Just curious. What would you consider as your solution if they do discontinue the optical drives?
Just plug in an external as needed, a la the MacBook Air?
Yeah, if needed, but I haven't used on it years, except for the Mac OS X Restore Disc, but even that I use Disk Utility to copy it to a bootable partition on my primary HDD, my Time Machine HDD, and an SD card. I don't expect to ever use my optical drive again before buying a new Mac. The price of NAND just isn't here yet to make it feasible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by allblue
But isn't the point with LP that it can handle USB and FW through the same port? I had a quick look at Wiki where it states;
Not quite sure what "change of physical medium' actually means, but my impression was it was one port fits all.
Being protocol independent is great, but you'll still need to convert the optical cable to copper with the proper ports to get it to connect to other devices. I imagine such convertors may be pricey. If going from a LP port to a LP port it means that the system can choose the best protocol for the data type.
You know, I just realized: other than a few CDs and audio DVDs which I've ripped over the past few months, I haven't touched the optical drive in my iMac for anything all that important. (Even the importance of the "ripping" is debatable.)
If only I had a nickel for overtime someone made that same revelation.
In relation to the Mac OS X Restore Disc, the cost of a 16GB SD card+SD card reader is cheaper than a DL-DVD disc+DL-DVD slot-loading ultra-slim drive. Give us 5" of port side space, give us 25% of 13" MBP internal space back and allow for Mac notebooks to be thinner once SSDs become standard.
Optical drives, even Blu-ray, is just slow and power hungry compared to any other storage medium. There are certainly pros for optical discs and some people certainly rely on them but for a consumer notebook they aren't very prevalent.
Being protocol independent is great, but you'll still need to convert the optical cable to copper with the proper ports to get it to connect to other devices. I imagine such convertors may be pricey. If going from a LP port to a LP port it means that the system can choose the best protocol for the data type.
Okay, so it would work as I imagined. but the adaptor cable would likely be say $30/$50 as opposed to $10. That might not stop Apple of course (most likely they'd charge $80! ) As we know Apple do have a track record for bold moves such as this (although they over-reached with the dropping of FW800 and had the sense to pull back there), and their adoption would hasten the roll-out. Certainly the provisional specs do look impressive (10 Gbs over 100 meters cable), and it would get data transfer where it should be in the 21st C- fibre optic rather than copper cable. I have seen Q4 2010 as a projected release date, which does rather leave USB3 as a transitional tech, and you just know Johnny Ive would love it!
My MBP is in service, and tempted to buy a new one. I have to use it and the wait for service of 4-7 days is way too long. With all the excitement of a potential imminent release, I really want to wait too. I wonder how soon the release is going to be? It's hard to determine whether the supply issue is a clue to refreshes on the horizon.
Most probably an update of Macbook, MacbookPros and Mac Pro won't be any time soon given the focus of the new iPad release being the main real estate on the front page of the Apple site. \\
I just wish for a QuadCore inside a MBP, as I heard last time round the upgrade was discussed the Intel offerings were a tad too hot.
Anyone know if AMD has something up their sleeves? I know they run cool and not to long ago, pre duo core, intel needed an extra gig CPU just to match AMD but those days are gone. What are they up to. Apple buying Amd would send their stock skyrocketing. I remember when it was split at the $180 per share. 1998?
That means a pocket full of little weird adapters/cables we will all be carrying around once LP is widely deployed.
Well yes, but you need to 'carry around' a cable(s) now to connect to a non-wireless peripheral device(s), so no change there. I have no idea if a LP-FW/USB adaptor will be a separate unit, or can be attached to a LP cable a la the FW400-FW800 that connects my old iMac with my new Mini. If it is the latter, you will have to have one cable per class of device as you do now, or if the former a plug-in adaptor as well. I don't see that as a big deal really.
Frak Intel. Apple has a long history of not using aspects of Intel's chips (eg: WiFi) so it's not like they have to wait for Intel to add USB3.0 support.
FRAK ??
your caprica is showing
and for a MBP chip not even on the market yet how can there be shortages of ??
You know, I just realized: other than a few CDs and audio DVDs which I've ripped over the past few months, I haven't touched the optical drive in my iMac for anything all that important. (Even the importance of the "ripping" is debatable.)
All of the programs I've installed (both professional & recreational) were downloaded. Almost all of the music & movies I've purchased were downloads.
A world without optical drives...
Can you say, "iPad?"
Eventually (and I do mean eventually), the only "Apple" product may very well be the later generations of the iPad.
hey me too
except i have just made 75 back up 8 g dvds
with 20 more to go
and now they tell me i need 2 copies of each
frak me
dvd media or BD discs wiil exist as a back up media since hard drive's die so fast these days
You know, I just realized: other than a few CDs and audio DVDs which I've ripped over the past few months, I haven't touched the optical drive in my iMac for anything all that important. (Even the importance of the "ripping" is debatable.)
