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Would you like Apple to get rid of the CD drive?

  • Yes

    Votes: 39 37.1%
  • No

    Votes: 66 62.9%

  • Total voters
    105
  • Poll closed .

SkyBell

macrumors 604
Sep 7, 2006
6,603
219
Texas, unfortunately.
It's what I like about the Mac platform.

Apple doesn't impede progress by pandering to the those afraid to move off of legacy technology. They tend to be pretty definitive.

The lastest generation of macs saw DVI get replaced by DisplayPort. There were complaints about why Apple was moving to a new technology but the end game is always the same. Apple always wants to move to superior technology but their idea of what's superior is likely different from many consumers.

Optical is on borrowed time. Apple is not investing in the format with significant software updates or adding Blu-ray to appease fans.

Online storage is going to be the next "free email" rush. Eventually Google will field an entry to match the growing list of companies giving free bandwith up.

For some of you it may dawn on you, as your Superdrive clatters it's way to recording your data, that you could have just pushed the data to cloud storage and had your recipient retrieve it.

In a year there will be too too many file distribution sources to ignore and Apple will pull the optical drive as a standard item and the vast majority of complainers will be the "I'm set in my ways curmudgjeons"

It's not a good idea to do that yet. The optical drive will eventually go away, yes. But I'd be willing to bet that not a whole lot of people have the kind of connection required to upload several GB's of data a day. It just isn't possible right now. Maybe in 5 or 10 years, but not now.
 

RiCEADDiCTBOY

macrumors 6502a
Dec 26, 2007
699
1
It's not a good idea to do that yet. The optical drive will eventually go away, yes. But I'd be willing to bet that not a whole lot of people have the kind of connection required to upload several GB's of data a day. It just isn't possible right now. Maybe in 5 or 10 years, but not now.

Wtf? 5-10 years? Please tell me you are kidding. I am on a crappy wifi connection in europe and managed to download three seperate files that all together were 6.3 gigs in 35 minutes. I would suspect if anything in the next 2-3 years. Hell even gaming is headed down that route: psp go! And xbox 360, ps3 and etc roadmap all have download only games with no phsical media. Not everyone has stellar connection but sacrifices will be made in order to create progress.
 

SkyBell

macrumors 604
Sep 7, 2006
6,603
219
Texas, unfortunately.
Wtf? 5-10 years? Please tell me you are kidding. I am on a crappy wifi connection in europe and managed to download three seperate files that all together were 6.3 gigs in 35 minutes. I would suspect if anything in the next 2-3 years. Hell even gaming is headed down that route: psp go! And xbox 360, ps3 and etc roadmap all have download only games with no phsical media. Not everyone has stellar connection but sacrifices will be made in order to create progress.
That's not exactly what I would call a crappy connection. It would take me a week to download 7 GB's.

Sure; but you have to understand, this is a different kind of transition. Up until now, it's all been about switching from one physical media to another. I suppose you could call USB drives another physical media, but things aren't rolling that way, it's going towards the internet. Up until now, it's been fairly easy to switch from one format to another. But now we're entering uncharted territory. You can't really expect someone to pay possible a lot more money to upgrade their internet connection just so they can download a movie or upgrade their OS, etc. It won't happen until a large amount of the computer using population has broadband.
 

Prenvo

macrumors regular
Jan 31, 2009
130
0
United Kingdom
To be honest: I'm now so used to "silence" after getting (and later returning) an SSD MacBook Air, that the MacBooks annoy me when waking/booting up with their sexy mechanical spin up :p
 

RiCEADDiCTBOY

macrumors 6502a
Dec 26, 2007
699
1
That's not exactly what I would call a crappy connection. It would take me a week to download 7 GB's.

Sure; but you have to understand, this is a different kind of transition. Up until now, it's all been about switching from one physical media to another. I suppose you could call USB drives another physical media, but things aren't rolling that way, it's going towards the internet. Up until now, it's been fairly easy to switch from one format to another. But now we're entering uncharted territory. You can't really expect someone to pay possible a lot more money to upgrade their internet connection just so they can download a movie or upgrade their OS, etc. It won't happen until a large amount of the computer using population has broadband.

