No DVD drive in new iMac ???

This is why I decided to buy a refurb 2011 iMac from Apple. While "thin may be in," I really want the convenience of a built in optical drive. I saved a few hundred bucks and can't see myself wanting to upgrade anytime soon as the 2011 IMac seems to have a lot more capability than I would ever need anyway. One of the reasons I'm swithing is to get rid of all cords and junk running from old WIndows desktop PC to the monitor and everywhere else.

Is anyone else concerned about how Apple is making product decisions Post Steve? 1) no DVD drive on the new iMac so all media must be bought &/or shared in the Apple iTunes Cloud. 2) Replacing the vast data base of Google maps with a hastely built proprietary iMaps for the iPhone / iPad. 3) Is the huge decline in Apple stock prices reflecting this arrogant decisionmaking?

tjmch wrote:

Is anyone else concerned about how Apple is making product decisions Post Steve? 1) no DVD drive on the new iMac so all media must be bought &/or shared in the Apple iTunes Cloud. 2) Replacing the vast data base of Google maps with a hastely built proprietary iMaps for the iPhone / iPad. 3) Is the huge decline in Apple stock prices reflecting this arrogant decisionmaking?

Wasn't it Jobs who removed the floppy drive from the iMac in 1998? There was a huge furor over that and many people were predicting the demise of Apple. I don't believe Apple died that time either.

no DVD drive on the new iMac so all media must be bought &/or shared in the Apple iTunes Cloud

So far, there are still stores which sell CDs - you do not have to buy anything at the iTunes store. If you have a CD, you do not need to use iCloud unless you choose to. I don't use either; I have a Superdrive, but I also have an external burner and I use CDs and DVDs.

I'm concerned, I think since Apple makes most of their Billions off of iDevices, that they don't realize it stemmed from...

A. unhappiness of Windows® experiences.

B. Happy Mac Computer users for decades, which they've now mostly abandoned with iOS7/iOS8 & 21.5" or 27" iPhones as your new choices. 😟

I do think they can still pull a good profit catering to the people that suffocate if they can't be on a Cell Phone for Twitter/FaceBook for a minute an hour , but...

the people that suffocate if they can't be on a Cell Phone for Twitter/FaceBok for a minute an hour , but...

😁 ROFL...... 😁

Computers are dead as far as MS & Apple are concerned... too easy to create your own stuff without buying renting it! 😟

Look for an older Refurb that fills your needs. 🙂

In all this discussion about the missing DVD drive, I have seen very few comments about the missing FW 800 port from the new iMac - which seems to have been retained on the Mac Mini.

One of the arguments for Apple removing hardware and slimming down the new iMac is that in so doing they are saving a lot of money on freight. Apple will probably spin this out as a environmental benefit - which is true. However, Apple will keep quiet about the fact that this cost saving is not being passed on to the consumer. Instead we pay more for the new model of th iMac than we did for the last and then we are forced to buy accessories as well (external Superdives, cables etc).

Apple is also putting pressure on 3rd party manufacturers by ensuring that the units are not upgradable by consumers (RAM upgrades will have to be done by an Apple technician) and they are also pressurising the competition (DVD resellers) by effectively forcing software manufacturers to sell their apps via download only. This is pretty sharp practice and even the most ardent Apple fan/apologist should be wary of this sort of activity.

Remember, just like every other mega-business, Apple is only after one thing - all you cash.

In all this discussion about the missing DVD drive, I have seen very few comments about the missing FW 800 port from the new iMac

I had not commented on that because there are adapters for FW > Thunderbolt, so I thought that would suffice. However, in another thread, a poster reported that using an adapter did not work:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4189365?answerId=20549802022#20549802022

babowa wrote:

In all this discussion about the missing DVD drive, I have seen very few comments about the missing FW 800 port from the new iMac

I had not commented on that because there are adapters for FW > Thunderbolt, so I thought that would suffice. However, in another thread, a poster reported that using an adapter did not work:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4189365?answerId=20549802022#20549802022

One often has to be very careful with bus powered devices when an adapter is used. The adapter should be ok for any external powered device, but with buss powered its a different story.

We'll see how well the Thunderbolt to FW800 adapter works at my place. I have a little box that allows me to connect 7 drives (6 SATA and 1 DVD/CD) to a single FW800 port. I'll be using that system with my new 27" iMac which just shipped today.

adapters may not work? why in the world should we have to bother with all that?

What is this "box"? A hub or are you daisy chaining or ???

Dear Apple,

I am about to burn 2 x DVD's with a full set of submission documents for two new project tenders. Lucky I still have a DVD drive in my old MacBook Pro eh?

And there I was thinking that DVD's and CD's were old hat. Silly me.

Yours etc etc.