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New Mac mini lacks optical drive as Apple continues to ditch the disc - Page 3

post #81 of 166
7/20/11 at 9:49am
With Software updates and having to download all of my apps from the internet now...will Steve pickup the tab for my increased internet data bandwidth usage charges?

I know many people that are capped at 5gb. So Download Lion this month...opps gotta wait until next month to download iwork or ilife or adobe cs or whatever until next month or pay rediculous overage fees.

And forget it for any one that lives in a rural area without high speed.....insanity.
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post #82 of 166
7/20/11 at 10:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bslaght View Post

With Software updates and having to download all of my apps from the internet now...will Steve pickup the tab for my increased internet data bandwidth usage charges?

I know many people that are capped at 5gb. So Download Lion this month...opps gotta wait until next month to download iwork or ilife or adobe cs or whatever until next month or pay rediculous overage fees.

And forget it for any one that lives in a rural area without high speed.....insanity.

There will be a USB for 69$ next month. That is, if your overages are 39$ for a couple gigabytes, I guess its a better deal.
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post #83 of 166
7/20/11 at 10:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bslaght View Post

With Software updates and having to download all of my apps from the internet now...will Steve pickup the tab for my increased internet data bandwidth usage charges?

I know many people that are capped at 5gb. So Download Lion this month...opps gotta wait until next month to download iwork or ilife or adobe cs or whatever until next month or pay rediculous overage fees.

And forget it for any one that lives in a rural area without high speed.....insanity.

Can't please everyone. Opt for something that's more akin to your needs. This is the direction Apple has chosen to take... Change waits for no one.
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post #84 of 166
7/20/11 at 10:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dunks View Post

Dropping the optical drive will allow them to overhaul the form factor. It will be interesting to see which direction they take this in.

Maybe a mini cube!!
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post #85 of 166
7/20/11 at 10:36am
Another thing:

Is the "power brick" now gone off the cord? Is that what some of the optical drive space was used for?

I hate the effing power brick on my 2009 mini cord.

update: it is! Huzzah!
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post #86 of 166
7/20/11 at 10:40am
I think Jobs has a little yellow stickie on his desk that reads:

The future: no moving parts, no wires
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post #87 of 166
7/20/11 at 10:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bslaght View Post

With Software updates and having to download all of my apps from the internet now...will Steve pickup the tab for my increased internet data bandwidth usage charges?

I know many people that are capped at 5gb. So Download Lion this month...opps gotta wait until next month to download iwork or ilife or adobe cs or whatever until next month or pay rediculous overage fees.

And forget it for any one that lives in a rural area without high speed.....insanity.

Insanity? Or "insanely great".
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post #88 of 166
7/20/11 at 10:44am
It's rather evident that Apple is discontinuing optical drives because it is a conflict with their plans for streaming content delivery.

I will say from experience that I ran into some small problems when using remote CD software install on Mac Mini server. The remote tool itself kept crashing on a piece of software, so I had to make a disk image on another machine, copy it to an external hard drive, then install it. We got an external drive to avoid any possibility of that happening again.
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post #89 of 166
7/20/11 at 11:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bslaght View Post

With Software updates and having to download all of my apps from the internet now...will Steve pickup the tab for my increased internet data bandwidth usage charges?

I know many people that are capped at 5gb. So Download Lion this month...opps gotta wait until next month to download iwork or ilife or adobe cs or whatever until next month or pay rediculous overage fees.

And forget it for any one that lives in a rural area without high speed.....insanity.

Your HOME Internet is capped at 5GB a month? Move somewhere else, then. That's blasphemy.
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 #90 of 166
7/20/11 at 11:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazda 3s View Post

So they removed the optical drive, and the price stayed the same?

I could understand ditching it on notebooks, but ditching it on a desktop machine that is already uber tiny to begin with seems ridiculous to me.

No, the price went down $100.
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post #91 of 166
7/20/11 at 11:36am
So my late 2009 mini will have to hold on for awhile. I have around 50 DVDs of backup files for design projects I've done over the years. Some of the them started as CDs, then I transfered to DVDs, then to Dual-Layer DVDs. So what is the next step Apple? Buy a big-ass hard drive and hope it doesn't crash some day?

Yes I can buy the external superdrive, but as it was said before it kills the esthetic of one small box.

Yes I can buy an iMac, and a I'd LOVE to, but as long as Apple insists everyone use glossy screens it won't happen.

