17 replies to this topic

[Ed]

A new report from the DigiTimes indicates that, according to Taiwanese supply chain sources, a 15" MacBook Pro could be released as early as April.

Rumor has it the new 15" MacBook Pro will go the way of its cousin, the MacBook Air, and ditch the optical drive and gain Intel's new Ivy Bridge chips, which coincidentally are scheduled to debut next month too.

Production of the new 15" MacBook is expected to begin next month, starting with 100,000 to 150,000 units being produced per month. An announcement of the new MacBook should be expected at the end of April.

Click here to view the article

[Alessandro17]

I hope they don't create a huge MacBook Air, I wouldn't buy it and I wouldn't recommend it to others.
IMO, a 15" notebook needs an optical drive and all other comforts.

[TH3L4UGH1NGM4N]

It is a good possibility though Ale because look how Apple transitioned from OS X installer discs to the first OS X usb drive installer that alone said it all for me.  I understand that an optical drive is still useful but I haven't used one since snow leo and to be quiet frank I don't see myself using one on a regular basis unless in rare instances.  We know when Apple goes to kill legacy devices they do it in quite an abrupt fashion so it shouldn't be a surprise if the 2012 MBPs just so happen to miss an opening on the right side for a dvd to slide into.

[Alessandro17]

Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I use an optical drive several times a month. I own hundreds of DVDs and CDs.
And let's imagine you want to watch a DVD, how do you do that?

[TH3L4UGH1NGM4N]

I have a ps3 for that if I have a DVD to begin with but most times I have the actual movie file such as an .mkv of the movie that I just play on my comp

[Ed]

You are old school Alé! I never use my optical drive... and I've got two in my Mac Pro lol

I agree with Apple dropping optical drives, just like they dropped the floppy in '98 - maybe a bit ahead of its time but it's the right move IMO

[burtonium]

Optical drive just use lot of space for nothing. Get yourself few high capacity USB sticks and you'll be good

[guitmz]

they could sell a cheap external and fast cd/dvd burner/reader

[mrsentraser]

I'm guessing they'll offer a USB DVD drive for those that still need an optical drive solution.  I actually agree with this move by Apple.

[Alessandro17]

http://www.msnbc.msn...e/#.T3Xkv46q4vw

A good article about the pros and cons of removing optical drives.

[PookyMacMan]

Apparently I'm old school too...and I'm 14!!

I use CDs/DVDs all the time; in fact, that's what my school curriculum is based on. I personally am quite eerie about having everything stored in the cloud, considering that many servers (including Apple's *cough*) can have errors, and what about Internet connectivity?? Our family doesn't even have 3G internet for our phones at this time of writing! No way will I be using 3G anytime soon...and our broadband is only 4Mbps - that's just download; upload is 300Kbps - not only that, but I have SO many operating systems, applications, and other "legacy" software bundles on "legacy" media I can't live without an optical drive.

I will be very disappointed if Apple makes this switch; I have been looking forward to possibly purchasing a brand-new 17" MacBook Pro when I go to college, and if they make this switch, I will end up buying a used 2011 model most likely.

[Alessandro17]

PookyMacMan, on 31 March 2012 - 04:46 AM, said:

I have SO many operating systems, applications, and other "legacy" software bundles on "legacy" media I can't live without an optical drive.

Same here. I have CDs and DVDs which are 10 years old. Also, every time I download a Linux distribution or every other OS (e.g. Windows 8) I burn it to DVD.
Also, I have countless tools on bootable CDs. I wouldn't know how to replace them.

[iPoco]

I like the idea of having no optical drive, I rarely use one now. But like Ale said there are a few things that you normally burn to a CD or DVD. On the other hand, even for things like movies I still buy DVDs from HMV and not from iTunes because my TV is connected to a DVD player and not something like an AppleTV or a computer. If I want to put them on my iPod or just play them, I need an optical drive. And then there is the convenience of being able to take the DVD, put it anywhere, and use it right away with no hassle. It's getting rarer now, but it's still useful to have.

I can see going download/digital based in the future for most things, as home technology moves towards connectivity between devices, and yes it would be nice. But right now I'm not sure it's right. Plus most internet where I live is capped at really low amounts. I can remember not long ago having a cap at 30GB/month.

[Alessandro17]

iPoco, on 31 March 2012 - 07:58 PM, said:

Plus most internet where I live is capped at really low amounts. I can remember not long ago having a cap at 30GB/month.

Many people in Italy have nothing better than a USB internet pen drive. The very best is capped at 10GB/month, but most don't have more than 3GB/month!!!

Overall, I find that both operating systems (Windows 8, Linux with Gnome 3 and KDE 4) and hardware are undergoing changes that (many) people do not want. I find it disheartening.

[TH3L4UGH1NGM4N]

I feel your pains on the cap Ale because I have 2gb/month on my LTE iPad I now what it feels like to be capped down to simple Internet usage.

[iPoco]

I wouldn't survive on that! Keeping things under 1GB/day was hard enough.

I've played with Windows 8 a little, and I like the idea, but having no start menu is a bit too much. If they were to have a start menu for the desktop with the option of the start page I would probably be quite happy with it. I don't know how often I hit the Windows logo key (or whatever you call it), type the beginning of a program, hit enter, and use that. For people who use a few programs and don't constantly open and close it would work, but for quick changes it's going to be something to get used to. Having something slide in, out, in, out, in, out could be quite disorienting...

I think the idea of a combined tablet/desktop OS is great (especially on a tablet where you want a seamless main interface with the option of a "power" complement). But it doesn't work if you don't have a complete desktop UI and you're partially using the tablet one. I think on a tablet with touch input it would be awesome, but with a mouse the current setup just doesn't do it.

And now that I think of it, where was the "My Computer" icon when I was always looking for it?

[Alessandro17]

TH3L4UGH1NGM4N, on 31 March 2012 - 11:40 PM, said:

I feel your pains on the cap Ale because I have 2gb/month on my LTE iPad I now what it feels like to be capped down to simple Internet usage.

Fortunately I wasn't talking about myself
I do have an internet pen drive and an iPad which have very low caps, but I have an unlimited broadband connection as well, 7Mbps.

[LooN3y]

what about games? damn as hell sure rather have install a 10 GB game with a CD rather than downloading the whole thing and having the possibility of getting disconnected and downloading the whole thing all over again.