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Does Apple have a patent on the slot loading optical drive?

MACDRIVE

MACDRIVE

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 17, 2006
1,695
3
Clovis, California
I'm just curious because all the PC notebooks that I've seen over the years have always had that bulky drawer loading type (is that what you call it?) that obviously makes the machine look much thicker. Looking at a PC notebook looks very odd compared to looking at a streamlined Mac.
 
Don't know about the patent.

I believe that slot loading drives used in MB and MBP pretty much only accept the standard size CD/DVD blanks.

One advantage of the PC type drawer optical drives and that is you can use small CDs/DVDs and credit card CDs. This gives you a bit more flexibility.

Of course you can always connect an external drawer type optical drive to your MB/MBP if you need that kind of flexibility.
 
mad jew said:
Those annoying mini CDs don't work in slot loading drives. I don't reckon a PC manufacturer would wanna touch 'em, for that reason alone.
Click to expand...

Actually quite a few slow loading drives take mini cds as long asyou load them in the middle of the drive.. take the wii for example, takes gamecube games (much to my horror when my friend put one in his wii and i almost did a action-slow-motion-dive to stop him becuase i thought it wouldn't work).

I'd actually try to put a mini cd in my mbp if i can find one here, I have some from one of my trips to Japan.

In regards to why they're not in the PC market, my $0.02 is that you'll notice that in the PC industry, they're always going for the fastest, latest and greatest, and slot-loading dvdrw (for example) are now just reaching 8x in a quantity/quality worth while for mass production in notebooks, whereas tray loading drives with the same speed have been around for quite some time now.

In the competitive PC industry, if you dont have the latest, everyone else will run away.. in that light, Apple is in a unique position as they are both the original (and only) direct sources of hardware (in the form of computers) and software (in the form of operating systems) so they can do really, whatever they want!
 
kusanagi said:
...my $0.02 is that you'll notice that in the PC industry, they're always going for the fastest, latest and greatest...
Click to expand...

Uuuhhhhhhh, what? I would have to strongly disagree with that. Apple seems to be the one that is always using the latest greatest... Firewire, FW800, Airport, etc...

PC mfg'ers seem to lag behind IMHO.
 
PS3 is slot loading, an older Pioneer burner I had for my PC was slot loading as well.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Slot loading drives can be seen used in a lot more places other than computers though – one example that springs immediately to mind are car CD players. Are there any portable DVD players that are slot loaders?
Click to expand...

Yeah, some TVs have built in Slot-Loading DVD players. e.g. some Toshiba LCD T.V.s
 
kusanagi said:
Actually quite a few slow loading drives take mini cds as long asyou load them in the middle of the drive.. take the wii for example, takes gamecube games (much to my horror when my friend put one in his wii and i almost did a action-slow-motion-dive to stop him becuase i thought it wouldn't work).

I'd actually try to put a mini cd in my mbp if i can find one here, I have some from one of my trips to Japan.

In regards to why they're not in the PC market, my $0.02 is that you'll notice that in the PC industry, they're always going for the fastest, latest and greatest, and slot-loading dvdrw (for example) are now just reaching 8x in a quantity/quality worth while for mass production in notebooks, whereas tray loading drives with the same speed have been around for quite some time now.

In the competitive PC industry, if you dont have the latest, everyone else will run away.. in that light, Apple is in a unique position as they are both the original (and only) direct sources of hardware (in the form of computers) and software (in the form of operating systems) so they can do really, whatever they want!
Click to expand...

Exactly. Slot-loading drives may look nice, but their performance and functionality isn't necessarily any better, and in some cases it's worse. I don't mean to troll in any way shape, or form, but it isn't difficult to see that Apple values form over function in many areas.
 
Well actually, a friend of mine who has a CD mbp, also has a new Acer latop with vista on it, which actually has a slot loading drive built in.
 
They may value form over function, but it was great to see my boss's face, who has a soft spot in his Window loving heart for Apple hardware, when I ejected a dvd. "Heeeey!.. Tha.ts... not.... right.." he said. :D - :apple: 1 pc 0

Those Dell XPS M2010's also seem to favor form over function with its beatiful pop up slot drive.
 
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