Quote:
Originally Posted by
hillstones 
The article just demonstrates how STUPID that developer really is. First of all, Apple doesn't make optical drives. Second, Snow Leopard cannot damage an optical drive. So for him to tell all his clients not to upgrade to Snow Leopard just proves what an idiot he is.
The dumbass developer claims to have a client with a MacBook Pro that can't read DVD's. A new drive did not resolve the problem. Of course the developer is too stupid to realize that maybe the problem has nothing to do with the optical drive!
Slot load drives have a lot of mechanical parts that can fail, they are also slower than the 5.25 desktop equivalent models. People wanted slimmer computers and laptops, so that is the only way to do it. Also, people can damage the drives themselves by pushing the disc in with too much force.
I have an external Pioneer DVR-115D in a USB2/FireWire case and it is whisper quiet, and much faster than the slot load drive in the iMac. The drives are inexpensive and a wise investment. They are much more reliable than any slot load drive. They are also portable, which makes them both Windows and Mac compatible.
So don't blame Apple for Panasonic's lousy quality in a slot-load drive. My iMac G5 shipped with a Pioneer slot load that still works great today. My iMac Intel has the Panasonic/Matshita.
Thank you, you're the only person that seems to realize these things.
To everyone else:
1) Ulitmately, it's Matshita/Pioneer/Panasonic/etc.'s responsibility to replace the drives if there's an epidemic of bad ODDs. If the manufacturers offer Apple a replacement program, Apple will undoubtedly pass that program along to the consumers. But it's not Apple's responsibility to sacrifice millions of dollars on a mistake they had no way to prevent or control.
2) The range of machines quoted here is vast. Every machine has the chance of going bad, and it's been my experience that what looks like an epidemic of issues on a forum is simply because those users are upset and go beat their chests and spout how Apple is so deficient in their QC. Did it occur to anyone that there's not many people on a help forum that aren't having troubles? Consider how many drives are out there, and you might realize that the raw number of dying drives may be large, but the percentages are likely very small.
3) To put it succinctly, sometimes computers break. Unless you're under a warranty contract, Apple doesn't owe you anything.
