Why no optical drive?

Im sure that this topic has been posted before, but I dont feel like scaling page for page to find it. I would like to know why on earth does the Macbook pro with retina display does not come with an optical drive? What does apple expect one to do with things that operate by cd? I heard something about using a super drive, but Im not very well verse in how it works and how it would replace the use of an optical drive. Thanks.

 

Optical drives are now used so infrequently that for most of us, it's not necessary to carry one around. So Apple went for a thinner, lighter case instead.

For my part, I have an external optical drive that I keep on my desk and plug in on the very rare occasions I actually need to load something from a CD/DVD.

 

Optical drives will have the same fate as floppy drives.

As technology advances, it's only a matter of time until optical drives become obsolete across all laptops - Digital media is the future.

Depending on your budget, you can pick up an external optical drive starting at 29.99$:
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG USB 2.0 Slim External 8X DVD Burner - Blue Model SE-208AB

Personally, I welcome the move to eliminate all optical drives - It makes laptops more portable.

 

The same reason they don't have a built in Floppy drive... because hardly anyone uses them anymore.

a "Superdrive" is just what Apple calls its brand of optical drives... the external ones are the same as any other external drive. You can use an external on this one, or OSX has stuff built in to easily share drives across a network with another machine.

Most people these days buy software, music, and movies digitally, and its what Apple is pushing everyone to do since they sell software, music, and movies this way.

 

I use it to watch movies and I know lot of people do it as well when I went on the train. Granted, many used dvd players but some also used their computers. Not everyone is as rich or live in an area where hi speed internet is readily available, so I doubt that everything would go online.

Anyway, you won't be able to reason with many of the apple fanboys here Not to mention the fact that the superdrive is not completely out as it does come in the non-retine models.


P.S. I was at the apple store yesterday for an OS reinstall problem and I did take a look at the retina. I guess the resolution didn't go up in the sense that moving up from 820p to 1080p means more real estate (smaller icons and you can fit an entire word page), but moreso on the "clarity" of what you see. Frankly, I surfed safari and I didn't notice the difference, so I am more than happy that I didn't wait until this year to buy and get sucked into all the hype. If you can actually see and feel the difference, then good for you but I know that a lot of people won't be able to see the difference unlike moving from a glossy to a matte screen.

 

with the 2880x1800 screen, you can set the size of elements on the screen (and therefore screen real estate) to match the previous model (1440x900), or you can set it to match 1680x1050, or 1920x1200.

As far as the optical drive, the idea is that it the inconvenience of it now outweighs its usefulness. The optical drive is far and away the largest component in any laptop, and for many it provides no benefit. Eliminating that component frees a large amount of space, which means better laptop design in Apple's case.

 

I beg to differ in regards to this statement and the many alike. Maybe you guys will call me nostalgic, but I still purchase cds but I never watch movies on my laptop (thats what dvd players are for) and I will continue to purchase cds. IMO, this whole digital media thing is just an attempt to make folks even more lazy and fat. If its my favorite artist, then trust that I will get out and go buy their cds. I dont believe in purchasing an entire album from Itunes. Maybe a song or two yes, but the whole album, no.

 

Even though you still want to buy CDs and you have some sort of bias against digital media, you surely must recognize that:

1. all of the CD stores have already gone out of business
2. the rest of the world has moved onto digital media for their music
3. digital media is the way of the future (whether you like it or not)

It's Apple's job to stay as forward as possible, they can't cater to nostalgic people.

Apple doesn't force you to buy entire albums, quite the opposite- they pioneered the movement that you should be able to buy individual songs. CD media force you to buy entire albums. You must have this backwards. Or you meant that you have some sort of double standard - that it's okay for you to buy complete albums on CD, but not digitally. If so, what is the rational justification for this?

 

I don't see it that way? How often does one lose discs vs flash drives? I can't tell you how many Windows discs I've lost. PLUS installing an OS over flash drive is 2-3x faster than a disc, at least for Windows.

Yes the optical drive is a dying breed, it should have been phased out years ago, alot of machines from 2-3 years ago should support booting from USB.

With my X series tablets, I've never needed an optical drive, I just install the OS via flash drive, download all my movies directly on the machine or copy it onto a flash drive.

 

Yes, im well aware that we are advancing in technology every year, but that doesn't mean that everyone has to abruptly adhere to using everything digital. It takes time to crossover to that. Its also a matter of preference. I enjoy buying cds, so therefore I will continue to do so. There's no double standard. Here's the logic in my statement: i If I preview an album on itunes and the bulk of it turns out to be good, then off to frys I go. If there's only one or two songs that I feel are good, then I will take the itunes route.