People pay. At&t sucks but people paid the high service fees to get new techology. Apple charges high prices but people still pay. He'll broadband isn't highway robbery in this day and age and if you running something less I don't know why unless you live out in the middle of nowhere.

Look, people are gonna voice their opinions and that's all well and good and some are valid. However the fact remains the same - change is enivitable.

My thumbs are sore from being on my iPod touch and I have a long two days flying as a medical attendant. You guys have fun duking this out. Peace.
 

chaosbunny

macrumors 68020
Samething applied to the expresscard slot...some use it but the mass majority didn't. I don't recall the last time I needed to use a cd either than to reformat. I don't care what outstanding argument you may come up with. The industry in general is moving away from physical media. Deal with it. A lot of people don't want anything to change...but it's going to with or without your stamp of approval.

I don't see thousands of expresscards being offered in every electronic market. :rolleyes:

Who called you to define what the mass majority uses? Or are you the mass majority and what you don't need nobody needs? I don't care what you think the industry does, or what outstanding usage habits you have.

However I agree that it will happen, but not within the next couple of years. And yes, technology changes, but not always for the better, see matte -> glossy display. If you look at apples latest product design updates it was more about change for the sake of change, not to actually improve useability or anything.
 

Michael CM1

macrumors 603
Feb 4, 2008
5,681
276
I can only assume that the OP drives a completely-electric car that only gets electricity from solar power plants. ::facepalm::

I might not be against the idea of an option with two HDDs or SSDs and an external Blu-ray drive (yeah, I'm there). But this notion that physical media is dead is so juvenile that it's not even funny. Here, bring me your no-disc computer and let me introduce it to my friendly magnet.

Optical media is MUCH LESS PRONE TO FAILURE than magnetic media. They both have drawbacks, but please show me some magnetic media you have from 1990 that still works. Meanwhile, there are globs of CDs still sitting around working pretty well.

The sooner all of you get over the notion that physical media is dead will be the better for you. Blu-ray keeps dropping in price per GB and should soon be less expensive for storage than HDDs, let alone SSDs. I'm also in the process of editing a wedding video for a relative. While I have already exported the file into an MP4, where is he going to play it? How many families have an Apple TV-like unit hooked up to the TV? In most homes, people have a TV and DVD/BD player. Considering the number of homes that got digital converter boxes for TVs, I would say a lot don't even have the DVD/BD player.
 

Anuba

macrumors 68040
Feb 9, 2005
3,790
393
Anyone with me?
Yes. Haven't thought of it much before, but you're right... after installing the OS and some apps that come on DVD, I never use it.

It's not like it's entirely useless (ripping audio CDs, watching DVDs and burning the occasional CD or DVD is handy on the odd occasion), but given that it's the biggest and heaviest component inside a laptop after the battery and the screen, it had better damn well be one of the most useful thing inside the computer by far, but it's not. The MBA solution (borrowing another computer's optical drive over wifi, or attaching the external drive) might as well be extended across the entire laptop range if you ask me.

This wouldn't be a problem if Apple weren't hell bent on 'sealing' their laptops, though. If you look at Dell, for example, they've always had a modular approach... on many of their laptops they have something they like to call the Media Bay. Normally an optical drive sits there, but it's removable, and you can buy other stuff and slide it in. For instance, an extra battery, an 8-in-1 card reader, or just a hollow dummy device to fill up the hole and make the computer lighter. They've had this for a long time. My oldest Dell laptop from 2001 had a floppy (eek) in the media bay, I replaced it with an extra battery. If you get a Dell Latitude with the bigger 9-cell battery and then replace the optical drive with the 6-cell battery you can get bizarre battery life, up to 19 hours. 19! That's gotta make the "revolutionary" 8-hour battery in the MBP 17" look like something out of the 1980's...
 

natebookpro

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2008
539
16
Maryland
You're correct in saying that the hardware is outdated.