All of the programs I've installed (both professional & recreational) were downloaded. Almost all of the music & movies I've purchased were downloads.
A world without optical drives...
Can you say, "iPad?"
Eventually (and I do mean eventually), the only "Apple" product may very well be the later generations of the iPad.
If its on a hard drive, it might as well just be in volatile memory (that is, magnetic media is no backup.)
Backing up over the internet can be rather onerous and iffy. "The cloud" will be "very sorry"TM if they lose your data.
I never feel at ease until I get a project or valued content safely backed up or archived on optical media. And when I do the archive, it as easy to do two of them as it is to do one.
and for a MBP chip not even on the market yet how can there be shortages of ??
usb3 is that not the FW 1600 KILLEER ??
I have yet to see Caprica, but I did like BSG, sans the finale. I hated the explanation for Starbuck.
The chip expected to be used for the MBPs are out. Intel started shipping the Nehalem/Arrandales the first week of January. Intel was expected to have ramped up production by now. I'm not quite buying the Acer need since they seem to do most of their business is older, cheaper chips and Atom CPUs.
USB3.0 looks to have killed both FW1600 and FW3200, it FireWire didn't kill itself with expensive licensing fees.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DESuserIGN
If its on a hard drive, it might as well just be in volatile memory (that is, magnetic media is no backup.)
Backing up over the internet can be rather onerous and iffy. "The cloud" will be "very sorry"TM if they lose your data.
I never feel at ease until I get a project or valued content safely backed up or archived on optical media. And when I do the archive, it as easy to do two of them as it is to do one.
Saying that backing up to a separate HDD or a RAID just "might as well just be in volatile memory" is FUD. Are you expecting an EMP? Do you use optical backups which you have sent to a secure vault in the center of a mountain in a hidden location? When did we stop talking about consumer machines.
Cloud computing is here and has been here for years. Like most tech, it integrates with out current tech instead of being the all-or-nothing, black-and-white ideal that people seem to get from crappy sci-fi movies. I currently back up using Time Machine, iDisk, Dropbox for various things. I also use Dropbox to move files to and from other people's machines and iDisk remote grabs on my iPhone, usually for audio and video I'd rather stream than copy to and sync with iTunes. Will this increase? Abslutely! Will it completely wipe out local storage? Not in my lifetime.
Apple hasn't jumped on a new connection standard before anyone else since USB and the 1998 iMac. They forced everyone to recognize and use USB. But since then, they have sat still on leading the pack.
There will be no USB3. There will be no lightpeak. There will be no blu-ray. There will be no FW3200.
Apple now tends to sit on old technologies longer than anyone, it seems. The 27" and 21.5" iMacs are like anomalies.
Apple hasn't jumped on a new connection standard before anyone else since USB and the 1998 iMac. They forced everyone to recognize and use USB. But since then, they have sat still on leading the pack.
There will be no USB3. There will be no lightpeak. There will be no blu-ray. There will be no FW3200.
Apple now tends to sit on old technologies longer than anyone, it seems. The 27" and 21.5" iMacs are like anomalies.
I hope I am wrong.
You may well be. This is the article from September last year;
I also thing there will be no USB 3.0 in the next generation because it is not in the Intel Chipset and I doubt Apple puts a seperate Chip on the board to enable it. That isn't really an Apple like move. FW3200 is something I doubt will ever make it to market but I really don't care.
Concerning LP. What I read is that USB 3.0 has a pin or empty space that is there to channel optical data through. It is not yet defined what happens with this, but I guess they will use it for Light Peak. Like e-SATA can be combined with USB Ports, LP will be even more tightly integrated.
For everything except USB you need an Adapter until all the external devices have a LP connector of some sort. Which can look on the other End light pretty much everything. I think before LP is everywhere there is likely to be some docking station available that connects through LP.
I seriously doubt LP makes it into the next gen MBP. Intel said in 2010 but that usually means Q4 and it is with things like this usually some other Companies like HP that offer it first until it is included in the Sandybridge 6 series Chipsets.
I hope that is the case but there seems to be more evidence that Apple has had nothing to do with LightPeak at all. I so rarely use my external display port or Ethernet that I'd love to be able to use it for other things.
Not quite sure what "change of physical medium' actually means, but my impression was it was one port fits all.
Of course the end connector has to change. IIRC the protocol along discrete channels can be independent of the protocols along the others in the same fibre. Not sure if this is "soft", i.e. all normalised into one underlying transport, or actual separate "light wires" running totally independent and native protocols.
