Why no optical drive in new Mac Mini?

Hi, I absolutely understand your point of view, but, honestly I use optical media once in 3 months, even though I do animation on my macs... and usually optical media produce lots of errors which give me turbo headache.

I personaly think usb sticks are more eco friendly, ..and two gig usb drive from sundisk is around $5 in stores 🙂

cheers!

martin

Actually, the MacBook is gone from the Apple Store, the Air never had one, and rumor has it the new MacBook Pro refresh (due soon) won't have one, either; so yes, it appears as though Apple is phasing the optical drive out across the board (presuming the next generation of desktops follow suit).

I bought the Mini Server and apart from one instance have not missed the optical drive. In that one instance I shared one from an older MBP and copied the contents of the DVD in question over. Given the current state of bandwidth and networking, I don't need my desk cluttered up: the Server serves up some external storage and I just mount what I need when I need it. It and the associated external drive arrays all sit neatly out of sight.

Just my two Pfennig Wert.

A.L.F. wrote:

Well, I bought a new Mini 2.5 GHz i5 today at the local Apple Store, and decided to buy an external SuperDrive along with it. They told me that the SuperDrive was substantially back-ordered, due to so many customers buying one with their Mini. That should say something about whether or not Mini customers think it should have come with an optical drive.

It just says that they want an Apple "super" drive - who knows what they're thinking? On that note - I still don't get it - out of the latest ten reviews for the superdrive, on store.apple, four give it 1 star, one gives it 2 stars. And the good reviews use words like "annoying" and "frustrating" and reference the short (again - hardwired) cable. Yeah, it looks sleek, but I'll take function over form any day.

I didn't even realize my mini had no optical 'til I received it. I shrugged and got a cheapie Dell drive (I thought it was HP - same thing) for 30 bucks... life went on and I lived to tell.

My opinion on the matter is that not having a CD drive is kinda like not having an umbrella. While it's not completely necessary for most people at least it's very annoying the day it starts pouring & load & behold you don't have an umbrella. It's kinda like only owning a motorcycle & the day you have to go to work it suddenly starts raining. Now you have to show up to work drenched & possibly late only to have your boss look at you in disappointment. I think the same is with the Mac Mini because while it's not necessarily a must have for most people, the day that you need to use one & have absolutely no other way of using a CD your basically done for. I also think that Apple should have included a model that came with a Superdrive.

I like your comparisons very much.

It is indeed not a must have for many people. Plenty of people have backup hard drives and NAS devices holding most their stuff and don't even bother with optical backups any more. And, yes, there are ways around the missing optical drive to get data read from or burned to DVD, but they're far less practical, fast, convenient, reliable, ...

Many people don't need a home telephone, fax machine and printer any more either. Until they need to print something, sign it and fax it right back.

Having the right tool for the right job is invaluable.

And, having a backup / failsafe against murphy's law with is even better.

It’s kinda like buyin’ a trenchcoat then walking to work in the pouring rain and your boss sees you by the water cooler completely dry except for your hair which is hanging like a wet mop over your face and he asks what happened and you tell him you bought this nice new trenchcoat and it didn’t come with a hat and he asks why don’t you just buy a hat if you need one and you say because the trenchcoat didn’t come with one and he suggests that you buy a hat to keep your head dry and you repeat once more that the trenchcoat didn’t come with a hat and he scratches his head and says sheez maybe the coat should come with a hat but you can buy one cheap it doesn’t have to be a perfect match or a fancy brand name like the trenchcoat and you repeat once more for the love of god the trenchcoat didn’t come with a hat and it should have and he says but you need a hat so just buy one and you say no you’re the one who’s being unreasonable and he says I didn’t say you’re being unreasonable although you are and you say no you are and as tempted as he is to say I know you are but what am I he remains level headed and says you're crying over spilled milk and you say I'm lactose intolerant and he thinks you're being a wise guy but you're dead serious and he shrugs it off and gathers himself and asks if you knew the coat didn’t come with a hat and you needed a hat with your coat why did you buy the coat and you say because it’s very nice and functional and I’m loyal to this brand and he says that is a nice, sharp looking coat and that logic makes perfect sense but you need to get and you cut him off and say get what a hat and he says no get and you interrupt once more and say get what to work and he says no get outta here you maniac you’re fired and you walk home through the pouring rain drag yourself up the stairs into your house and behold your sorry looking sopping wet self in the bathroom mirror and say man I need to get a job and I need to get a grip and stop being my own worst enemy and one thing for **** sure I need to do is get over this whole trenchcoat thing and buy myself a hat.

