Does a future iBook need a built in CD drive?
So here's my question: does a future iBook need to have a built in CD drive (be it a plain CD drive, or a DVD/CDRW drive)?
I personally would like to see a firewire CD or DVD/CDRW drive as a peripherial included with each iBook, but detached from the iBook. Why? Well I don't think that most people need to have a CD drive in their iBook unless they watch DVD's on their laptop or unless they frequently burn CD's.
I think that the developing trend for CD drives (thanks to ripping songs) is for them to be used for loading data onto your computer (instead of being used to frequently access data). If this is the case, then there is no strong reason why you can't just plug a CD drive in on those occassions when you want to install a program or rip a new CD (assuming you are actually buying the CD and not just downloading it in the first place).
I would prefer to have either a thinner, lighter iBook or an iBook with better battery life (replace the CD drive and battery with a larger battery).
This gets into what people use their CD drive for. If you are constantly burning CD's, then it would be convenient for your iBook to have the CD included. If you use the CD drive for installing programs and ripping songs onto your hard drive, then it would be convenient to have it detached. How many people use their iBook as their standard DVD viewer?
I guess that I am asking if people here remember the powerbook 2400c and if they liked that idea (I really did). I think that the 2400c was a good idea at the wrong time because people still frequently used their floppy disks, and so the detached floppy was a nuisance. Given that people increasingly use their CD's once and then don't stick them in the computer again for a long time, would a detached CD drive be a good design decision for a future iBook? What do you all think?
I personally would like to see a firewire CD or DVD/CDRW drive as a peripherial included with each iBook, but detached from the iBook. Why? Well I don't think that most people need to have a CD drive in their iBook unless they watch DVD's on their laptop or unless they frequently burn CD's.
I think that the developing trend for CD drives (thanks to ripping songs) is for them to be used for loading data onto your computer (instead of being used to frequently access data). If this is the case, then there is no strong reason why you can't just plug a CD drive in on those occassions when you want to install a program or rip a new CD (assuming you are actually buying the CD and not just downloading it in the first place).
I would prefer to have either a thinner, lighter iBook or an iBook with better battery life (replace the CD drive and battery with a larger battery).
This gets into what people use their CD drive for. If you are constantly burning CD's, then it would be convenient for your iBook to have the CD included. If you use the CD drive for installing programs and ripping songs onto your hard drive, then it would be convenient to have it detached. How many people use their iBook as their standard DVD viewer?
I guess that I am asking if people here remember the powerbook 2400c and if they liked that idea (I really did). I think that the 2400c was a good idea at the wrong time because people still frequently used their floppy disks, and so the detached floppy was a nuisance. Given that people increasingly use their CD's once and then don't stick them in the computer again for a long time, would a detached CD drive be a good design decision for a future iBook? What do you all think?
Comments
The Southern Cross
Then, I can have a light iBook or a CD iBook, or update it with the latest SuperDrive, or put an extra battery in, etc., depending on what I'll be using it for that day.
[ 08-21-2002: Message edited by: Faeylyn ]</p>
[ 08-21-2002: Message edited by: onlooker ]
[ 08-21-2002: Message edited by: onlooker ]</p>
<strong>I was promised flying cars. Where are the flying cars?</strong><hr></blockquote>
... I think it is parked in a parallel universe standing in the shadow of your 25 ft high home-computer.
A slightly thinner, lighter iBook with perhaps a 1 GHz G3 would be really cool.
-Mike
Ditch the pointless slot load and get back to some functionality.
You can preserve the sleekness of the computer (against undue ports/cut-lines) by carefully integrating this media bay. Basically, it should look just like a normal tray loader, but, when you eject the tray, you can disconnect it completely and slide it straight out. Any peripheral would fit this opening just like the tray does and look identical from the outside. Sell a second battery designed for this tray and a 2.5" notebook drive-sleds as options -- both with and without HDD's.
ALL NOTEBOOKS SHOULD SHIP WITH A BUILT-IN OPTICAL. SWAPPAGE IS THE ONLY OPTION, 'EXTERNAL' IS A DISSASTER. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
<strong>wow... you just invented hot swappable drives
Actually, I invented them quite a while ago, but thanks for noticing. And, personally, I could live without the "hot" in hot-swappable. It would be nice, but I'd quickly settle for just swappable over the current scheme.