 

Apple is a pioneer of killing off legacy ports/connectors and adding new technology, minus Firewire as they helped pioneer it. First laptops to have Thunderbolt, 1st manufacturer to use 4k screens. Sure people may not like it, but that is how the future is going to be. The way I see it, Apple might remove all optical drives for their new Macbook Pro's and I commend them as they are unsightly and a massive waste of space, I'd rather have an extra battery bay than an optical drive.

 

the frys across the street from my school just went out of business.

also- you should see the distinction between changes that you should be making versus changes that Apple should be making.

Apple is a company which has a responsibility to push technology forward to generate money for its stock holders. Consumers also benefit from the fact that technology is getting pushed forward (which they can use).

You as a human being are tasked with a very different responsibility. You are tasked with wondering, trying to enjoy life, discover / create meaning, etc.

While this certainly does not obligate you to drop your CD collection and switch to digital media, Apple is obligated to do so.

 

I'd think people would prefer ripping their movies onto their computer and watching it when out that way... you use less battery, you don't have to worry about popping discs in and out or even taking them anywhere with you. I watch movies now and then, and it doesn't take that long to copy it onto the Mac while at home to watch it on the go, than trying to carry around stuff with you.

yes, things advance. I saw someone not long ago using some old cell phone that was the size of a brick (I'm surprised it even worked), and he was also probably complaining about people changing too fast... people get entrenched in what they do and don't want to change.

 

Just because the Frys across the street from you went out of business, doesn't mean that they're not thriving in other areas. There are still other things besides cds to purchase from an ELECTRONICS store (i.e. appliances, phone cases, extra drives, etc). Let me reiterate once again its all a matter of preference. I enjoy my apple products very much, because of the longevity in the function of the device as well as it's quality.I have no problem whatsoever in crossing over, Im just saying that there are certain things that I prefer doing at my pace, thats all. Theres no need for you to get sarcastic

 

I used to do this even when I had an optical drive in my laptop for movies. To be fair, this usage case still demands a DVD drive of some sort, and the rMBP could certainly be the only computer available for many users.

Still, if this is how you use optical media (rip it to your hard drive), then you may still prefer to keep your optical drive external, so you don't have to carry it around with you *everywhere* as a part of a chassis. Again, the optical drive is not insignificant in size. It's traditionally far and away the largest component in the laptop.

Quick question @daydream: with your CDs, do you listen to music on your laptop from the CD, or do you rip the CD to your hard drive and listen to the digital version, and keep the CD for archival purposes?

 

I've deleted some snarky posts, keep it civil.

 

I'm actually glad they got rid of the optical drive. Apple has been released their last OS update on an SD card I believe (may have been a flash drive?) and that's really the only time I use an optical drive.

On the movies thing, for the common user they'll see that there is no optical drive so now they have to get their movies from the iTunes store.

 

or netflix, or hulu, or amazon, or...

 

I still buy a lot of my movies on optical disk, but use them in electronic form on my smartphone, ipad or notebook. The disk does get used, but only in the blu-ray player in the entertainment center.

 

And on top of this - the critical thing to decide is not even whether you should have the ability to use optical media. The question is, should an optical media drive be included in the chassis?

By removing it from the chassis, you can make the laptop dramatically lighter and thinner. If you keep it, you have less room for ports, and you are committing yourself to a much larger and heavier device.

The macbook air is 3 pounds. The retina macbook pro is 4.5 pounds. The standard macbook pro is 5.6 pounds. Part of that is the optical drive itself. The other part is the fact that the chassis has to be much larger to contain the optical drive.

You could keep an external drive at home, and rip your CDs as you see fit, and rip movies before a trip if you so desire.

 

I use a high quality external drive at home. Now that the operating systems can mount .ISO images, I keep a repository of disk images for operating systems, apps and games. I only use the glass to create the .ISO.

Every movie DVD/Blu-ray disk gets ripped. Every audio CD gets ripped. Optical media never goes on the road anymore.

 

For years now, the only use for optical drives for me, is to replace them with a HDD caddy. It's high time we moved past that obsolete technology.

 

You are not Apple's target market for the MacBook Pro Retina. You'll notice Apple never put an optical drive on a MacBook Air and people buy them.

We live in the future. Here, in the future, literally lasers are an outdated technology. Old-fashioned. Yes, lasers are old-fashioned. That's how much in the future we are.

 

Where's my flying car?

