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Would you like Apple to get rid of the CD drive?
- Thread starter wankey
- Start date
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It might make sense to do so, and just get a USB powered Superdrive accessory...
Make more room for the battery, extra harddrive (raid or second os..maybe a way to power it down so it doesnt consume excess battery), extra logic board space + 3g (or higher) built in.
I only use it to import CDs & DVDs (and tv seasons) to my digital library thats about it.
while i tend to use to it sparingly I dont necessarily need it built in if something better could be utilized within the space.
Make more room for the battery, extra harddrive (raid or second os..maybe a way to power it down so it doesnt consume excess battery), extra logic board space + 3g (or higher) built in.
I only use it to import CDs & DVDs (and tv seasons) to my digital library thats about it.
while i tend to use to it sparingly I dont necessarily need it built in if something better could be utilized within the space.
I would be cool with that if they included the optical drive dongle they have for the Macbook Air with new machines. I use the optical drive for installing stuff, never for backing up, and rarely for watching/ripping a movie. So it wouldn't be a big loss. And I'd be pretty happy if they started including a second hard disk.
However, I chose "No", because, knowing Apple, they would probably take out the disk drive without any real benefit to the consumer.
However, I chose "No", because, knowing Apple, they would probably take out the disk drive without any real benefit to the consumer.
I don't think we're ready to remove the optical drive just yet
Maybe in 3 or 4 years down the road, but I mean, OS's still come on a disc, as do music, movies etc. Plus people still burn off DVDs and audio CDs....at least I still do.
CD/DVD's are still standard and with SSD's still very expensive, putting in a second HD wouldn't be economical. I'd rather have one big HD than two smaller ones.
Maybe in 3 or 4 years down the road, but I mean, OS's still come on a disc, as do music, movies etc. Plus people still burn off DVDs and audio CDs....at least I still do.
CD/DVD's are still standard and with SSD's still very expensive, putting in a second HD wouldn't be economical. I'd rather have one big HD than two smaller ones.
Some times. but i would if they would have make an external Mac utility stations, like some sort of re incarnation of the Airport, that had Wireless Network. usb hub for printers, ipods/phones, etc. "wireless power". CD/DVD/Blu ray. Audio Out. Display Out.
Express version:Wireless. Power. Display. Audio. (for on the road presentations etc).
Laptops would then have. Built in wimpy speakers. Track pad. Bluetooth for Keyboard and mouse(or touch screen
).
This would have to have some pretty good Wireless speed. A little Closer to Gbps.
Express version:Wireless. Power. Display. Audio. (for on the road presentations etc).
Laptops would then have. Built in wimpy speakers. Track pad. Bluetooth for Keyboard and mouse(or touch screen
). This would have to have some pretty good Wireless speed. A little Closer to Gbps.
Yea I think it's time to remove it. Very few people use it these days to warrant it being built-in.
I know Apple would never do this in a million years, but what about those disk drives that are basically just a laser and an arm? Like an arm would flip out from the Macbook, and you would lock the CD in and it would spin (The CD would remain out of a case) and then the laser would go to work. I can imagine this wouldn't be allowed, due to an external laser, and it would probably be very fragile, since there would be an exposed spinning CD. It would still be cool, though, and save a lot of space.
Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
The bigger picture is Digital Distribution. Digital distribution is the future. It's not a matter of whether or not we will adopt it but rather how fast we will adopt it.
For portable computers to get rid of disc drives for good, the entertainment and software industry must overcome the following obstacle:
When a consumer buys your product, he is purchasing the right to use your product. He is not purchasing the right to use your product on a particular machine or media.
When a consumer buys a song or movie, he should be buying the right to listen or watch it however he pleases. The current problem in this is: How do we protect these industries from theft while giving the consumer such rights? No one has a concrete answer just yet unfortunately. The industry needs to find a way to prevent the high degree and ease of unauthorized content duplication and its unauthorized distribution.
But eventually, all computers will just have internal storage and a connection to the "cloud". Your personal computing belongings will live there and you can access them whenever you please. The contents in the cloud will feel like they are stored locally but your internal storage will actually be used like a swap partition (temporary local storage for immediate use... much like the service the cache provides to the processor with respect to the RAM). Need to reinstall your OS? No problem! Just boot into a special menu (without the need of your main OS) while connected to the cloud and everything will be taken care of (This will be the eventual use of linux distributions installed within your motherboard).
The user/consumer will essentially be put in a sandbox of content that is half local and half in the cloud but he will have no idea it is. He could be on any computer or device and use his content as long as he is logged in. Only one instance of his user can be logged in at once of course.
Being logged into your OS will also mean you are logged into the cloud. Much like XBOX Live.
The internet infrastructure is not ready for this high volume of throughput just yet. The entertainment industry is just waking up to this concept with sites like grooveshark.com and hulu.com. They are just dipping their toes in the water with these sites at the moment and testing consumer interest in such a market model. Once these sites turn on their subscription model, they will have to provide service to all devices. Your cell phone, your car, your laptop, your tv, your home and portable gaming machines, everything really.
We are about a decade away from the full realization of this reality in my estimation. The Optical disc drive is here for at least a couple more years unfortunately for the reasons stated earlier. Same goes for Portable storage media like SD Cards.
Now that cell phone carriers are providing internet access, your camera will send pictures and video to the cloud wherever you are instead of storing them on a media which you have to bring to your computer. When you get home, you log in and your pictures are all there ready for you to use.
Any portable device will interact with the cloud. Everything you will use, will be interconnected no matter where you are and what device you are using. Everything you do in real life with digital devices will update your cloud sandbox on the fly so you can go about your business no matter where you are or what you are using. You will have a virtual identity that is as important as your real life one because they will be both joined at the hip.
Portable solid media will eventually be useless and you will be happy about it too.
