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Would you miss the optical drive on MBP if apple removed it?
- Thread starter redshovel
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This is one of the reasons i did not want a MacBook Air,
I have to have an optical drive, even if i didn't use it alot.
CD's and DVD's are cheaper than just giving someone my flash drive to steal.
I have to have an optical drive, even if i didn't use it alot.
CD's and DVD's are cheaper than just giving someone my flash drive to steal.
I think it's easy enough to say no now, but when you actually didn't have one, I think you would realise how useful it is.
Also, I can already imagine the cries of people if Apple to release a laptop without one. Macbook Air anybody?
Also, I can already imagine the cries of people if Apple to release a laptop without one. Macbook Air anybody?
I wouldn't mind using the External SuperDrive like I do on my MacBook Air. But that's because it would allow me to add another hard drive or to make it lighter 
I would just use and carry around an external for the few times I need it.
I would much rather have the extra space for a larger battery and a second HDD.
An external optical drive would be fine for me.
I would much rather have the extra space for a larger battery and a second HDD.
My iBook's optical drive broke last year so until I got my MacBook Pro earlier this year I was without an ODD. And I didn't miss the optical drive, except for software installs (because I deleted software off my iBook) and DVD movies (which I used another computer to watch).
An external optical drive would be fine for me.
I wouldn't mind losing it, i'd get an external one as an option, leave it on my desktop, as i never use my optical drive on the move.
Though i'd love to have a second hard drive or use the space for a huge battery, imagine the battery life with an added battery the size of an optical drive...
Though i'd love to have a second hard drive or use the space for a huge battery, imagine the battery life with an added battery the size of an optical drive
...I would most definitely miss it. In fact, I'm burning a DVD as we speak. Furthermore, I would be quite disappointed if they replaced it with an external. I don't use my dvd drive too often, but I wouldn't like to have to carry an extra accessory every time I want to watch a DVD on the road.
Simple answer : No, I would not miss it at all. Id love to have a system with 2 160Gb Intel SSD's in it in raid. Now that would be much better than having a optical drive I think. Especially if you could grab an external Optical drive just in case you needed it for something. But in all honesty, I've had my Macbook for almost 8 months or so and I've used the optical drive maybe 4 or 5 times.
I wouldn't mind losing it, i'd get an external one as an option, leave it on my desktop, as i never use my optical drive on the move.
Though i'd love to have a second hard drive or use the space for a huge battery, imagine the battery life with an added battery the size of an optical drive
I m pretty sure there is enough space for 9 additional cells in there... 10 hour laptop FTW...
I would greatly miss it. This is not the time for Apple or any company to start yanking optical drives out, it's too premature. I had the RevB Macbook Air and kept it only 8 months before I said, BYE BYE and bought a 13" MBP. I had the external optical drive and it was a pain to use. Every now and then I needed to install new software or drop my bootcamp partition and reinstall Windows and I hated going into my closet, pulling out the optical drive, plugging it in and installing software, then putting it back, such as hassle, especially if I was on the go and someone gave me a DVD business disc I had to view, well I couldn't with the Air because the optical drive was at home and if I have to carry it around with me then I need a Mac with a built in drive.
What about games, I just got The Sims 3 which comes on DVD and it requires the DVD to be in the drive just to play it. An external drive would be a royal PITA.
What about games, I just got The Sims 3 which comes on DVD and it requires the DVD to be in the drive just to play it. An external drive would be a royal PITA.
That would be awesome. It would Be great if we could get that extra battery life, and Two HDD or SSD's in it, whichever combination you like
Good point, but Im sure they would be able to develop games to be played off of USB or another form of flash media. Or they could develop the games to run without a CD in the drive.
I would hate it. I play the sims on my mbp and it would be a pain to have to use an external drive.
I barely use it. I think externals are the way to go. The times you use it are far less than when you don't. I could always watch my DVDs on my HDTV instead of my computer. If companies started putting software onto SD cards, they would save shipping costs because the packages would be much smaller.
Won't miss it when it gets removed as soon as my kit arrives to add another drive. I have an external that works fine for the 3 times in the past 2+ years I've needed to install something from a CD. Twice has been use the restore disks on MB's I sold, the other time was to put iWork on a previous machine.
I can see how certain professions need it and always having it around is a must, but the majority of computer users are relying less and less on CD/DVD type of media to get content. Downloads, USB drives, SD cards, wireless syncing etc..
I can see how certain professions need it and always having it around is a must, but the majority of computer users are relying less and less on CD/DVD type of media to get content. Downloads, USB drives, SD cards, wireless syncing etc..
I removed it. And I dont miss it.
Did you weigh it before and after?
The only time I'm using mine is when installing non-downloadable software. I could live without, no, would actually pay apple to remove it, even if the weight reduction was only 1 ounce and the laptop only 0.1 inches thinner because of it. For the rare occasions I need it I could use a cd drive from an external computer such as desktop.
If I want to watch a video import it into iTunes beforehand.
I also prefer the tapered front edge of the Air over the wrist-cutter of the Pro. Seems like everything would be better without the optical drive for me. It's basically like carrying a floppy drive around.
I removed it. And I dont miss it.
Did you weigh it before and after?
The only time I'm using mine is when installing non-downloadable software. I could live without, would actually pay apple to remove it, even if the weight reduction was only 1 ounce and the laptop only 0.1 inches thinner because of it. For the rare occasions I need it I could use a cd drive from an external computer such as desktop.
If I want to watch a video import it into iTunes beforehand.
I also prefer the tapered front edge of the Air over the wrist-cutter of the Pro. Seems like everything would be better without the optical drive for me. It's basically like carrying a floppy drive around.
It sucks enough not having an expresscard slot. Removing the optical drive would render it more useless.
I would miss mine. I use it to make physical back ups of my photos and movies. You just never know when that external HDD is going to crap the bed on ya. I have a small safe that I keep the cds and dvds, in case of a fire it gets grabbed right after the kids of course. Oh yeah, its nice to have for software installation too.
I'm sure the 2 % of users actually taking advantage of Expresscard are devasted.