LOL Tim_LA!!!!!!!!!! Your little story hits the nail

right on the head!!!!!!!

I work for radio and have some hundered CDs and DVDs containing my archived material of my radio shows. CD and DVD was and still is the most compatible and cost effective way for this, because the media is most mobile and the station uses Windows PC. Therefore I use the built in Superdrive several times a week.

Not only for this point the lack of the optical drive is a problem for me. The other point is the speed slowness of my internet connection. Loading one GB takes about 12 hours. Because of this I select the boxed version of software if it is provided. And if I have to decide between two applications I often decide for the one provided on an physical medium.

I intended to buy a new Mac Mini in the next few days, but the absence of the optical drive prevented the purchase.

Maybe it's the future, but we all live in the present tense. Though I love using future technology, I have to use the current technology to be compatible with the present tense. So I love to have gear I can use the present and the future technology with. And if the vendor of my favorite computer platform doesn't offer this, I have to look for alternatives in the middle term.

Get used to it, DVD's are on their way out, just like floppy disks.

Hundreds of millions of DVDs were sold last year. Apple's response, eliminate the optical drive.

The new Mac mini should have a Blu-Ray drive not NO drive.

The answer is way more simple than that. Apple is still on the outs with Sony. BluRay belongs to Sony. Sony won't give Apple BluRay. Rather than admit that, Steve Jobs gets up in front of people in his black turtleneck and says that BluRay is obsolete, and everything will be streaming. Maybe someday that will be true, but for now, the MPAA still likes BluRay, and BluRay is higher framerate than streaming so it is absolutely NOT, I repeat NOT obsolete.
Apple doesn't like to look old, so they didn't put in a plain old 17 dollar DVD burner. Instead, Apple cooked up a story that basically amounts to a little kid saying, "I meant to do that!"

If Apple could have BluRay, they would put it in all their stuff ESPECIALLY the Mac Mini! The Mac Mini would be every Mac lover's dream BluRay player!

Not to be devil's adovcate, but with how many times it was useful its ok (on my behalf) for them removing it. Heck, you can buy a little external and plug it in if you need to also.

Easier imo to carry around a 500gig external notebook drive then a spindle of CD's. And if you don't have high speed, the likely hood of a store there having it close is low as well. And heck, as with all things, you try to appeal to the majority

I don't own a single BluRay player. Probably never will. Streaming works for me.

Here's a news flash for you: if you care about a computer that can play optical media without add-ons? The new Mini was not designed for you. Get something else.

The childish behavior here is not Jobs', it's people picking a restaurant and then demanding the chef change the menu to suit them. That restaurant is down the street, don't let the door hit you.

I don't own a single BluRay player. Probably never will. Streaming works for me.

If you are satisfied with the lower quality picture that streaming provides that's fine........ UNTIL.

Your Internet service provider starts charging you by the megabyte (metered Internet billing), which ALL of them are planning on doing.

it's people picking a restaurant and then demanding the chef change the menu to suit them.

I know someone who is in upper management in the restaurant business. He WANTS to hear his customers desires. And often makes changes based on customer suggestions.

Is a good Apple customer a silent Apple customer?

I perceive a rather wide gap between offering constructive suggestions for improvement and whining, name-calling and tossing out conspiracy theories.

Depending on which side of that gap you sit I submit silence may be best.