Why is Apple taking away more and more options?
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post #92 of 166
7/20/11 at 11:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by lamewing View Post

What part of "some people only own one computer" doesn't make sense? If that one computer were the new Mac Mini, then HOW would they make such an install USB drive without a optical drive or easy access to another machine? If the Mini had an optical drive so that I could make the install USB drive...then I wouldn't need the USB drive.

Why drive instead of flying?
Afraid to fly, get sick when flying, cheaper to drive, etc.

If you only have one computer, maybe you can spring for the optical drive...

Quote:
Originally Posted by chogidog View Post

I'm thinking that the loss of the Optical drive may discourage some in the htpc market from a new mini purchase. I personally haven't bought or rented a disc in so long that I honestly cannot remember when it was. There is after all a reason all the rental stores are drying up and going out of business.
Just looks odd to see that Apple doesnt sell the regular MacBook anymore though.

I think exactly the opposite is true. I would not even consider building another HTPC with an optical drive.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jabohn View Post

So my late 2009 mini will have to hold on for awhile. I have around 50 DVDs of backup files for design projects I've done over the years. Some of the them started as CDs, then I transfered to DVDs, then to Dual-Layer DVDs. So what is the next step Apple? Buy a big-ass hard drive and hope it doesn't crash some day?

Yes I can buy the external superdrive, but as it was said before it kills the esthetic of one small box.

Yes I can buy an iMac, and a I'd LOVE to, but as long as Apple insists everyone use glossy screens it won't happen.

Why is Apple taking away more and more options?

Because they are designing hardware that fits the needs of the vast majority of their customers. They maintain a limited product line and there will always be some use-cases that do not fit into their model. I am sure if you did a real survey, you would find that for every person that thinks they need their optical drive, you would find 100 who have not touched it in more then 6 months. I would wager you would find at least 20 that did not even know what that slot in their current computer was for.

I have a 2010 MBP I but once cd in since I bought it (I quickly imaged it and took it out). The only thing I use the drive for on my iMac is ripping DVDs. I would be perfectly fine with an external drive for that.
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post #93 of 166
7/20/11 at 11:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jabohn View Post

So what is the next step Apple? Buy a big-ass hard drive and hope it doesn't crash some day?

You act as though you have to have that hard drive running all the time. You obviously don't.

Drives "crash". Discs scratch. SSDs stop working if you drill a bore hole through them. All formats have caveats.

Quote:
Yes I can buy an iMac, and a I'd LOVE to, but as long as Apple insists everyone use glossy screens it won't happen.

Not another one...

Quote:
Why is Apple taking away more and more options?

I think they just want to stop making so much money.

Hear me out, now.

Apple's "taking away" features in the hopes that people are actually intelligent and buy from someone else to get said features. As opposed to blindly continuing to purchase from Apple and whining about it.

Apple WANTS you to go somewhere else. Eventually they'll reach their most streamlined where they've taken away enough features that many people don't buy from them but still have enough to make the amount of money they want.

Or maybe because they're forcing appropriate change on the industry.
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 #94 of 166
7/20/11 at 11:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bslaght View Post

With Software updates and having to download all of my apps from the internet now...will Steve pickup the tab for my increased internet data bandwidth usage charges?

I know many people that are capped at 5gb. So Download Lion this month...opps gotta wait until next month to download iwork or ilife or adobe cs or whatever until next month or pay rediculous overage fees.

And forget it for any one that lives in a rural area without high speed.....insanity.

You're looking at it from the wrong side perhaps.

In a world where everything is downloaded, the whole idea of bandwidth caps or paying by the megabyte is ridiculous. The faster the downloading becomes a more accepted practice than using old fashioned discs, the faster the bandwidth caps you are currently suffering on will disappear.

I keep hearing about these bandwidth caps in the USA but I've never met or known anyone in my country that ever had to endure them on a non-mobile device. From that I gather that bandwidth caps for home use are a US (southern US), aberration that will soon go away.
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post #95 of 166
7/20/11 at 12:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post

You're looking at it from the wrong side perhaps.

In a world where everything is downloaded, the whole idea of bandwidth caps or paying by the megabyte is ridiculous. The faster the downloading becomes a more accepted practice than using old fashioned discs, the faster the bandwidth caps you are currently suffering on will disappear.

I keep hearing about these bandwidth caps in the USA but I've never met or known anyone in my country that ever had to endure them on a non-mobile device. From that I gather that bandwidth caps for home use are a US (southern US), aberration that will soon go away.

