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Would you like Apple to get rid of the CD drive?
- Thread starter wankey
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That seems like an argument thats lacking...the disk drive takes up a huge amount of space, and if lots people aren't use it, then it doesn't make sense to keep.(I'm not saying that we know what amount of people aren't using disk drives, someone(likely Apple) would need to look into that)
I'd agree there are features of my Mac that I don't use, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a physical feature that takes as much space as a disk drive does that is not used by people. So for that alone, I think Apple should look into it. Well they did for the Air, which is make sense for the target market
I agree with most people saying it is a relatively outdated and useless waste of space in the computer, but most consumers still find a use for it. If I were Apple, I would allow this space to be taken for a cooling unit to allow for 2x the power on the logic board as a build-to-order option. That, or an easily "ejectable" superdrive (like a flush N64 cartrige) that can be replaced with SSDs, or even better, PCIe slots =)
OP, the product you're asking for already exists. If you don't like it, lobby Apple for different specs on the MB Air.
You may not use your Superdrive, but millions of us do. It's very handy.
You may not use your Superdrive, but millions of us do. It's very handy.
You certainly have the right to complain.
I remember saying to myself that I'd never buy software that wasn't on a CD or DVD. Today I try to keep my CD/DVD intake low. What a reversal but in the end I realized my need to have a physical item to assign value to was a bit foolish.
I think right now Cassie many people are still in that "I've always had the drive integrated and that's what I feel comfortable with" mode but there is a growing mass of users that want digital distribution.
When my optical drive lays dormant in my desktop it's not that much of a big deal. I don't have to carry it around and I have desktop space for extra hard drives and other peripherals.
In a laptop the decision about what 6lbs I have to carry around needs to be tailored a bit better to how I compute. A dormant optical drive that takes up space that could give me more battery or more storage and expansion is not a good return for my value.
Netbooks don't have optical drives and they're selling like crazy.
The Macbook Air doesn't have optical drives and it's still doing well.
I really see Apple killing the internal optical drives within the next two years. They really like thin and it's hard to do think and cool a hot processor when you have an optical drive taking %20 of the space.
Judging from the lack of updates to DVD Studio Pro and iDVD I think Apple is showing the DVD format no love at all.
Methinks it'll be you lobbying Apple for optical inclusion soon enough.
Couldn't agree more. In addition to thin, they could find infinite uses with an extra 20% of space to work with. I for one could go for a few more hours of battery, a few new ports, or more power in the laptop itself provided by extra cooling options. An actual expansion slot other than the wimpy ExpressCard 34 would also be nice.
I consider it dead weight as well, I've only used mine maybe 2 or 3 times, to check that it works, and to rip a CD. I would prefer an external optical drive for those extremely rare occasions.
If apple made a 15" MBA, as stupid as it sounds, but I'd buy that.
If apple made a 15" MBA, as stupid as it sounds, but I'd buy that.
OMG
I've got a rip project coming up with about 200 discs to go through. I've got a slot loader Superdrive that I am NOT going to use.
Too loud
Too slow
So i'm forced to get an external full sized drive anyways.
THIS is why Apple should save themselves a hassle, because whenever a purpose beyond occasional use comes along the drive doesn't have performance to handle it, and the space would be much better used elsewhere.
I'd say it's the same "lots of people" that actually used the Express Card slot. (While a community like this might think it's a good idea, the "everyday consumer" would not. Don't confuse this board's opinion with the opinion of the other 99% of the world.)
I personally use my disk drive fairly often, and would hate to carry around an external drive. If Apple removed the disk drive, I'd probably end up buying a different laptop, as would your "everyday consumer" who enjoys the portability of a laptop.
I use my iMac's (and my MacBook Pro before that)'s optical drive a lot, because I watch DVDs on it.
Yes, digital downloads is slowly catching on, and slowly signaling the end of the optical disc, but it's nowhere close to that point yet.
For me, it's not because of the speed - I use Netflix and Redbox - it's because of 1) cost (renting movies on iTunes is way, way more expensive than Netflix and Redbox - if they can get the cost down to $1 for SD, $2 for HD, then I will very seriously consider it. And more importantly, 2) because almost every DVD movie has closed captioning or subtitles, while very, very few movies on iTunes do.
So it's both a cost issue and an accessibility issue for me.
Yes, digital downloads is slowly catching on, and slowly signaling the end of the optical disc, but it's nowhere close to that point yet.
For me, it's not because of the speed - I use Netflix and Redbox - it's because of 1) cost (renting movies on iTunes is way, way more expensive than Netflix and Redbox - if they can get the cost down to $1 for SD, $2 for HD, then I will very seriously consider it. And more importantly, 2) because almost every DVD movie has closed captioning or subtitles, while very, very few movies on iTunes do.
So it's both a cost issue and an accessibility issue for me.
Agreed. Even though some of us dream of it, most of the "mom and pop" bottom-line of Mac sales would go elsewhere if they saw that their precious DVD drive was missing.
The everyday computer user that's buying optical free Netbooks?
Note the new Quicktime features.
Save for iPhone
Save for Apple TV
there's no
Save for DVD
+1
he kinda owned everyone with that post lol (specially those bitchin and moanin about express card)
i believe it's poor argument on everyone else assuming that a majority of macbook owners do not use their disk drive. that's such a fallacy as well all things must be supported with evidence and i know someones gonna be a smart mouth and be like wheres the evidence that everyone does use their disk drive
im not sure if evidence of some survey or some sort exist but still not the point! you cant just simply assume something and eradicate it. an idea is great, expressing opinion is awesome and everyone has their own self right, fighting for it is inspiring and eventually it will most likely be eradicated but many on this thread sound too eager, lets start a riot for something that isn't far great of a deal and seem just too focused on the interest of a certain group as compared to a clear majority
For many people like me, it's not feasible to download everything from the internet, due to the limited options of ISP's we have to choose from, and the general crapiness of the ISP's we do have. I have a 30 GB per month cap, and my download speeds range between 10-60 kbps. It would take me days to download files over 1 GB in size. And I don't have that kind of time to waste on that.
USB drives are a waste of material if they're only going to be used once or twice to install a piece of software. A CD or DVD uses less.
I'd rather not have an external optical drive that I have to lug around and to go searching for every time I want to rip a CD or DVD. I know I don't represent everyone, but removing the optical drive form a machine is not beneficial for me.
USB drives are a waste of material if they're only going to be used once or twice to install a piece of software. A CD or DVD uses less.
I'd rather not have an external optical drive that I have to lug around and to go searching for every time I want to rip a CD or DVD. I know I don't represent everyone, but removing the optical drive form a machine is not beneficial for me.
Everyday computer users aren't the ones buying netbooks. (I could ask the people I work with what a netbook is, and I'd be surprised if even one of them knew.)
Says who? Both my classmates and even my Grandma have them, they are definitely appealing to mainstream consumers.
They did get rid of it, it's called a macbook air.
People who use these computers for work get lots of materials on DVD/CD and need to deliver on DVD/CD, so no apple, don't get rid of it for this one guy.
People who use these computers for work get lots of materials on DVD/CD and need to deliver on DVD/CD, so no apple, don't get rid of it for this one guy.