End of superdrive...?

[And]

Anyone reckon Apple may remove superdrive in the mini and go for a smaller form factor (the mac nano?). Currently itunes and the new mac app store mean your music and app requirements are dealt with... (kinda), so Apple are moving away from dependency on the DVD drive. It would be a brave step to ditch the drive but Apple have history in this regard (ditching floppies on imac when many were still using them). Thoughts?

 

[stridemat]

I can see it happening, perhaps not imminently, but yes in the future.

 

[iVeBeenDrinkin']

I can see them releasing a mini nano, but you'll always have the add-on option. My prediction for the next mini, is same body style, but with thunderbolt, a better GPU, and possibly an i3 or i5 processor. One model with a superdrive, and one with server and the extra HDD.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Anyone reckon Apple may remove superdrive

They already did that. Its the Mini Server.

 

[MacHamster68]

i ccan see that happening ,
apple had been one of the first companies who thought about putting everything in one box , and now with thunderbold they want to go back in time again ...great idea back to the 90's cluttering up the whole desk again with peripherals

 

[And]

How small do you think the 'nano' could get without a dvd drive, apple tv sized? How small could that motherboard go? I guess you need some size to include the array of ports needed.

 

[G4er?]

i ccan see that happening ,
apple had been one of the first companies who thought about putting everything in one box , and now with thunderbold they want to go back in time again ...great idea back to the 90's cluttering up the whole desk again with peripherals

And Apple goes farther than any other company to make sure its products look just right. Then want buyers to hide its products behind third party external devices.

I really wish the mini would go bigger. Yes, I'm talking about that computer. "He that must not be named."

Kind of off track but I'll add this:
Not everyone wants everything to go smaller and smaller just because technology keeps pushing. Just earlier today I mentioned to my daughter that there is a rumor the iPod Classic may be discontinued. She is hoping not. She has a previous generation iPod Nano that she has maxed out. She doesn't want the iPod Touch and says that the new Nano is too small. Says it isn't as easy to use. And my daughter is all of 5'1".

 

[tbobmccoy]

I'd be sad if they took the option of a SuperDrive completely away from the mini.

I'm thinking about getting a mini to act as my "Apple TV" for my bedroom, as the mini is a much more usable device for media than the Apple TV. To do that though, I need to have a functioning DVD drive to play our DVDs on when we want to, or I'd have to rip EVERYTHING to the hard drive.