For all the talk I hear and read about how useless and legacy the optical drive is, I feel I should provide the counter-arguement.
First, I find it very useful on certain not-so-rare occasions:
-Installing games
-Playing games
-Watching DVDs
-Moving audio from a CD or CD-R to iTunes
-Burning audio from iTunes to a CD-R (rare these days but still sometimes useful)
-Installing the occasional driver software
-Installing Boot Camp drivers in Windows
-Making hard copy backups of large files
The optical drive is still a very useful aspect of a "Pro" machine. In fact, the "Pro" machines- such as the MBP- are the category that should have the extra functionality built in, until it's no longer useful in it's majority of current tasks. The MacBook & MBA can afford to drop it, IMO. Those already lack the more powerful hardware set of the bigger machines.
-Burning audio from iTunes to a CD-R (rare these days but still sometimes useful)
-Installing the occasional driver software
-Installing Boot Camp drivers in Windows
-Making hard copy backups of large files
True. Though really the above are secondary functions. For us pro users who use pro software, the primary and only reason we really need an optical drive is to:
Precisely- secondary tasks. The optical drive is no longer the centerpiece of a machine's array of media ports & devices. It's not as far along the path to obsolescence as some would believe. It's also very good at what it does; therefore until something comes along that replaces the majority of it's functions there is little reason to remove it. Now, many of those functions have alternatives: SD cards & external drives work well for transferring and backing up data, Streaming & downloading audio/video/gaming content is becoming more and more prevalent. However DVDs are still mainstream (though on the way out) and most high-end software is still tied to CD/DVDs. Until those two things are no longer the case I don't see Apple dropping the thing from it's professional machines.
DVD certainly is becoming obsolete. But not BluRay. BluRay is available on many PC notebooks, but is sadly lacking in Apple hardware. My MacBook Pro 2008 has the same "SuperDrive" as my last notebook, a 2004 PowerBook G4. If you have 24/7 broadband access then you may not need an optical drive, but where I am, "broadband" is 384 Kb/s download and 56 Kb/s upload, and I need not tell you how important an optical drive is when this is the case.
You know, I just don't think we're going to see a refresh to the MBP line until at least late Feb.
Normally, with any update, you hear rumblings, little pieces of info, rumors, factory leaks etc. But there just hasn't been that with the MBP's. Maybe because the internet is overdrive with apple tablet hype... but it's still strange. I'm guessing Apple still haven't sorted out gpu issues, which is a shame as the current line up is terribly out of date.
I, to a certain degree, share your doubt. There have been very little rumors regarding upgrades, but I do think they are being over shadowed with tablet rumors. Everyone is so interested in the new thing that anything else will be overshadowed. This would be especially true if the only thing the MBPs are only getting some internal updates, which is all I imagine will happen. Bump up the processor, maybe the base RAM, perhaps put the second, dedicated graphics card in the 13" model (standard of course) and that would be it. I imagine that if the upgrade is mentioned at ALL during the keynote, it will be in passing.
I don't, however, see higher resolution screens or the inclusion of BD Drives. I would like it, of course. I would love to watch Blu-Ray movies on a Mac (especially as I am getting a 13" Pro very soon) but I am not holding my breath.
Comments
First, I find it very useful on certain not-so-rare occasions:
-Installing games
-Playing games
-Watching DVDs
-Moving audio from a CD or CD-R to iTunes
-Burning audio from iTunes to a CD-R (rare these days but still sometimes useful)
-Installing the occasional driver software
-Installing Boot Camp drivers in Windows
-Making hard copy backups of large files
The optical drive is still a very useful aspect of a "Pro" machine. In fact, the "Pro" machines- such as the MBP- are the category that should have the extra functionality built in, until it's no longer useful in it's majority of current tasks. The MacBook & MBA can afford to drop it, IMO. Those already lack the more powerful hardware set of the bigger machines.
-Installing games
-Playing games
-Watching DVDs
-Moving audio from a CD or CD-R to iTunes
-Burning audio from iTunes to a CD-R (rare these days but still sometimes useful)
-Installing the occasional driver software
-Installing Boot Camp drivers in Windows
-Making hard copy backups of large files
True. Though really the above are secondary functions. For us pro users who use pro software, the primary and only reason we really need an optical drive is to:
- Install Software.
period.
You know, I just don't think we're going to see a refresh to the MBP line until at least late Feb.
Normally, with any update, you hear rumblings, little pieces of info, rumors, factory leaks etc. But there just hasn't been that with the MBP's. Maybe because the internet is overdrive with apple tablet hype... but it's still strange. I'm guessing Apple still haven't sorted out gpu issues, which is a shame as the current line up is terribly out of date.
I, to a certain degree, share your doubt. There have been very little rumors regarding upgrades, but I do think they are being over shadowed with tablet rumors. Everyone is so interested in the new thing that anything else will be overshadowed. This would be especially true if the only thing the MBPs are only getting some internal updates, which is all I imagine will happen. Bump up the processor, maybe the base RAM, perhaps put the second, dedicated graphics card in the 13" model (standard of course) and that would be it. I imagine that if the upgrade is mentioned at ALL during the keynote, it will be in passing.
I don't, however, see higher resolution screens or the inclusion of BD Drives. I would like it, of course. I would love to watch Blu-Ray movies on a Mac (especially as I am getting a 13" Pro very soon) but I am not holding my breath.