 

And railgun? Right now the US Navy has an operational version ( Cracked link). The future is freakin' awesome

As for DVDs, they need to go. Like a lot of users, I haven't used one often for the past four years. I did buy an external DVD burner so that I can play CnC Generals ZH (which won't play nice with Daemon Tools Lite ) and to occasionally burn a music CD for my car (only because it's too new to use a cassette-to-aux converter, and too old to have an Aux port), but otherwise everything is digital, either on flashdrives or from the Internet. Most games can be found on Steam (or its competitors such as Origin), music and movies can be (legally) found on iTunes or Amazon or anywhere else, and data backups can be done with external drives or the cloud (if you're into that sort of nonsense).

 

I still purchase CDs too, but what does that have to do with it? Unless you insist on taking your CDs along with you on the go, why do you need an internal optical drive?

Same here. My wife and I still buy a lot of CDs, but they go straight into storage boxes after ripping. All of our DVDs have been ripped and stored away. Blu-Rays get ripped too, but converted down to 720p and compressed to save space. So we still spin Blu-Rays in a proper player at home.

 

Thank you for this. I honestly did not mean any harm, all I was doing was asking a question. Thanks very much for providing me some insight about the whole optical drive issue.

 

1. People rarely use optical drives anymore, and even more rarely need them built into the computer.

2. It saves space and money not having one.

3. More and more people are consuming content through the internet or cloud.

 

Why not just download the movies you want to watch directly onto your computer instead of using a CD? It's not like you don't have any options there. And having it on the computer is more convenient, allows for a better design, reduces noise, heat, and battery consumption. Most times I completely forgot that I have an optical drive on my G73, despite my earlier negativity to the idea of the CD drive going the way of Floppy.
*that said, a blu-ray drive would be amazing with this computer

 

I always thought that using an SD card for movies would be a good option as well - kind of a half way between a DVD ROM and blowing away tons of your hard drive. SSDs in particular tend to fill up pretty quick.

 

It really really hurt me when Apple discontinued the Macbook 17 which was my most favorite provided its size but Atleast they are still being offered through the website at a reasonable price. Im most definitely gonna get one to go along with my envy 17. Im such a spoiled brat, haha!

 

The Macbook Pro 17 was a niche market anyway, nobody likes to buy a laptop that starts at 2500 dollars and only goes up with any CPU/RAM/HDD upgrade. I think in my 3 years at working at my current position, we've sold maybe 10 17" Macbook Pros compared to 13 and 15" models.

Maybe they'll revive it, maybe not, if there is a demand, Apple will make it.

 

Oh my goodness! 10 of them? Wow! Well as you mentioned, that price is repelling and I feel the same way about MBPRD. The fact that it starts at $2100 is quite repelling to me. I've just always been a fan of the big screens and considered the 17 inches to be very ideal. I heard that the masses want things to be more compact so I can understand why the 13 and 15 sells more.

 

I feel that 15.6" is about the maximum amount of laptop I'd deal with on a constant basis, imo. Big enough to fit a nice 1080p panel that's easy to read, and portable enough to use pretty much anywhere. I've had this dv7t for a few days so far and while it'd make for a nice "movie in bed" laptop, it's one hell of a tank o.o...

 

How is the DV7T for you? I heard it can heat up quite a bit. Have you experienced any uncomfortable heat? I currently have owned an ivy bridge envy 17 since june and I have yet to feel any heat. It pretty much stays cool.

 

Just did a PCMark 7 test on it and it only heated up slightly during the benchmarking, but it was something I'd expect (from feel, it was probably ~85F and my room temp is around 72F). I need to use it more and run other benchmarks on it in the next day or two.

 

Well thats good. im not smart enough to do all of that benchmarking stuff so I just leave that to the experts. Im scared I'll break something and end up somewhere in the corner crying because I have messed up my machine, LOL!

 

It's really not too difficult to benchmark. Just have to have the right software and a few minutes of your time (or hours, depending on the software). I'd only be worried if the cooling system was such a piece of crap that a laptop would overheat, though I haven't heard of anyone having such a problem.

Though I see where you're coming from. With computers, I'm very comfortable getting down and dirty with software or hardware. However, ask me how to change the oil in my car and I'll stare at you like I'm an idiot (lol... I need to learn basic car care ).

 

Lol I can pretty much diagnose any problem with my vehicle and thats all I can do, but I would not work on it unless it was something simple like change a tire or replacing head and tail lights or such, but stuff under the hood is a no-no. I'll take that to my mechanic friend in a minute, lol!

Anyways, being the spoiled brat that I am, Im looking to getting a macbook 17 in the future, just to have around. I really dont wanna do any schoolwork on my envy because its so nice and new, lol.