Why? Is it giving you a hernia?
Seriously guys, the Dell C400, while tiny and somewhat fun to look at, is a DISASTER!
The times that you actually want to have a laptop in your lap with a CD/DVD in, it's very difficult. The external drive makes the laptop much 'wider'. I'm sorry if there are some people that don't use an optical drive very often, but you are in the minority.
I used the Sony Vaios when they weren't even released and the things were so unbelievably fragile it was scary.
There is a point where you have to trade off size for functionality.
I'm speaking from experience here when I say that an Apple laptop without a built in optical drive would be a nightmare for most users and especially support people. External drives, when dropped, usually do not survive. External drives travel around with you most of the time any way in case you want to use it, and if not, it's very easily misplaced. Heck, I carry around an Apple USB optical mouse with me (free from MWNY
I used to carry around a graphite USB puck mouse with me before obtaining my optical mouse. It was removed from the bag to make room for the optical mouse. Do I have any idea where it is? Not at all.
I realize that the size of these 'subnotebooks' are very alluring, but remember that Apple is still dealing with a niche market. That's not to say that the next iBook won't be 'miniaturized' to less than 1 inch thick with a slot loading combo drive, 12.1" screen (to the edges), and made much more compact, but don't look for Apple to go much smaller than that.
<strong>I have a feeling not many people posting here have seen the smallest Sony Vaios. Go take a look at Fry's some day. You'll be BEGGING Apple to make a Mac like that...</strong><hr></blockquote>
I'm sure they look great at Fry's. But take one home for a couple of months and tyr and get some real work done on it. How inconvenient is it to have to give up what the iBook already has?
Last year a sales rep that visited me came with a Vaio and an external CD-ROM. Watching him carry both, set up both, breakdown both, and make awkward small talk while he did it all, I couldn't help but wonder why anyone would want a 'laptop' without an internal CD. This guy was so Herb Tarlick that I'm guessing he thought the Vaio 'looked great' too.
My $0.02 - Taking the CD-ROM out of the iBook would be a giant step backwards. I'm sure Apple is working toward a lighter/thinner iBook, but any company can take stuff out of a computer. Being innovative means taking what you have and making it smaller.
<strong>I would buy an ibook if they made the CD-ROM external and knocked a pound off the weight. I only use the drive to load stuff onto the computer and I never load stuff onto it when I am "on the road" so why am I carrying that extra weight around?</strong><hr></blockquote>
For anyone who remembers, I hear loud echos of the 2400 dreams threads of yore.
Yevgeny and JBL summarize my feelings exactly. Get rid of the stupid internal optical drive! On the road it is of no more use to me than an old brick.
In the past, external optical drives were unreliable. But now that we have bus-powered FireWire, problems are eliminated. I would much rather have a portable bootable FireWire 24x CD-RW, like <a href="http://www.mcetech.com/lucid.html"; target="_blank">MCE's Lucid</a>, than any internal optical drive for my iBook.
As for bringing back (hot-) swappable drive bays, I don't really care either way. If I can live without PC Card slots, I could live without drive bays too. Drive bays were not the reason I bought my PowerBook 520c or my Wallstreet PowerBook and I rarely used them. On the other hand, I took full advantage of my PB 2400c's light weight and small size. All I want is for Apple gradually to increase battery life and portability, i.e. make it small(er), light(er) and more autonomous.
Escher
[Edit: MCE's Lucid portable CD-RW drive burns at 24x, not just 16x.]
[ 08-22-2002: Message edited by: Escher ]</p>
The PB should stay the same.
Apple should intro an ultra-slim TI book (Third portable product) with an external optical drive possible 12" widescreen with high res. So this would be a halfways house to a sub note book.
Sony has done really well with these and has even included a small video camera. SJ admires Sony more than any other company, so this would be a logical thing to do.
The only thing that I think is certain is that Bluetooth will become standard on the next HW updates of the lap tops. Infra-red is dead long live Bluetooth!
[ 08-22-2002: Message edited by: Addison ]
[ 08-22-2002: Message edited by: Addison ]</p>