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Would you miss the optical drive on MBP if apple removed it?

redshovel

redshovel

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 19, 2007
516
111
Had my MBP for a couple of weeks now and can honestly say my optical drive has only been used once - and that was to install Office for work purposes onto my Windows 7 RC Parallels setup. I dont buy music CDs and any I do own have been ripped to iTunes. Never buy DVDs anymore either. Any I have have been ripped to Divx format and any new releases can be obtained online.

As I own other computers with optical drives I think i could do without the one on the MBP - but then again its good to have it too I suppose. Not made up my mind on this one I guess.:confused:

Just wondered how many of you would miss the optical drive?
 
Didn't we just have a big thread about this with a poll?
I will have to dig it up, it was just a short while back

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
No. I don't really think so. The optical drives just adds more weight for something most people do not need. Everything put on CDs/DVDs can be put on the web for download or a SD Card (Which Apple has already adapted). I still think Apple should offer a laptop or configuration with a optical drive, but it should not be included in most consumer notebooks (mainly because of the weight factor).
 
I would miss it...what about using your MBP as a DVD player? I do that all the time. Also installing software. Bottom line is the drive is still necessary today, but might not be in the future.
 
I could live without it. In the cases where I need an optical drive I would just use an external unit. Give me even more battery and I'd be happy. Just don't make it weigh more than the unit with the optical drive.
 
not sure, since I got my Macbook (15 months ago) I used the drive maybe a dozen times. Sometimes for watching a DVD, a few times ripping a new CD or installing something. And a few iDVD projects I burnt onto DVD.
It seem altogether I really rarely use it, compared to my last Desktop (though that was a gaming machine, so mostly there was a game in the drive.)
Though I think it's nice. I don't like buying/renting movis online, I prefer the actual box and disc actually. And then if you want to rip it for your Appe TV (in my case I don't to this at the moment, just pop it into the good old DVD player) you need a drive anyway. Though I think most of the software in the future will be distributed over the internet and otherwise they could it put it onto a USB drive those are cheap as hell nowaydays.

I think, I will miss it. Like the floppies years ago :D
 
Heck I'm thinking of pulling mine out myself for one of these.
They even include an external usb casing for the old DVD drive for when you do need it.

The times I don't need my optical drive vastly outnumber the times that I do, so a portable external in my bag would suffice. Especially if I have a TB of HD space in my Macbook Pro!
 
Maybe apple should begin offering it as an option...you can have an optical drive or we can use that space for battery, hard drive, etc... that would satisfy everyone as many people use their laptops for different things.
 
I would most certainly miss it.
Average consumers may not miss it but this is a 'Pro' machine and an optical drive is absolutely necessary for my video work. I need to be able to burn DVD's, and watch/rip DVD's. Digital video downloads through iTunes are great for consumers, but most video pro's (including myself) would rather own a physical disc. Plus, how else will I load Final Cut Studio onto my MBP. Is Apple going to have me download 55GB over the internet (when some internet providers are capping monthly usage to 250GB)?
 
Darth.Titan said:
Heck I'm thinking of pulling mine out myself for one of these.
They even include an external usb casing for the old DVD drive for when you do need it.

The times I don't need my optical drive vastly outnumber the times that I do, so a portable external in my bag would suffice. Especially if I have a TB of HD space in my Macbook Pro!
Click to expand...

mmm...interesting...that looks like a great option if you rip out the optical drive.
 
The thing is you cannot just drop the optical drive, it will have to replaced by something. Because people will still need a way to load software, watch movies, etc.
Going from floppy disks to CD's made sense because CD's hold more and are cheaper to make. People switched from VHS to DVD's because they hold better quality video and are cheaper to make.
Right know the only possible alternative would be SD cards, but SD cards are more expensive to make, do not hold that much when you compare price to size, and are not being standardized for software, movies, etc.

I think the optical drive may become the defining difference between pro and consumer computers in the future. I would not be willing to extra for an external optical drive on a pro machine.
 
I would certainly miss it.

For more recreational things like playing/installing games, and running discs from magazines.

Also for installing software. Digital download is becoming more popular but there are still times where you're a bit stuffed without a drive.

Backing up files too. I have external hard drives, but I backup to both DVD disc and those drives.
 
I would miss it, even for the few times that I've used it. If I ever need to reinstall, it would be a pain having to fork $99 for the external Superdrive.
 
My view is that I think optical drives will be gone sooner rather than later.
I think the life of Blu-Ray will be short lived - and when internet connections reach faster speeds and can deliver HD content to all - what would the need for optical drives be?

I can even see a Movie Spotify type program.
 
I wouldn't miss it if they removed it as an internal drive and offered an external USB Superdrive.

I'd miss it if I no longer had access any optical drive (very unlikely)


If I purchased a MBP right now I'd go with the Optibay solution. A second hard drive is more important to me than an integrated DVD Burner.

The ideal here is to remove power hungry moving devices with more power efficient solid state devices.
 
I thought I might miss it when I bought my Air. I don't. I understand some people might need it. But I don't.
 
Pulled the DVD drive out of my uMBP 15" and put in a second hard drive. A $70 USB drive works just fine for the odd time I need it. I've always been curious why Apple doesn't make the DVD drive ejectable. Pop it out, put in a second drive bay, etc. Or, they could go the route of Dell, Falcon Northwest and others and have 2 drives AND the DVD.
 
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