“When Apple ditched the optical drive on the MacBook Air, maybe they weren’t predicting the future so much as living it,” Chris Maxcer writes for MacNewsWorld.
“What I’ve realized recently, as I was looking for CDs and DVDs to burn — the first, for a music CD, since I somehow broke the auxiliary audio in my pickup, and the second for a DVD slideshow of a wedding that I shot for a family member — I realized that I hadn’t used the optical drive for months and months. In fact, I could not remember when I had last used it,” Maxcer writes. “I truly had an emotional, irrational attachment to the drive.”
Maxcer writes, “Heck, in the laptop world, maybe only the people who really need optical drives are hoarders.”
Read more in the full article here.
If it hasn’t been said, buy a f*#^ing external drive and shut the f*#k up already!
I want my 3 pound 15” MBP f*#^ing now already!
Jesus, whinebaggers!
I’m a professional photographer. I have 2, that’s right TWO Superdrives in my Mac Pro. There’s one in my MacBook Pro.
I burn many DVDs and CDS EVERY DAY to deliver files to my customers. It’s what they want, so that’s what I use – for now.
When they stop wanting that I’ll use whatever technology is available – if it is convenient for my customers.
So many pompous, uninformed comments here: “DVD/CD is useless, dead, so last year, etc., etc., yada, yada.”
Just because YOU don’t use something doesn’t mean it doesn’t still have value to someone else.
I also teach Photography classes at a major university. One of the classes I teach, which is full every time it’s offered, is B&W Darkroom – that’s right FILM!
Film – “technically” a dead technology – but SURPRISE! some people still embrace it and actually enjoy using it even though I’ve been told by quite a few (uninformed) people that it doesn’t even exist any longer!
Sheesh! … sorry… looks around sheepishly… I feel like the guy in the Kodak “Winds of Change” video. 🙂
Once there are no DVD drives in your customers computers they won’t want DVDs any longer. Problem solved.
Exactly. But they have them now, and use them now. That’s my point and why I need DVD/CD drives – now.
I also would have little problem with using an external burner, but it does take up a bit more real estate either on my physical desk or in my bag.
But, I wouldn’t want one in a MacBook Air – because then it wouldn’t be a MacBook Air!
I have a mid 2011 MBP with 128 SSD.. I took the optical drive out to put in a 750G HDD for storage, mostly filled with my iTunes library ;)… I have an external optical drive that I still haven’t used … & I still have my mid 2008 MBP with an optical drive that was replaced just befor I bought the 2011, it still hasn’t been used… Personally I am concerned apple were a little slow in ditching it for a change…
I recently had this discussion with a electronics store ‘techie’ who was probably born well after my first Macs…. The whole ‘optical disks are so dead’ is a great concept, but if you are, like myself, a musician or my paying job as a video producer who is REQUIRED by a government agency to submit a hard DVD to get paid, you can’t just say ‘grab it from the ‘net.’ Yes I can use an external burner but now printer companies are starting to drop dvd printers and you can’t look like a pro with a hand-scribbled dvd, let alone submit an invoice and hope to get PAID.
So here’s what Apple needs to do. Expand the MacBook Air to fill the same sizes as the MacBook Pro but keep producing the Pro with the optical drive and let the market decide what they want.
When I bought my first G4, I also picked up an external floppy, because I couldn’t really imagine a scenario where I would never need it.
Aside from transferring old files from my Performa before that, I can’t honestly say that I recall using it even once!
That said, I just got a new i7 MBP last month, and I’m happy that it has a SuperDrive.
It’s like people who only considered Apple as an option when they switched to Intel, and suddenly were able to use Windows if need be–I understand the rationality behind it. It’s just good to have my security blanket. 😁👍
I TRY to back up my photos optical, but I’m not very good at keeping up with it.
I back up all digital purchases on DVD. I rip DVDs and make backups of the movies. I backup perfect playlists.
Sooner or later the Internet Providers will price us all out of the cloud.
That’s right, I back up all my digital photos as well.
That’s not hoarding, that’s just common sense.
That’s a good point – once we’re all so dependent on the cloud because of the way technology is moving, will ISPs then all uniformly jack up their prices and justify it by saying “Well, we have to – all this bandwidth is becoming expensive!” And then we really will be priced out. It’s the widening of the digital economic divide.
I teach in some remote areas of Africa and use my internal DVD drive several times per week. I wouldn’t consider a laptop without an internal drive – a plug in certainly can’t be part of a “pro” system. Macbook Air’s are great if you’re in a reasonable metro environment, but they don’t hold up very well in the bush (weak hinge, not enough storage, ect) I need at least a 500GB hard drive for course material, so a SSD is not realistic. Mac would be lose more business then they realize if they go the Mac Book Air footprint is good for everyone.