But ISPs are behind the hardware. To download all your software would be cripplingly slow and/or expensive for the majority of consumers. Same goes for DVD/Blu-ray video.

For example, here in AUS I only get 30GB of data (upload and download) per month, after that i am throttled to near dial-up speed. This is a $129 a month (bundled) plan. I can't afford to waste downloads on software/movies.

Wow and I thought Verizon was stickin it to me on my slow DSL. And I like the screename, I didnt know they snowboarded in Australia.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,373
43,265
Count me in along with the people who don't like this idea (at least yet) and think such a move in the short term would be a mistake.

I like to pop a DVD into my drive and watch a movie. I have software that I like to install via CD/DVD instead of downloading it.

I realize the utility of the optical drive is decreasing and the day is coming when you'll not see a CD or DVD but you will see BlueRay.

I've seen so many threads on the net bemoaning the fact that apple has not embraced BR and yet here we have a thread wanting to kill off the optical drive altogether.

I think we will continue to see the optical drive in some form for many years, be it CD, DVD, or BR
 

Dale Cooper

macrumors regular
Sep 20, 2005
218
0
Optional:

- Superdrive
OR
- fours hours extra battery and a 32GB SSD boot-drive

Or perhaps they could bring back the powerbook-swappable-ports thing.
 

Truffy

macrumors 6502a
The future is CD-less laptops with vastly superior cooling solutions and the like, or vastly miniaturized form factors with a plethora of connectors of BOTH sides of the Mac.

Anyone with me?
MacBook Air?

Other than that, it was a real PITA when the DVD drive in my PowerBook went tits up. Until all software comes on alternative media, ROMs are still useful. And unless you're keen on ripping DVDs they're very nice to have for watching films.
 

GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
As a MB Air owner I could not see this being a possibility. The Air is a secondary computer for me but for 3 weeks it became a primary. One of the first things I missed was the optical drive, so much so I purchased the add-on superdrive for my Air even though I only needed to live without it for 3 weeks.

That said, I doubt this will ever go away. It may change in some way, but not go away.
 

Crash1234

macrumors regular
Oct 22, 2008
131
0
I actually watch DVD's on my mbp a lot and I like that the drive is built in and that I don't have to add something on. In the future, yes, optical drives are going to be obsolete and not needed, but as it is now, I think it's a bit too early to say goodbye to the optical drive.
 

nuckinfutz

macrumors 603
Jul 3, 2002
5,536
398
Middle Earth
I've seen so many threads on the net bemoaning the fact that apple has not embraced BR and yet here we have a thread wanting to kill off the optical drive altogether.

I think we will continue to see the optical drive in some form for many years, be it CD, DVD, or BR

The noisy minority wants Blu-ray. I think the majority thinks along the line of "why would I spend $25 for a movie and play it back on a 17" max screen in a laptop?"

A DVD (which can be easily ripped) makes for a better solution given the capabilities, or lackthereof (no surround sound), of most computers.

I don't think we're saying that optical shouldn't be an option but in the portable arena where space a paramount the optical drive is becoming more and more useless when compared to larger and faster storage options.

Also isn't it a bit funny that you have these diverse segments of users that contradict each other.

Apple moves to integrated and non-removable battereries and suddenly there are legions of users who just cherish carrying around another battery.

The suggestion that Apple makes optical drives optional and external is met with people that are "burdened" by the need to carry another device around.

Interesting.
 

SomeSwede

macrumors regular
Feb 26, 2009
103
4
Land of ice and snow.
I can not see any reason to abandon optical drives. I own hundreds of DVD's, CD's and i hope that Apple will soon ship their Macs with Bluray drives.
A 50 gig burnable Bluray disk will be perfect to make backups, and has enough space to contain several seasons of TV shows in .avi format (For example the complete X-files series need about 65 GB).

