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

[ThisIsNotMe]

How about a Blu-Ray drive? Is that so much to ask?

I don't need to seen another little mother/son pair going "ohh Blu-Ray" in a Microsoft commercial.

 

[redshovel]

well, now you have plenty of evidence that this is not an option, but that apple needs to build both a decent air as well as continue the pro with floppy, sorry, DVD drive...

It my not be an 'option' for you and many others but history shows that is irrelevant. I know many many people who still wanted a floppy long into the life of the original iMac....Apple never give them the 'option'.

 

[Mactagonist]

It my not be an 'option' for you and many others but history shows that is irrelevant. I know many many people who still wanted a floppy long into the life of the original iMac....Apple never give them the 'option'.

A cheap-o USB floppy drive was their option. Just like a nice external optical drive will be an option once Apple eliminates the optical drive.

 

[Gabriel GR]

Its posts like this that make me laugh sometimes. Do people realize that BR can do something other than play movies? its a medium to store large amounts of data, either being a movie or files, etc.Just because you don't want it, doesn't mean its not a valid requirement.

Thumbdrives and sdhc cards do that, and they do it better than Blu ray at the moment. It isn't in BR's fate to be used as a backup solution. It's been out for 2-3 years and the blank media is still too expensive...

 

[xIGmanIx]

Thumbdrives and sdhc cards do that, and they do it better than Blu ray at the moment. It isn't in BR's fate to be used as a backup solution. It's been out for 2-3 years and the blank media is still too expensive...

so is comparable hardware, so i don't see your point. Can you buy a 50GB thumb drive for less than $20? $30? So how is that a cheaper solution?

 

[Mactagonist]

^^ No but you can buy a 500gb hard drive for $80....

Its posts like this that make me laugh sometimes. Do people realize that BR can do something other than play movies? its a medium to store large amounts of data, either being a movie or files, etc. Just because you don't want it, doesn't mean its not a valid requirement. Plus, with people adopting BR, why wouldn't they want to be able to take it with them?

I do realize that there is potential for BR becoming a popular means of mass data storage. If it ever takes off in the market an external drive would work just fine. You dont see anyone building tape drives into laptops do you?

 

[nuckinfutz]

A cheap-o USB floppy drive was their option. Just like a nice external optical drive will be an option once Apple eliminates the optical drive.

+1

The lack of a floppy in the iMac wasn't a problem because the 3rd party vendor had product available pretty quickly.

The bigger problem at that time was finding decent printers. We sold a lot of Asante ethernet-localtalk bridges back in the day and the Epson 740i was very popular as a USB injket.

There are parallels here to the floppy.

Apple didn't use the craptastic floppies that every PC vendor used. You know, the kind with the big eject button? Apple used auto eject floppies which were much more expensive.

Just like today with slot load optical drives Apple uses more expensive componentry and unless they decide on moving to Blu-ray I could see them pulling the Superdrive and selling the USB Superdrive they offer for the Air across more computers.

Some people will raise a stink in the name of convenience but most people will realize that the whole issue is a tempest in a teapot and go about their lives.

 

[xIGmanIx]

^^ No but you can buy a 500gb hard drive for $80....



I do realize that there is potential for BR becoming a popular means of mass data storage. If it ever takes off in the market an external drive would work just fine. You dont see anyone building tape drives into laptops do you?

it is a medium that is being adopted way faster than the DVD medium. I like the chances of Blu Ray sticking around

 

[nuckinfutz]

it is a medium that is being adopted way faster than the DVD medium. I like the chances of Blu Ray sticking around

I should hope so. DVD replaced VHS cassettes which were becoming pretty archaic. Thanks to Compact Disc consumer were becoming hooked on fast access to tracks.

Blu-ray though has more competitors though so I think it'll stick around and even outdo DVD but that's based on a larger market overall. I like my Blu-ray player but discs are passe and I'd rather have everything on a storage device that can be streamed throughout my living area.

 

[macbook123]

It my not be an 'option' for you and many others but history shows that is irrelevant. I know many many people who still wanted a floppy long into the life of the original iMac....Apple never give them the 'option'.

look, I never use the DVD drive and would be happy without, however many here aren't. So why not give them what they want and me what I want (i.e. A 15 inch Air)? What problem is there with that?