Bandwidth caps going away? Do you really think the ISP got everyone worked up over caps just to have it go away? That is wishful thinking. I recently got a notice from AT&T about a cap and they are providing tools to monitor usage. Caps are something that exist and nobody really thinks about anymore.
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post #96 of 166
7/20/11 at 12:52pm
I'm not sure what all the panty twisted complaining is all about. If you require an optical drive, bigger hard drive, faster processor, and so on, then just spend a bit more and get the 13" MBP (which is way more capable than the old MB). If you don't need all that crap and are looking for more portability, then the MBA is your gem.

The Macbook just didn't' fit in the lineup anymore. I think this was a sharp move by apple and helps streamline their computers even more.
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post #97 of 166
7/20/11 at 1:02pm
Dammit

i hope the local guys have some cheap refurbs, as I wanted one as a media PC and now they have gone out and cocked that up

So old apple price with 320m $1148

new apple price with intel shit $949

new apple price with AMD $1249

ah, the sounds of profiteering in the morning

plus the added benefit of shit tech support

bleh

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 #98 of 166
7/20/11 at 1:13pm
Even though the windows world will take another 5 years to be comfortable with this change, my full size Desktop computer doesn't even have a disc drive.

I upgraded my motherboard and it didn't have an IDE connection for my old disc drive, so I said screw it, I haven't used my DVD drive in years. No reason to spend the $20.

Even my Windows installation was done through USB drive. All you have to do is copy the files directly off the disc onto a USB drive and a modern BIOS can boot from it just fine.

The speed of installing Windows from a dual channel USB drive is amazing.

My parents and friends wonder how I can make this change, but most of them probably didn't even realize that their netbooks don't have a DVD drive - because they would never use one even if they were equipped.

DVDs are slower, bigger, and have a lower capacity than my flash drive. Thanks to Apple for leading the way again, disc drives will soon be gone on all computers!

(The only disc format that should be around is Blu-ray. Still, if hollywood let me download high quality 1080p videos I probably would ditch Blu-rays, too.)
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post #99 of 166
7/20/11 at 1:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pennywse View Post

I'm not sure what all the panty twisted complaining is all about. If you require an optical drive, bigger hard drive, faster processor, and so on, then just spend a bit more and get the 13" MBP (which is way more capable than the old MB). If you don't need all that crap and are looking for more portability, then the MBA is your gem.

The Macbook just didn't' fit in the lineup anymore. I think this was a sharp move by apple and helps streamline their computers even more.

this works up until Apple decides the MBP no longer requires an optical drive anymore either....
then what..?
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post #100 of 166
7/20/11 at 1:47pm
The price sure has dropped. £529 for the basic model. Used to be £699 or £599. I may have to get one of these new Mini's to use as a web server

... at night.

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... at night.

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post #101 of 166
7/20/11 at 2:21pm
I have a 46 inch LCD TV on the wall in my sitting room. I also have a 26 inch LCD tv in my den I use for my ipad2

I already have an apple wireless keyboard and mouse

If I get the Mac Mini I'd like to be able to connect it to the TV and my other LCD display in my den just on the wall right adjacent to the TV wall in sitting room, which has comcast router / and modem all wired up.

I suppose I can simply use dual monitors and simply carry my mouse and keyboard between each room as needed. Will it work? That way I can watch streaming netflix movies on both lcd screens simultaneously?
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post #102 of 166
7/20/11 at 2:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

The only time I equate optical discs with an enriching experience is when I boot up my LC 575 and play old disc based games on it.

Because that "disc read" sound brings back so many great childhood memories. There's just nothing else like that sound or how you feel when you hear it.

The sounds that really take me back in time:

The sound of an Apple auto-inject floppy drive when you insert or eject a disk (1984?-1993)
The distinctive sound of the 20MB hard drive in the Mac SE (1987)
The sound of a Disk ][ seeking the boot track on a 5.25" floppy (1979)
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post #103 of 166
7/20/11 at 2:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bregalad View Post

The sounds that really take me back in time:

The sound of an Apple auto-inject floppy drive when you insert or eject a disk (1984?-1993)
The distinctive sound of the 20MB hard drive in the Mac SE (1987)
The sound of a Disk ][ seeking the boot track on a 5.25" floppy (1979)

Lets not forget the screeching sound radiating from the speakers from Cassette tapes on old 8-bit machines.