And yes, i am aware of the legal and moral issues with downloading TV shows, but give me legal alternatives that doesn't suck and i will use them.
 

nuckinfutz

macrumors 603
Jul 3, 2002
5,536
398
Middle Earth
I can not see any reason to abandon optical drives. I own hundreds of DVD's, CD's and i hope that Apple will soon ship their Macs with Bluray drives.
A 50 gig burnable Bluray disk will be perfect to make backups, and has enough space to contain several seasons of TV shows in .avi format (For example the complete X-files series need about 65 GB).

And yes, i am aware of the legal and moral issues with downloading TV shows, but give me legal alternatives that doesn't suck and i will use them.

Yes the ideal of 50GB discs sounds enticing but here is reality.

Optical storage is either nearline (at best) and mostly offline. So if you want to find x data on y disc you have to make sure you've got the disc handy and if you've accumulated discs some way of tracking or categorizing them .

They you have to insert the disc into your drive and wait for it to be accessed.

Now let's contrast this to the person who has say a NAS with 4 bays. They could utilize 8TB of data today that is accessible whenever they want via multiple computers using standard protocols.

In fact they they can access said files remotely.

Other than healthcare relying on MO discs for archiving and other verticals the Enterprise has pushed optical technology out. Tape is still the cheapest to archive (and it's much faster than optical for throughput) and storing data to online or nearline discs is where the Enterprise has been for the last decade and growing.

Time Machine allows you to backup/archive and restore individual files and is technologically light years beyond the antiquated "let me back this up to a disc"

Eventually consumers catch up (on a smaller scale of course) to the benefits of what the Enterprise has known decades before.
 

SkyBell

macrumors 604
Sep 7, 2006
6,603
219
Texas, unfortunately.
If you look at Dell, for example, they've always had a modular approach... on many of their laptops they have something they like to call the Media Bay. Normally an optical drive sits there, but it's removable, and you can buy other stuff and slide it in. For instance, an extra battery, an 8-in-1 card reader, or just a hollow dummy device to fill up the hole and make the computer lighter. They've had this for a long time. My oldest Dell laptop from 2001 had a floppy (eek) in the media bay, I replaced it with an extra battery. If you get a Dell Latitude with the bigger 9-cell battery and then replace the optical drive with the 6-cell battery you can get bizarre battery life, up to 19 hours. 19! That's gotta make the "revolutionary" 8-hour battery in the MBP 17" look like something out of the 1980's...
This is the approach Apple needs to take. Have the optical drive as standard, but offer other options for people who don't need it. BOBW.
 

nuckinfutz

macrumors 603
Jul 3, 2002
5,536
398
Middle Earth
The mediabay options has been done by Dell, IBM and others in their laptops. It never finds widespread success because the options are so expensive and in some ways hampers the structural rigidity of the chassis.

Apple will stick with integrated optical drives until they think the usefullness has waned enough and they'll pull it out and make it external.
 

friareunuch

macrumors member
Jun 2, 2009
76
3
Optical is on borrowed time.

+1

I am against anything having to do with formats. It's all just data. BR is on borrowed time too. The sooner we all ditch the legacy mindset, the better.

That is, assuming the telcos don't gang up on us and make our bandwidths suck ::shudders::
 

andiwm2003

macrumors 601
Mar 29, 2004
4,381
447
Boston, MA
hm, optibay seems to be an iteresting option.

1.)a 500GB internal HD and an external enclosure for the optical drive would cost about $350 - $400. with that one could put in a 128GB SSD for all the relevant stuff that needs speed and movies and such on the 500GB HD.

2.)the alternative would be just a 500GB internal HD at 7200rpm to save money

3.)or a 256GB SSD to have speed for all things.

given that I have right now 128 GB of my HD used i think i could live for a long time with option 2.) and save a lot of money.
option 3.) costs just as much as the optibay solution in 1.) but all of my data would be at SSD speed available.

in the moment i tend to not buy the Optibay solution. This would only make sense if I had vastly more data or if I would want a windows drive.
 
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