Not built in optical drive not as bad as you think...

[AirmanPika]

As long as you have an external one handy. I dunno if anyone would remember em but I used to own one of Sony's ultraslim notebooks. It was the r505. The laptop was too thin for an optical drive so it came with a dock that contained some extra ports and the drive. I only used it when I needed to install stuff really. Otherwise it tended to languish in my laptop bag. It was a great thin and light machine but WAYYYYYY underpowered.

Whats important here is how much you rely on the optical drive and if you feel you need it built in. Apple isn't the first to do this, they are just the first to make it part of the product spin (vs leaving the fact out of the promotions and offering an external drive like sony does).

 

[MacsAttack]

Had a MacBook for over a year. I've used the SuperDrive 5 or 6 times. Some people will need an optical drive. Some just don't.

 

[Jack Flash]

Had my MacBook for about 9 months. Used the SuperDrive daily,

 

[rozner]

I don't use mine much. I have an MBP for 2 months now. I used it to insatll Leopard right away, and I think I put a DVD in there at one point just for test purposes. So yeah, I could probably do just fine with an external one, but the MBP is so thin and I do like the knowing the drive is there if I actually do need it.

 

[ray648]

I've had a macbook since june and the whole time I've used the optical drive once, and that was just to install the drivers for my 3g modem when I got it. I don't see why everyone is complaining about it so much. Glad to know not everyone is being stupid about it.

 

[taylorwilsdon]

I have used the one in my Macbook pro like five times cumulatively and that was just burn CDs. Nothing comes on physical media these days... I don't use the external drive on my ultraportable except for OS reloads.

 

[bluelight]

i completely agree with you

who needs an optical drive built in?

^ don't answer that, but you know what I mean




the dock is really ugly though, thank god that's done with

 

[Jack Flash]

I guess when you backup your data on to hard media, transcode from DVDs, burn the occasional Mix CD, play games or rip CDs an optical drive comes in handy.

But since Steve Jobs says we don't need to use them anymore...

 

[Techguy172]

I have a lot of CD's so I really need an optical drive it doesn't seem right to me without one.

 

[Littlehoof]

On the one hand I think I would find the whole idea of not having an optical drive built in quite difficult to live with...
On ther other hand I remember when I got my first laptop that didn't have a 3.5" floppy drive and I was so worried about how I'd cope lol.
Technology moves on - I think Steve is right, the computing world is increasingly wireless and the optical drive was a worthwhile compromise considering the other things that are packed into that tiny machine instead... the only thing I think apple will have to revise fairly soon on the macbook air is the price. Knock $300 off it and it would have me.

 

[Nugget]

I never use the optical drive in my MacBook Pro. I'd be happy to see it go.

 

[Cybergypsy]

Never use mine either

 

[DGaio]

I think no optical drive is the least of the Macbook Air problems. It was expected for a ultra-portable, which Macbook Air is having dificulty to be seen as.