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New Mac mini lacks optical drive as Apple continues to ditch the disc - Page 5

post #161 of 166
7/21/11 at 12:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Half Nelson View Post

For those that are claiming that the Optical Disc is dead, can you please explain to me why the blank disc section in the PC department of the largest electronics retailer in the US is constantly needing to be restocked? I work in the Computer dept of said store and I can assure you that Optical Discs are not going anywhere for a while longer.

I can pull just about any set of specs on installation jobs we do and they all call for copies of the Operations and Maintenance Manuals to also be provided on disc. They are relatively flat and are easily inserted into the 3 ring binders of the manuals. A flash drive isn't as thin and costs more than a disc.
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post #162 of 166
7/21/11 at 12:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacTac View Post

I can pull just about any set of specs on installation jobs we do and they all call for copies of the Operations and Maintenance Manuals to also be provided on disc. They are relatively flat and are easily inserted into the 3 ring binders of the manuals. A flash drive isn't as thin and costs more than a disc.

A USB flash drive is smaller, faster and can be cheaper than disc drive, especially when you consider when you only need one flash drive and you're claiming the every machine should have an optical disc drive.
Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"
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Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"
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post #163 of 166
7/22/11 at 3:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

You don't punch kids in the face when you run out of ice cream to sell. You buy more ice cream the next day and sell more.

hows those caps on the iphone plans getting on?

maybe the at&t caps opn dsl and uverse?

maybe time warner caps?

....

Household: MacBook, iPad 16gb wifi, iPad 64gb wifi, iPad Mini 32gb, iPhone 4S 32gb, iPhone 32gb, iPod Touch 4th gen x2, iPod touch 16gb gen 2, iPod nano 16gb gen 5 x2, iPod nano gen 3 8gb, iPod...

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Household: MacBook, iPad 16gb wifi, iPad 64gb wifi, iPad Mini 32gb, iPhone 4S 32gb, iPhone 32gb, iPod Touch 4th gen x2, iPod touch 16gb gen 2, iPod nano 16gb gen 5 x2, iPod nano gen 3 8gb, iPod...

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post #164 of 166
7/24/11 at 5:52am
I don't think the audio cd is going away that quickly, but data cds, pretty much gone. I've had this 15 MBP i7 for almost a year now, and I haven't burned on optical so far, and rarely used it to read anything.

What I want to know now, is can I have the optical removed for a ssd/reg HD combo put in even by a apple tech and still have warranty.

And external optical would cover any needs after that.
What I got... 15" i7 w/8 gigs ram,iPad2 64gig wifi, 2.0 mac mini, 2.0 17" imac, appleTv, Still running my old G4 466 upgraded to 1.2GHz maxed ram as a pro tools machine, and 2 iphones.
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What I got... 15" i7 w/8 gigs ram,iPad2 64gig wifi, 2.0 mac mini, 2.0 17" imac, appleTv, Still running my old G4 466 upgraded to 1.2GHz maxed ram as a pro tools machine, and 2 iphones.
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post #165 of 166
7/24/11 at 6:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cycomiko View Post

hows those caps on the iphone plans getting on?

maybe the at&t caps opn dsl and uverse?

maybe time warner caps?

....

I don't really see how that's making a point in your favor. You're only highlighting companies with which one shouldn't do business. Because they're acting how I described.

Quote:
What I want to know now, is can I have the optical removed for a ssd/reg HD combo put in even by a apple tech and still have warranty.

Nope. Do it yourself, but swap the ODD back in before you take it in for service.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
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PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
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post #166 of 166
7/24/11 at 10:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Half Nelson View Post

Ok, so I get that the thing is $100 cheaper, but I have always felt that the Mini was priced just a bit too high. I know you can get external drives (i have an external BR hooked up to my iMac), but I do understand the feeling of those miffed by the exclusion of an optical drive. I fully get it on a laptop machine, but just don't understand it on the desktop. Last years model of the Mini, they offered with an OD (the standard model), and without(the server version). Why couldn't they have continued the same system, and just allow the those who want the server chassis (space for two drives) to order it with the non-server version of OS X.

I agree. The server version obviously had little need for an optical drive so the exclusion on that model always made sense in favor of a second HDD, but on the consumer version it still made sense. While Apple has pretty well killed the audio CD via iTunes a lot of people still watch video DVDs. There are still a lot of films not available to download legally online. If that weren't the case Netflix wouldn't still have so many people subscribed to a DVD plan. Physical discs are certainly on their way out and most people agree that by the end of the decade that DVDs will largely be phased out, but I think dropping the optical drive is a bit premature for Apple particularly on a machine that a lot of their users liked as a HTPC.

I will agree that very little software gets installed off of discs anymore, but until iTunes, Netflix, etc. have largely shuttered production of video DVDs I still see a lot of interest in an optical drive on a consumer computer.

I like the hardware upgrade, but I think that they are going to hear a lot of complaints about the elimination of the optical drive and telling people that most software is online isn't going to assuage them as that isn't going to be their complaint.
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