Why no Super Drive on the new Retina 15" MBP?

You're right. It make the machine lighter and Apple's reasoning, I suppose, was to pack as much as they could into a closed system while keeping it 1+ lbs. lighter than the non-Retina MBP's. Yeah, you'll have to buy an external DVD/CD drive but likely won't be toting it around too often. My only question on Apple's external DVD/CD drive is whether it's USB 2 or 3 - no one has answered that question for me yet.

Regards,

Clinton

apple external superdrives have not changed, they are usb2.0

apple has pushed for an all app file software download. cd/dvd for the software is no longer viable...

I thought that they were likely the same USB 2 drives selling for the Air. Shame.

Yes, even Microsoft and Adobe are going for downloadable trials which can be activated by purchasing the activation code, as are many software developers of shareware/trial apps. But that's exactly why I have a DVD/CD burner - to burn these dmg or zip files to DVD for back-up so that I'll not have to go through the download process again. And I still like having my software (Office, CS6, etc.) on disc when it's offered - another back-up.

Maybe I'm just a back-up fool. There is safety in numbers.

Clinton

...I do the exact same thing, but rather a dvd burn I purchased a separate external harddrive for the backups...

I've used DVDs since 2002 and had nary a problem with any one. Hard drives fail in 3-5 years usually which is why I only use them for TM back-ups. Everything that is in my Downloads folder goes to DVD!

Clinton

I, on the other hand, have been waiting since 2010 on a MacBook Pro without optical drive - for me, these are more important than optical drive: thin, light, and/or bigger battery.

So I'm glad that it finally came - but it was more expensive than I had hoped for, unfortunately.

That's what the Macbook Air is for...

Not for my needs. I do RAW photo and video editing, which I hardly think a MacBook Air is suitable for, screen and processing-power wise.

How do you know that hundreds of thousands of other customers woul dhave like the Retina model with an optical drive? Maybe you are right, but I'm not one of them. I'd prefer my portable unit to be as portable as possible.

I use an optical drive a couple of times a year, mostly to load software that came on disk. Transferring files from place to place is much more convenient on a USB stick, don't you think? If you need to burn a disk, you can always use a Superdrive.

As to whether it is 2.0 or 3.0, I don't think it matters as the choke point isn't the transfer, but rather the read/write speed of the drive, isn't it?

I vote for the reinta model the way it is and I ordered one last week without concern about not having one inside the MBP. I did buy a Superdrive, just in case I need it though.

BjornBH wrote:

I along with hundreds of thousands of other customers would have loved the addition of the Retina display without loosing features. We are far from the day where DVD/CD Drives are no longer needed. Plus, laptops are for protability, but if you have no Super Drive and you have a Retina Display, you're forced to toat around more equipment for the lack of capability, which is not a great feature.

Those are all true...for you.

But Apple is not a company to wait until a large component is "no longer needed" to dump it, like when they dropped the floppy drive.

While you're not wrong for your needs, the fact is that a lot of other people make comments like "I can't remember the last time I used my optical drive." That is actually true for me too. These are the people who take out the optical drive and put in what they consider to be a much better use of the space: a second spinning or solid state drive in order to create additional storage or a RAID. I'm thinking about doing that myself.

I am avoiding the retina MBP for different reasons. I want my FireWire and Gigabit Ethernet which I use daily. And while I do miss the second drive bay in the Retina MBP, it is not because I miss the optical drive. It's because I miss the opportunity to put in that second mass storage drive. 🙂

It is unfortunate. I travel quite a bit and liked the ability to watch DVDs on the plane. It's lame that I'll have to carry around a separate drive just to watch movies.

I wanted the same thing, but I've ended up likeing the thin form factor very much and Its not a big thing to carry the superdrive in my pack. It could be a hassle trying to fit it on a airplane tray though.

I was happy they removed the disk drive, it would be the only moving part (Besides the fan) in the MBPR, and therfore the first thing to break down. I still you a disk drive all the time (Burn CDs for the car and burn home movies to DVD) So I bought the $80 Apple SuperDrive. It works wonderfully plus it's light and easy to carry around. Problem Solved: Just buy a SuperDrive

You could always buy (Or rent) movies on the iTunes store and then watch them on the plane 😀

Barry Fisher wrote:

... Its not a big thing to carry the superdrive in my pack. It could be a hassle trying to fit it on a airplane tray though.

If you can fit the 15"MBP-R on the tray, it's a snap to rest the SuperDrive on one of the palm rests.