“While Intel is obsessed with pushing their Ultrabooks into the market to attack Apple’s MacBook Air, Apple is working on producing a thinner MacBook Pro for road warriors who need the convenience of an optical drive,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.
“Apple’s latest invention describes how they propose to minimize the mechanics of an optical disk drive so as to produce a thinner MacBook Pro design in the future,” Purcher reports.
Read more in the full article, including Apple’s patent application illustrations and diagrams here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
The application link doesn’t work. It just takes you to Verizon Wireless
You need to click “here” instead of “application”.
Oh man. I was hoping for next years MacBook Pros to not even HAVE an optical drive, be thinner and lighter but in 15″ & 17″ screen sizes. And maybe a couple Thunderbolt ports and SSD naturally. Bigger battery and longer life too. Is that so wroooong?
Wishing for the MacBook Pro that you personally want is normal. Assuming that everybody else wants the same thing is ridiculous. The key to happiness is accepting what comes. 🙂
The idea is not to get what most people (think they) want, but the next step in evolution, when it comes to pro laptops.
An optical drive??? Who wants, much less needs one? Was the article from 2001 instead of 2011 maybe? Sounds much more like MS to me.
MacBook Pros have an optical drive today and many love it for games or adding apps you can’t buy online or watching a DVD at the airport. You may not want an optical drive but many do. If I don’t want one, I’d buy a MacBook Air!
Also, hybrid drives are coming next year. A lot of storage for those of who want that and a 20 GB SSD for Mac OS X and favorite app speed. Can’t wait.
Here’s the good link: http://www.patentlyapple.com/
I don’t need an optical disk drive in he MacBook Pro just the horse power and SSD
When Intel zigs, Apple zags and will continue to pressure the PC market. Let’s hope that Jony Ives has a few more tricks up his sleeve for Mac hardware.
Just because a patent is filed and granted, does not mean it will go into production. CYA is often the corporate reason. Hence, the bevy of purchases of patents that has been in the news.
Personally, I have a MBA 13″ and miss my 17″ MBP. that being said, I only have used to connectable DVD/CD read/write “device” about three times since I bought my MBA. We may see the same type of thing with a DVD/CD device that is Thunderbolt connected for faster throughput.
Just a thought. cheers from Oz…
Nice banner at Patently Apple:
http://www.patentlyapple.com/.a/6a0120a5580826970c0162fbc99b81970d-pi
It may go on my emails for a while.
Thanks for the link, you’re right.
But.. but.. I thought that apple was going to make their macs thicker
I use a MacBook Pro with Parallels and PC software still needs an optical drive. A ton of PC fans use MacBooks and Apple knows that. Sounds like a plan.