... at night.

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... at night.

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post #104 of 166
7/20/11 at 2:54pm
just buy a exturnal blu-ray burner sweeeeeet
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post #105 of 166
7/20/11 at 3:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bslaght View Post

this works up until Apple decides the MBP no longer requires an optical drive anymore either....
then what..?

Cross that bridge when you come to it? I promise they will not come to your house and rip out the drive in your existing system.
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post #106 of 166
7/20/11 at 3:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DJinTX View Post

Hmmm, sadly this is a very good point. Unless they crammed something equally valuable inside, the price should have come down a bit. So for those who do not opt for a second internal HDD or SDD, what is going to be in that space?

Are the hard drive(s) in the new Mac Mini going to be easily replaceable by the user?
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post #107 of 166
7/20/11 at 3:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pt123 View Post

Bandwidth caps going away? Do you really think the ISP got everyone worked up over caps just to have it go away? That is wishful thinking. I recently got a notice from AT&T about a cap and they are providing tools to monitor usage. Caps are something that exist and nobody really thinks about anymore.

I actually think bandwidth caps might end up going away. Demand for data downloads is going through the roof, what with downloading of OS's, Netflix, Apple TV et al. and assuming competition works (and I believe for the most part it does), a price/features war will end up starting and assuming consumers are prepared to switch suppliers, caps will probably go away.

What Google are doing I believe it is in Kansas City is going to be very interesting - they're putting in fibre all over the city and won't have caps. They will demonstrate what can be provided and that will pressure the rest.
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post #108 of 166
7/20/11 at 3:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by circling View Post


We run a large theatre program in the Seattle area. All of our shows are sold to the students on DVD so that they have a memory of their production. How do we distribute these 80-100 purchases? Using DVD's of course. What other method is there?

I see a need for the DVD to be around for a little longer than Apple is forcing on everyone.

DVD players are still around.... like everywhere.

If a student can't watch their theater performance because they don't own some sort of DVD player... well... they can't watch any DVD at all. They're aware of this.

They'll find a way to watch the DVD... somebody near them has a DVD player. It's not like you're handing these kids a 5 1/4" floppy....
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post #109 of 166
7/20/11 at 3:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lamewing View Post

Okay, found it. Lion will be available sometime in August on a flash drive which can be purchased from the Apple Store for $69.00

Mac Mini also includes iLife. How will you reinstall iLife and other included apps without having to pay for them again? And what about the Apple Hardware Test disk? Apple could have at least done the same thing they've been doing with the MacBook Air: put all the software on a USB flash drive and include it with the computer.
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post #110 of 166
7/20/11 at 4:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazda 3s View Post

So they removed the optical drive, and the price stayed the same?

I could understand ditching it on notebooks, but ditching it on a desktop machine that is already uber tiny to begin with seems ridiculous to me.

Yes sir!!
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post #111 of 166
7/20/11 at 4:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by joelsalt View Post

Another thing:

Is the "power brick" now gone off the cord? Is that what some of the optical drive space was used for?

I hate the effing power brick on my 2009 mini cord.

update: it is! Huzzah!

That was made internal with the first aluminium Mac mini.
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 #112 of 166
7/20/11 at 4:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by huntson View Post

You're as arrogant as Steve

Thanks for saving me the trouble of saying the same thing. Does not appear to be quite as intelligent though.
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post #113 of 166
7/20/11 at 5:01pm
Sony Vaio Z has no optical drive, but you can plug in an external one and it's awesome?
Mac Mini has no optical drive, but you can plug in an external one and it sucks?

Personally, I love the fact that the standard configuration of the mini has room for a second HDD/SSD. It's far more useful to me than an optical drive (I actually wanted to see this happen). If you beg to differ, Newegg sells external DVD drives for around $30 if you feel Apple's Superdrive is to expensive.

I think this mini has enormous potential. With Thunderbolt and the right accessories, the mini could become a modular platform. Want a disk drive? stack it on top. Want a raid array? Stack it on top. External video card? Stack it on top. all the devices could share the footprint of the mini and be daisy chained together through short Thunderbolt cables, it would be great. Obviously, that's not the reality yet, but I could see it happening. Apple doesn't even need to provide the accessories, they've already provided the platform.