If this news article is true (and I think it is because all manufacturers are currently jumping on those new CPUs) then Apple will even more lose ground in the market of professional computers.
Sony offers it's S-Series notebooks for quite some time, very, very nice equipment for professionals in need of powerful but small and light computers. And equipped with matte screens !
Apple's focus on consumer electronics is taking it's toll now.
Comments
Just curious. What would you consider as your solution if they do discontinue the optical drives?
Just plug in an external as needed, a la the MacBook Air?
Yeah, if needed, but I haven't used on it years, except for the Mac OS X Restore Disc, but even that I use Disk Utility to copy it to a bootable partition on my primary HDD, my Time Machine HDD, and an SD card. I don't expect to ever use my optical drive again before buying a new Mac. The price of NAND just isn't here yet to make it feasible.
But isn't the point with LP that it can handle USB and FW through the same port? I had a quick look at Wiki where it states;
Not quite sure what "change of physical medium' actually means, but my impression was it was one port fits all.
Being protocol independent is great, but you'll still need to convert the optical cable to copper with the proper ports to get it to connect to other devices. I imagine such convertors may be pricey. If going from a LP port to a LP port it means that the system can choose the best protocol for the data type.
You know, I just realized: other than a few CDs and audio DVDs which I've ripped over the past few months, I haven't touched the optical drive in my iMac for anything all that important. (Even the importance of the "ripping" is debatable.)
If only I had a nickel for overtime someone made that same revelation.
In relation to the Mac OS X Restore Disc, the cost of a 16GB SD card+SD card reader is cheaper than a DL-DVD disc+DL-DVD slot-loading ultra-slim drive. Give us 5" of port side space, give us 25% of 13" MBP internal space back and allow for Mac notebooks to be thinner once SSDs become standard.
Optical drives, even Blu-ray, is just slow and power hungry compared to any other storage medium. There are certainly pros for optical discs and some people certainly rely on them but for a consumer notebook they aren't very prevalent.
Being protocol independent is great, but you'll still need to convert the optical cable to copper with the proper ports to get it to connect to other devices. I imagine such convertors may be pricey. If going from a LP port to a LP port it means that the system can choose the best protocol for the data type.
Okay, so it would work as I imagined. but the adaptor cable would likely be say $30/$50 as opposed to $10. That might not stop Apple of course (most likely they'd charge $80!
Most probably an update of Macbook, MacbookPros and Mac Pro won't be any time soon given the focus of the new iPad release being the main real estate on the front page of the Apple site. \\
I just wish for a QuadCore inside a MBP, as I heard last time round the upgrade was discussed the Intel offerings were a tad too hot.
Anyone know if AMD has something up their sleeves? I know they run cool and not to long ago, pre duo core, intel needed an extra gig CPU just to match AMD but those days are gone. What are they up to. Apple buying Amd would send their stock skyrocketing. I remember when it was split at the $180 per share. 1998?
But isn't the point with LP that it can handle USB and FW through the same port? I had a quick look at Wiki where it states;
Not quite sure what "change of physical medium' actually means, but my impression was it was one port fits all.
That means a pocket full of little weird adapters/cables we will all be carrying around once LP is widely deployed.
That means a pocket full of little weird adapters/cables we will all be carrying around once LP is widely deployed.
Well yes, but you need to 'carry around' a cable(s) now to connect to a non-wireless peripheral device(s), so no change there. I have no idea if a LP-FW/USB adaptor will be a separate unit, or can be attached to a LP cable a la the FW400-FW800 that connects my old iMac with my new Mini. If it is the latter, you will have to have one cable per class of device as you do now, or if the former a plug-in adaptor as well. I don't see that as a big deal really.
Frak Intel. Apple has a long history of not using aspects of Intel's chips (eg: WiFi) so it's not like they have to wait for Intel to add USB3.0 support.
FRAK ??
your caprica is showing
and for a MBP chip not even on the market yet how can there be shortages of ??
usb3 is that not the FW 1600 KILLEER ??
You know, I just realized: other than a few CDs and audio DVDs which I've ripped over the past few months, I haven't touched the optical drive in my iMac for anything all that important. (Even the importance of the "ripping" is debatable.)
All of the programs I've installed (both professional & recreational) were downloaded. Almost all of the music & movies I've purchased were downloads.
A world without optical drives...
Can you say, "iPad?"
Eventually (and I do mean eventually), the only "Apple" product may very well be the later generations of the iPad.
hey me too
except i have just made 75 back up 8 g dvds
with 20 more to go
and now they tell me i need 2 copies of each
frak me
dvd media or BD discs wiil exist as a back up media since hard drive's die so fast these days
maybe we need 32 g discs ??
or solid state coins ??
