Am I correct that none of the latest iMac's have a DVD Drive or Firewire port?

You are indeed correct.

Current specs are listed at …

http://www.apple.com/imac/specs/

There is no Firewire port (Thunderbolt can be converted to Firewire via adapters)

There is no optical drive (you can buy an external Apple superdrive).

Why should everyone have to pay for an optical drive when using an external only those that need have to pay. Also the optical drive is probably one of the highest failure parts on the Mac. Then to with everything switching to downloading over the web that has just finished off optical drive. The other vendors are going to be following Apple's lead on this just as they did with the floppy drive.

You don’t have to use a SuperDrive - any optical drive will work - and be cheaper to buy as well.

Very few people use actually use an optical drive any more. I don't believe I've used the drive in mine for than a half a dozen times in the last 3 1/2 years.

They're rapidly becoming obsolete as a storage and delivery mechanism. I haven't purchased music on an actual physical CD in years, and the last time I did so, I only did it so I could have it signed by Ian Anderson. I've never actually removed it from the jewel case. I purchased the music from iTunes prior to the concert.

I actually use an external optical drive as all of my family and friends (including the ones in other countries) prefer to get the movies I produce on a DVD they can put in their DVD player and watch on a big screen TV, so I will be using that technology for some time to come. I also prefer not to upload anything as most everyone thinks everything is free to download (steal) other people's content. I've used an external burner for years because the super slim vertically installed drives in iMacs were less than reliable and any media could shift by 1/100th of an inch.

My current (new) external burner is from OWC:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MR3F82SD24S/

(they have others, including bluray). Mine is quiet, sturdy, and offers several plugin possibilities.

mechanical things like optical drives often have issues and since most users like with old floppy drives don't much use optical storage any more removing them dec the cost and made thinner models possible

Personally, I prefer external CD/DVD drives. Over the years, it has been

the norm to have the internal CD/DVD drives die while everything else

in the machine is working great (Mac or PC). So, having it external

makes replacing trivial.

With the advent of Thunderbolt and USB3, Firewire has become an obsolete

technology.