Why does the new Macbook 13 inch with retina display not have an ethernet port, or a CD/DVD drive, or a Blue-ray drive?

The 13" has a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter you can use.

A cd/dvd sold seperatly so the wear and tear is on a external device.

External BlueRay data DVD's players and burners (not video DVD's)

BlueRay DVD is a "bag of hurt" there is Netflix and all sorts of online TV shows etc, no need for a disk

I've gone back and forth about this same issue a hundred times. Earlier this month I bought a MB 13 i7 in lost hopes of a 13 retina coming out anytime soon. Fortunately, I returned it today when the report of a 13 retina coming out.

Here's what I found owning the 13 MB, the CD drive is noisy on start up! And I went through 3 seperate machines because they all made loud noisy sounds upon start up. This is actually quite irratating if you ask me. I'd rather just have a supplemental drive that connects via USB. I hardly use CDs anyways, but it would be nice to have the option so just buy a drive and use it when needed.

The CD drive aside, the machine ran flawlessly. It was amazing how fast it was and I really think the 13 retina is going to blow me away.

CD/DVD drive, or a Blue-ray drive? What were they thinking, I love Apple and wanted to get a new mac, but I need those things. Looks like I might have to get a PC

I have been 100% Macintosh since 1984. The lack of an optical drive and a Blu-ray drive will probably drive me to Windows on my next purchase.

Downloaded movies have lower quality than Blu-ray.

Either buy the MacBook with optical drive or get an external one. I don't get it. You can even use an external non-apple USB drive that costs a lot less. If you want a computer that thin (which I lot of people would prefer) you can't fit an optical drive in there. Plus it gets rid of a lot of weight. The difference in thickness between carrying my 2010 MBP and 15" retina MBP is like night and day when you actually feel it.

I used to think that I could never use a computer that didn't have an optical drive. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized how rarely I actually use media on physical disks with my computer. While a built-in optical drive is convenient sometimes, I'd much rather the wear and tear be on an external drive than on one built into my machine - on nearly every laptop I've owned, the disk drive was the first component to go bad.

As far as why Apple would opt not to include an optical drive? They're betting on portability being a priority to their users, and for the most part, they're not wrong. Cutting out the optical drive, which is quickly becoming a relic of the past in an age of downloadable media, allows them to reduce weight and size of their machines, not to mention noise and heat.

(Re: ethernet port - USB to Ethernet adapter.)

jackred88 wrote:

Why does the new Macbook 13 inch with retina display not have an ethernet port, or a CD/DVD drive, or a Blue-ray drive?

Why no Ethernet port: Because it is much less commonly used now. Most people use wi-fi, I witness this when I visit friends. People even use wifi with desktops now because it's so much easier than stringing cable through the house. I am not against Ethernet, in fact, I work with such large files that I not only need Ethernet but Gigabit Ethernet to move files between my Macs. So for me, Gigabit Ethernet port is a requirement and so I would prefer the older non-Retina MacBook Pros that have a GigE port. But when I see other people working, it is true that wifi is pretty much the networking standard now for general computer users.

Why no CD/DVD drive: Because it is much less commonly used now. They used to be for ripping CDs...but enough people now download their music directly from iTunes or Amazon that CD rippers are becoming a minority. They also used to be for installing software, but with fast broadband spreading, my last two huge multi-GB software installations were downloaded in minutes instead of being delivered on disk, and the download installer is a lot easier to back up too. It's now a weird feeling to install software from a CD/DVD...

And if my next portable Mac came without an optical drive and I needed one, I would simply use the Disc Sharing feature in OS X to use my desktop Mac's optical drive bay to read discs into my portable Mac.

Why no Blu-Ray drive: Because Apple has never put one in a Mac, and has publicly expressed disdain for the format (Google "apple blu-ray bag of hurt"), meaning they probably never will.

By the way, Apple does think you have a point, which is why they have continued to sell the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros that still have most of the specs you want. They realized the whole world is not yet diskless and wireless. But with the Retinas, Apple also knows that diskless, wireless, solid-state, Retina, and Thunderbolt is the future...not CD, DVD, Blu-ray, Ethernet, and FireWire.

You can go ahead and get a PC, but realize that the trend is the same there. Look at the Ultrabook PC and Windows RT/8 hardware and you'll see a lot of trends that were set in motion by Apple.

Not a computer "geek" to say the least.. but just bought a new macbook pro retina. Went to watch a blue ray dvd on an external usb super drive and.... no-can-do. Reading the threads here I guess I should have not 'assumed" that i could have. A brand new laptop, and I cant watch a BR DVD.... stupifying.

hans Christeler wrote:

Not a computer "geek" to say the least.. but just bought a new macbook pro retina. Went to watch a blue ray dvd on an external usb super drive and.... no-can-do. Reading the threads here I guess I should have not 'assumed" that i could have. A brand new laptop, and I cant watch a BR DVD.... stupifying.

It is not stupefying. Forget about Apple for a moment, and imagine you did this with a PC. You could easily have the same result if you didn't read everything carefully. You said you tried to watch "a blue ray (sic) dvd on an external USB super drive." Well, in the PC world that would not have worked either, because normal CD or DVD drives will not play back a Blu-ray disc. You would specifically need a Blu-ray drive and also software on your PC that is licensed to play it back. Not all Windows PCs come with these, so even with Windows PCs, you must specifically buy a computer that specifically says it has Blu-ray disc support, or you will not be able to play back a Blu-ray disc on your Windows PC.

hans Christeler wrote:

A brand new laptop, and I cant watch a BR DVD

There is no such thing as a BR DVD. It is either a Blu-ray disc, or it is a DVD. Those are two different formats with two different resolutions. That's why I said earlier "if you didn't read everything carefully."

Because this situation is the same on Windows PCs as on Macs, the trouble you had was not Apple's fault.