You know, I just realized: other than a few CDs and audio DVDs which I've ripped over the past few months, I haven't touched the optical drive in my iMac for anything all that important. (Even the importance of the "ripping" is debatable.)
All of the programs I've installed (both professional & recreational) were downloaded. Almost all of the music & movies I've purchased were downloads.
A world without optical drives...
Can you say, "iPad?"
Eventually (and I do mean eventually), the only "Apple" product may very well be the later generations of the iPad.
If its on a hard drive, it might as well just be in volatile memory (that is, magnetic media is no backup.)
Backing up over the internet can be rather onerous and iffy. "The cloud" will be "very sorry"TM if they lose your data.
I never feel at ease until I get a project or valued content safely backed up or archived on optical media. And when I do the archive, it as easy to do two of them as it is to do one.
FRAK ??
your caprica is showing
and for a MBP chip not even on the market yet how can there be shortages of ??
usb3 is that not the FW 1600 KILLEER ??
I have yet to see Caprica, but I did like BSG, sans the finale. I hated the explanation for Starbuck.
The chip expected to be used for the MBPs are out. Intel started shipping the Nehalem/Arrandales the first week of January. Intel was expected to have ramped up production by now. I'm not quite buying the Acer need since they seem to do most of their business is older, cheaper chips and Atom CPUs.
USB3.0 looks to have killed both FW1600 and FW3200, it FireWire didn't kill itself with expensive licensing fees.
If its on a hard drive, it might as well just be in volatile memory (that is, magnetic media is no backup.)
Backing up over the internet can be rather onerous and iffy. "The cloud" will be "very sorry"TM if they lose your data.
I never feel at ease until I get a project or valued content safely backed up or archived on optical media. And when I do the archive, it as easy to do two of them as it is to do one.
Saying that backing up to a separate HDD or a RAID just "might as well just be in volatile memory" is FUD. Are you expecting an EMP? Do you use optical backups which you have sent to a secure vault in the center of a mountain in a hidden location? When did we stop talking about consumer machines.
Cloud computing is here and has been here for years. Like most tech, it integrates with out current tech instead of being the all-or-nothing, black-and-white ideal that people seem to get from crappy sci-fi movies. I currently back up using Time Machine, iDisk, Dropbox for various things. I also use Dropbox to move files to and from other people's machines and iDisk remote grabs on my iPhone, usually for audio and video I'd rather stream than copy to and sync with iTunes. Will this increase? Abslutely! Will it completely wipe out local storage? Not in my lifetime.
There will be no USB3. There will be no lightpeak. There will be no blu-ray. There will be no FW3200.
Apple now tends to sit on old technologies longer than anyone, it seems. The 27" and 21.5" iMacs are like anomalies.
I hope I am wrong.
Apple hasn't jumped on a new connection standard before anyone else since USB and the 1998 iMac. They forced everyone to recognize and use USB. But since then, they have sat still on leading the pack.
There will be no USB3. There will be no lightpeak. There will be no blu-ray. There will be no FW3200.
Apple now tends to sit on old technologies longer than anyone, it seems. The 27" and 21.5" iMacs are like anomalies.
I hope I am wrong.
You may well be. This is the article from September last year;
Apple_pushed_intel_to_develop_light_peak_cabling
Concerning LP. What I read is that USB 3.0 has a pin or empty space that is there to channel optical data through. It is not yet defined what happens with this, but I guess they will use it for Light Peak. Like e-SATA can be combined with USB Ports, LP will be even more tightly integrated.
For everything except USB you need an Adapter until all the external devices have a LP connector of some sort. Which can look on the other End light pretty much everything. I think before LP is everywhere there is likely to be some docking station available that connects through LP.
I seriously doubt LP makes it into the next gen MBP. Intel said in 2010 but that usually means Q4 and it is with things like this usually some other Companies like HP that offer it first until it is included in the Sandybridge 6 series Chipsets.
You may well be. This is the article from September last year;
Apple_pushed_intel_to_develop_light_peak_cabling
I hope that is the case but there seems to be more evidence that Apple has had nothing to do with LightPeak at all. I so rarely use my external display port or Ethernet that I'd love to be able to use it for other things.
Not quite sure what "change of physical medium' actually means, but my impression was it was one port fits all.
Of course the end connector has to change. IIRC the protocol along discrete channels can be independent of the protocols along the others in the same fibre. Not sure if this is "soft", i.e. all normalised into one underlying transport, or actual separate "light wires" running totally independent and native protocols.
Sony offers it's S-Series notebooks for quite some time, very, very nice equipment for professionals in need of powerful but small and light computers. And equipped with matte screens !
Apple's focus on consumer electronics is taking it's toll now.