You guys should stop looking at stuff that was good in the past, and look towards the future. Get over the loss of a legacy drive already. I'm celebrating a discrete GPU and a second hard drive slot
The key to enjoying these forums: User CP -> Edit Ignore List
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The key to enjoying these forums: User CP -> Edit Ignore List
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post #114 of 166
7/20/11 at 5:03pm
This space for rent.

See #116
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post #115 of 166
7/20/11 at 5:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by circling View Post

We run a large theatre program in the Seattle area. All of our shows are sold to the students on DVD so that they have a memory of their production. How do we distribute these 80-100 purchases? Using DVD's of course. What other method is there?

I see a need for the DVD to be around for a little longer than Apple is forcing on everyone.

Final Cut Pro X ---- Don't even get me started on that one!!!

Have you considered just uploading the recordings to vimeo?
This is important! Someone is wrong on the internet
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This is important! Someone is wrong on the internet
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post #116 of 166
7/20/11 at 5:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dunks View Post

Dropping the optical drive will allow them to overhaul the form factor. It will be interesting to see which direction they take this in.

Is this the first time they've had a Mac with a dedicated graphics card for under $1000?

I don't know, I'm still waiting. I mean the mini is STILL 1.4" thick and a whopping 7.7 inches square! There's just no excuse for that -- especially seeing they eliminated the DVD-DL burner.

Apple could make the mini more compact if they eliminate discrete graphics, replace the 500GB hard drives (which only spin at 5400RPM-laptop speeds anyway) with 128MB of Flash RAM. I mean weren't they just selling us on "The Cloud"? And then they stick us with a machine with a TON of local storage capacity and RAM. Sheesh! Make up your mind!

More room could be afforded if they capped the RAM at 2GB, not the profligate 8(!)GB maximum.

And if they hadn't used such a boiling-hot CPU, they could save a lot of internal clearance for heat dissipation.

Worse, the darn thing weighs two-point-frickin-seven pounds! We're not all bodybuilders, you know.

I'm gonna pass on this version of the (so-called) "mini," and wait until it's the size of a CD jewel case or (hopefully) smaller (and lighter).

I'm doing just fine with my iPad and can afford to wait.

(Sent from my iPad which makes today's new Mac mini look like Jabba the Hutt.)

....disappointed....



Form trumps factor every time.
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post #117 of 166
7/20/11 at 5:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cmf2 View Post

I think this mini has enormous potential. With Thunderbolt and the right accessories, the mini could become a modular platform. Want a disk drive? stack it on top. Want a raid array? Stack it on top. External video card? Stack it on top. all the devices could share the footprint of the mini and be daisy chained together through short Thunderbolt cables, it would be great.

Except for all the extra power cords and bricks.
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post #118 of 166
7/20/11 at 5:38pm
1) I buy a Mac mini as a home entertainment hub. I have a Netflix subscription, and want to watch a DVD... and...
2) I use Time Machine to back up my Mac (non-bootable). My hard drive completely dies. I install a new drive and...
3) I have some old software that I need to re-install on my Mac...
4) I want to burn a mix CD for a friend...
5) I want to rip a CD or DVD that I own...

Let's face it, optical drives are still wicked useful, and will be for quite some time, regardless of what Apple would like to believe. I was with them when they axed floppy disks, but this is different.

So happy I got my Mac mini before they pulled this stunt.
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post #119 of 166
7/20/11 at 5:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by graxspoo View Post

2) I use Time Machine to back up my Mac (non-bootable). My hard drive completely dies. I install a new drive and...

First, how do you expect to get to that hard drive in there?

Second, you reinstall the OS via the Internet. Simple.

Quote:
3) I have some old software that I need to re-install on my Mac...

So you use the optical drive of another computer wirelessly or a $30 external that you put in the closet the rest of the time.

Quote:
4) I want to burn a mix CD for a friend...

It's not 1999 anymore.

Quote:
5) I want to rip a CD or DVD that I own...

Ripping DVDs is illegal anyway, but for the rest, you pull out that $30 drive from the closet.

Quote:
I was with them when they axed floppy disks, but this is different.

No, it's identical.
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 #120 of 166
7/20/11 at 5:47pm
I guess Apple is thinking if I can provide my own monitor and keyboard, I can provide my own optical drive as well. Perhaps there's some merit to that, since I could get a blu-ray drive if I wanted, or whatever. It lowers the price for people that don't need them, and the Mac mini is already sort of a DIY beast so the added complexity of having to shop for, purchase and install an optical drive isn't a big concern.
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