These are exciting times people!
For portable computers to get rid of disc drives for good, the entertainment and software industry must overcome the following obstacle:
When a consumer buys your product, he is purchasing the right to use your product. He is not purchasing the right to use your product on a particular machine or media.
When a consumer buys a song or movie, he should be buying the right to listen or watch it however he pleases. The current problem in this is: How do we protect these industries from theft while giving the consumer such rights? No one has a concrete answer just yet unfortunately. The industry needs to find a way to prevent the high degree and ease of unauthorized content duplication and its unauthorized distribution.
But eventually, all computers will just have internal storage and a connection to the "cloud". Your personal computing belongings will live there and you can access them whenever you please. The contents in the cloud will feel like they are stored locally but your internal storage will actually be used like a swap partition (temporary local storage for immediate use... much like the service the cache provides to the processor with respect to the RAM). Need to reinstall your OS? No problem! Just boot into a special menu (without the need of your main OS) while connected to the cloud and everything will be taken care of (This will be the eventual use of linux distributions installed within your motherboard).
The user/consumer will essentially be put in a sandbox of content that is half local and half in the cloud but he will have no idea it is. He could be on any computer or device and use his content as long as he is logged in. Only one instance of his user can be logged in at once of course.
Being logged into your OS will also mean you are logged into the cloud. Much like XBOX Live.
The internet infrastructure is not ready for this high volume of throughput just yet. The entertainment industry is just waking up to this concept with sites like grooveshark.com and hulu.com. They are just dipping their toes in the water with these sites at the moment and testing consumer interest in such a market model. Once these sites turn on their subscription model, they will have to provide service to all devices. Your cell phone, your car, your laptop, your tv, your home and portable gaming machines, everything really.
We are about a decade away from the full realization of this reality in my estimation. The Optical disc drive is here for at least a couple more years unfortunately for the reasons stated earlier. Same goes for Portable storage media like SD Cards.
Now that cell phone carriers are providing internet access, your camera will send pictures and video to the cloud wherever you are instead of storing them on a media which you have to bring to your computer. When you get home, you log in and your pictures are all there ready for you to use.
Any portable device will interact with the cloud. Everything you will use, will be interconnected no matter where you are and what device you are using. Everything you do in real life with digital devices will update your cloud sandbox on the fly so you can go about your business no matter where you are or what you are using. You will have a virtual identity that is as important as your real life one because they will be both joined at the hip.
Portable solid media will eventually be useless and you will be happy about it too.
These are exciting times people!
I'd love to see Apple offer a BTO option to replace the optical drive with a second HDD. I've used my optical drive a handful of times - the possibilities for a second HDD are endless. 1TB 13" MBP? I'd buy one.
Can you people imagine how much hotter your machine would run with a second HD?
Also, wouldn't it still be more economical to buy one large HD rather than 2 smaller HDs?
The only thing I could see is moving the HD to where the CD drive is now and adding more expansion slots on the right hand side where the HD was. More USB ports, more FW, SD/CF, Express ports, eSATA, 3.5mm headphone jack etc etc
Also, wouldn't it still be more economical to buy one large HD rather than 2 smaller HDs?
The only thing I could see is moving the HD to where the CD drive is now and adding more expansion slots on the right hand side where the HD was. More USB ports, more FW, SD/CF, Express ports, eSATA, 3.5mm headphone jack etc etc
People have done it. A HDD shouldn't run any hotter than an optical drive, anyway.
Two HDDs gives options a single one simply cannot:
-up to 1TB of storage.
-superior speed in RAID0.
-automatic backup with Time Machine or mirrored RAID.
-SSD boot drive and HDD storage drive.
You can't do any of those things with one drive...
Not now! Maybe in like two, three, years?
And of course to have it as an external option. And for the first year they should give us a BTO option to have in external disc drive or have something else in place of it.
And of course to have it as an external option. And for the first year they should give us a BTO option to have in external disc drive or have something else in place of it.
BTO for another HD or battery would be nice.
In my case, I need an optical drive because I use it fairly often for various needs.
Currently I have an internal 500GB HD and an external FW800 500GB HD. However, if given the option, I think I would prefer two internal HDs (500GB each) and then have an external optical drive.
Would I like Apple to get rid of the optical drive?
That depends entirely upon what Apple decides to replace it with. (I'm also assuming the OP meant "optical drive," since the SuperDrive is technically a DVD drive.)
When the optical drive reaches the status of floppy disks and parallel/VGA ports, then sure. Drop it like it's hot, Apple. If BD is here to stay (still yet to be determined of course) or a different high-density optical format, then no. Keep it.
On the other hand, the empty space left by the missing optical drive could be filled with a 2GB Quadro FX card. Or...maybe a second quad core CPU. Yeah that's what I said...when they roll out quad MBPs, why not go crazy and add a second quad and make an 8-core MBP? I'm sure it could be done if they just made the freaking body a bit thicker...
Oh, yeah, like that's totally going to happen...
That depends entirely upon what Apple decides to replace it with. (I'm also assuming the OP meant "optical drive," since the SuperDrive is technically a DVD drive.)
When the optical drive reaches the status of floppy disks and parallel/VGA ports, then sure. Drop it like it's hot, Apple. If BD is here to stay (still yet to be determined of course) or a different high-density optical format, then no. Keep it.
On the other hand, the empty space left by the missing optical drive could be filled with a 2GB Quadro FX card. Or...maybe a second quad core CPU. Yeah that's what I said...when they roll out quad MBPs, why not go crazy and add a second quad and make an 8-core MBP? I'm sure it could be done if they just made the freaking body a bit thicker...
Oh, yeah, like that's totally going to happen...
Yeah, once SSDs and digital downloads take off our computers can get a lot smaller.