the space occupied by the removal of the ODD. More likely to make it tapered on the edges or do whatever else is necessary to decrease thinkness.
Optical drive presence now = operators choice of RAID 0/1 HDD/SDD with the help of a caddy. Yank the ODD and there goes your second SATA port.
Opti media is still in use. I used some two days ago.

You are assuming that Apple will remove the ODD and leave everything else unchanged. If they were to remove it, I'm sure they would provide some sort of alternative like they did with the MBA.

Good point on the second SATA port though. Right now SSDs are too expensive for people to buy just one SSD for all their needs and removing the second SATA port would probably force people to choose between SSDs and HDDs.

 

[snaky69]

Why would we, the general public, know this?

Only Apple knows, why did you even ask?

 

[dagamer34]

Remove and replace with a 2nd hard drive bay + larger battery. Or an even larger battery the size of an ODD. Perhaps add a dedicated GPU to the 13". There are lots of possibilities.

I don't think the ODD will go away until it's pretty obvious that the Mac App Store is a success, and Apple hasn't reported any solid numbers about that yet. We'll find out at WWDC for sure though.

A telling sign however is that all 2011 MacBook Pros can actually supply enough power to the MBA SuperDrive such that it operates correctly. Maybe a sign of things to come?

 

[apolloa]

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I'm hoping so. I never use it, and for me it just wastes space. Maybe if they could keep it as an option?

Yes or no?

There's a really wonderful feature on this very website called 'Search', it's primary design is to allow people to search for and read the hundreds of threads relating to the very question they require an answer to.

It helps the forum remain clear of the same question endlessly being looped, and allows for all the discussion to remain in one easy to find and use place

Just thought I would let you know

 

[bniu]

just leave it on the 17" MBP. There's plenty of room for one there. The ODD on the 13" has got to go. It eats up about 1/3 of the space, of which a portion could be used for discrete graphics.

 

[Apple...]

Sorry I asked.

 

[hakuryuu]

One can only hope they do so. It is a little early but at least on the 13 and 15 inch models it won't be much of a stretch to see it go bye-bye.