no cd drive in new macbook?

If you need an optical drive - which many users do not anymore - you can purchase Apple's external USB Superdrive. Apparently it has been reengineered to work with Macs other than the mini and MacBook Air. There are other 3rd party drives as well.

Best of luck.

there are currently two updated MBP models.

the updated regular MBP, exactly like the previous version but faster. same ports, cd drive, upgradable RAM and storage, cheaper.

the Retina Display MBP, fewer ports, no cd drive, SSD only, higher res screen, not upgradable, more expensive.

if you want a cd/dvd drive get the first one. for my use the first one is better, the Retina is too expensive for the configuration i would want, i dont like the non-upgradability, etc. for many the Retina Display is enough of a draw to put down more money for the screen and slimness.

as long as they offer both, i will be happy. if they ever drop the regular MBP and make only one non-upgradable, more expensive model, i will be unhappy. you wont get any sympathy from most of the posters on this board in any case.

BostonPaul wrote:

Thank you for your well-tempered and thorough posting. We bought the 15" laptop with retina display, not knowing there was no drive. Microsoft doesn't allow software downloads so we're stuck.

You can download MS Office from Microsoft or many online vendors, or you can buy ($79) an external superdrive for your Retina. You can also use just about any other external DVD drive with it.

Come on already. Regardless of the available options, no new product will fill everyone's needs. Look at the specs, compare it with what you need. If enough match up, buy it. If not, don't. It's as simple as that.

As to your specific question, you can get an external DVD drive or use another computer to remote install. As far as movies, quite a lot are available for download now. Same with software too for that matter.

You do realize that Apple does in fact still sell a 15" MBP with an optical drive, right? it doesn't have a Retina Display, but you can still get the RAM up to 16GB through 3rd party RAM, and you can get a 3rd party 640GB SSD... processor options are still the same. BOOM! SOLUTION! Quit whining...

No installer discs have been shipped with new Macs since Lion was released. To repair your hard drive directory or permissions, reinstall Lion, restore from a backup or do the other things you used to use an installer DVD for, you hold down Command+R at startup to boot into the Recovery Partition, and all those options are available.

There is no need for an integrated optical drive any longer. If you must use optical media, then get the external superdrive for $79. Watching DVD movies on your computer? Why? Anytime I watch a movie, I'm watching it on my 70" TV with the PS3 playing either blu-ray, DVD or more often; Netflix or Xfinity On Demand. When I travel, I watch movies on my iPad. Soon there will be no optical drives on ANY laptops, because they simply are not needed. For music, I import my CD's using the external drive one time per album, then I mark the disc as imported on the case with a sharpie. The CD's now sit in a box in the basement, ready to be sold on Craigslist or pitched. Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.

TYDYsails wrote:

Some of us do not have that, require a superdrive and will simply have to forego a retina display. On the other hand, we can get the upgraded non-glossy display and save some cash!

TY

Why?

Just purchase the external Superdrive and move on. You have a unique, non-common requirement and Apple has provided a unique solution.

JCKinger wrote:

I guess everyone who receives cd's/dvd's from clients, photos cd's/dvd's from friends, burns photo or video cd's and/or dvd's, watches movies, loads software, wow, I could go on and on, shouldn't buy them. What gets me is at the Apple store I specifically said I wanted it for my photos and videos and they never let me know there was no disc drive. I purchased it yesterday ($3832) and just discovered this problem. Never even thought to ask them! I do not want it now. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I absolutely do not want it without a disc drive.

Take it back then get a notebook with a dvd drive:

https://www.google.com/search?q=notebook+computer+with+dvd+drive&ie=utf-8&oe=utf -8

Oh, and before getting another notebook read the specs. Your new one may not have something else you want.

I would opted for getting an external dvd drive, I have not had to use it in the two years since I bought it. DVDs/CDs are not used as often as they were in the past.