 

[xIGmanIx]

I should hope so. DVD replaced VHS cassettes which were becoming pretty archaic. Thanks to Compact Disc consumer were becoming hooked on fast access to tracks.

Blu-ray though has more competitors though so I think it'll stick around and even outdo DVD but that's based on a larger market overall. I like my Blu-ray player but discs are passe and I'd rather have everything on a storage device that can be streamed throughout my living area.

Blu Ray that i know of, has no competitors right now. As people continue to adopt HDTV's so too will the adoption of Blu Ray increase. It is only a matter of time, and whether you want to stream media has nothing to do with losing an optical drive in your computer.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Blu Ray that i know of, has no competitors right now. As people continue to adopt HDTV's so too will the adoption of Blu Ray increase. It is only a matter of time, and whether you want to stream media has nothing to do with losing an optical drive in your computer.

iTunes HD downloads, VUDU, Comcast HD, Fios TV and more if you're just talking about HD. If you're talking about overall quality then Blu-ray is then top of the commercial foodchain.

Me wanting to stream my content is tied in with Blu-ray. With my BD discs I must physically place it into a player to view the movie. I can watch a crappy lower rez digital copy in some movies with Blu-ray but for best quality I must do the work.

I think what people want is the mp3 effect to happen to HD movies. We can already rip DVDs and move them around but HD movies are a bit tougher. Whether or not I need an optical disc for video playback is indeed linked to Blu-ray thought tenuously.

 

[xIGmanIx]

iTunes HD downloads, VUDU, Comcast HD, Fios TV and more if you're just talking about HD. If you're talking about overall quality then Blu-ray is then top of the commercial foodchain.

Me wanting to stream my content is tied in with Blu-ray. With my BD discs I must physically place it into a player to view the movie. I can watch a crappy lower rez digital copy in some movies with Blu-ray but for best quality I must do the work.

I think what people want is the mp3 effect to happen to HD movies. We can already rip DVDs and move them around but HD movies are a bit tougher. Whether or not I need an optical disc for video playback is indeed linked to Blu-ray thought tenuously.

The video and audio quality in the sources you mentioned are nowhere even close to rivaling Blu Ray. Compressed video and making it available on multiple sources is not what this thread is about. If your ok with watching subpar "HD" that works for you, for me, i don't want to lose the optical drive in my Mac, and actually i would like to gain a BR player/recorder

 

[cube]

- Apple doesnt market laptops to people who know what any of that means. They sell workstations to them.

Consumers just need to buy true surround headphones. That's all they need to know.

Ideally, a person could go to a lab to measure their actual HRTF for optimum results.

 

[redshovel]

look, I never use the DVD drive and would be happy without, however many here aren't. So why not give them what they want and me what I want (i.e. A 15 inch Air)? What problem is there with that?

I agree that would be a solution. The problem is I just dont think apple will ever implement it.

 

[maflynn]

My knee jerk reaction would be to say yes, I'd miss it, but in all actuality I think I'd survive just fine, and if either gave me another drive bay or a small form factor I think it would be a better use of the space

 

[w00t951]

Many normal people, like myself, still need the SuperDrive to run games, DVDs, and software. The media that you buy today is all on CDs and DVDs, with cars and such running CD players. However, as soon as something comes out that is equivalent or better, and much of the media industry with the software industry switches, I will follow. However, at present time, the CD is the main format that you buy. (Not download or order online, but buy.)

 

[drake]

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

Yes I would, and I'd spend days looking for it.

 

[colourfastt]

I would totally buy a MBP without an internal optical drive if one of the following is met:
1) An external, USB powered optical drive is included for no extra charge
2) Snow Leopard/Whatever OS comes on a bootable SD card. (If you don't use SD cards all the time, you can keep it in your laptop)

History will tell us that Apple tends to do things that are slightly ahead of the times (ie: floppy drives to CD-ROM drives), but causes the entire industry to follow.

Losing the optical drive will not only give us more battery life outright, but it can give us lighter laptops, more internal space for battery, and room for a second hard drive (a hard drive is about half the size of the optical disk drive).

Replace "USB" with "Firewire" and I'll agree. USB totally SUCKS.