No big deal that you didn't look at it, we just bought an older MBP (2012) model for our daughter off ebay. I didn't even think about the drive issue since I am typing this post from my late 2011/early 2012 MBP that does in fact have the drive. Probably the very last model sold that came with it. I bought it in early 2012, like sometime in January 2012 to replace my old 2006 (that was still running by the way, but was basically obsolete after 6 years.

For our daughter, she's 14 and likes to watch some of her old movies that she has on DVD on the computer. Some people still do that, even kids. And after 25 years of computers having disc drives and with the last drives being good enough for just about anything, there isn't really much use in looking at the specs....its just assumed its there. Macs tend to be expensive and work for years, so many people wait to buy their next one after some time and probably bypassing some of the newer tech while simply updating the OS along the way. Taking the long way around the barn to get to my point, I get how it can happen to purchase an MBP and think they still have the drives.

Responding to an old post, but anyone who polices and asks why I did....why are you policing old posts? LOL...now, thats out of the way...

We are going to simply buy the external drive and be done with it. Doesn't need to be toted around anywhere since its not something you would necessarily use on the go. Just set it on a desk and connect with it when you need to...done deal.

As for me...I will be using my old 2011/2012 MBP until the silly thing coughs up dust. It works fantastic still, no problems whatsover. Simply get some external memory (AUUGH!!!! externals!) and keep it clean.

None of this is rocket SuRgEry.....just plain ol common sense and reasoning.

Apple also sells a USB Superdrive that can be used with the new MBP, the MB Air, and the Mac Mini... You can also share a drive from another computer...

Then you have a choice to make, get the new, thinner Retina display MBP and carry an extra device when you need it or go with the older version MBP and carry the DVD drive around inside all the time.

Like I said before, figure out what you need and which of your needs are essential, find the computer that fits those needs and get that one.

RuXTaR wrote:

What you guys ar ignorant to is quite a handfull of things:

1. Outside of the U.S. Netflix, Huliu, and other interweb luxuries are not available. So YES, I still watch DVD's

2. Outside of the U.S. a lot of countries still don't have iTunes available to them. So YES, I still need to put my music on from a CD. I KNOW RIGHT?! I'M SO BEHIND!! (I'm being sarcastic). Plus, a CD, is much better quality than whatever you can get on the internet.

3. I can understand no CD in a MacBook. But a MacBook pro?!! First, you need to install editing software (because in your country you cannot download online), second you need to be ready for on-the-fly projects, third, I want to burn a CD for a friend/ a Master for an artist/ a DVD for a client/ I have to carry around that external thingy and have no place to put it while working on the plane, train, bus, or whatever.

Someone said it's better than carying one around whether you need it or not.. seriously?! how heavy is it?! half a pound?! just take off your watch and you make up for the difference. How lazy can you be?! How heavy can it make it?!

I can't believe someone can look at a draw back and try to justify it. With the iPhone service problem they said people are holding it wrong. DVD's CD's Blurays, burning CD's, it's not of the past and will not become so anytime soon.

What Apple is trying to do is force everybody to get things on the App Store because it's cheaper than buying the external CDdrive, and in a lazy world which would be bothered to carry the built in CD drive around, they are the winners because we're such babies who want things NOW and don't want to wait for the hard copy.

Putting all the above aside.

Lets say I need to re-install my software after formatting for whatever problem, how do I do that? And yes, in the dreadful situation where I need windows for some awesome software that OSX does not support, how do I do that?

You would use the recovery partition to reinstall or repair OSX, and Boot Camp Assistant to download the drivers for Windows. Or just buy a different model of Mac, or buy the Superdrive.

In case you have not seen this, and you by chance have two computers . . check this out for sharing a CD drive with your shiny new MacBook PRO w Retina Display . . saved my bacon already

DVD or CD sharing: Using Remote Disc - Support - Apple

support.apple.com/kb/HT5287

On the computer that does have an optical drive, go to System Preference > Sharing and turn on DVD or CD Sharing. Then insert the optical disk you want to share.

On the computer without the optical drive, open a Finder window, in the sidebar the optical disk should be there. Sometimes it takes a while. Use it like you would an optical disk in the computer.