WOW. The new iMac's do not have a DVD drive after all

[sportage]

I heard this rumor with no DVD on the new December 2012 iMacs.
And its true.

http://www.apple.com/imac

I wonder of they will offer an external BR drive?
I wonder how you are suppose to load software?

But I like the option to get a 3TB hard drive.

 

[Spineshank]

I heard this rumor with no DVD on the new December 2012 iMacs.
And its true.

http://www.apple.com/imac

I wonder of they will offer an external BR drive?
I wonder how you are suppose to load software?

But I like the option to get a 3TB hard drive.

Could always buy the superdrive...but theres another $100 on top of it.

 

[Tegeril]

Most software is not solely available on disc anymore. The stuff that is is quite honestly rare now. The 'big two' of Office and Creative Suite are digitally downloadable, so the rest is just not so important.

 

[JackBurton]

It's the right move, a DVD drive is a waste of space. If you need an optical drive, get an external BD drive.

 

[TheStu]

I wonder of they will offer an external BR drive?
I wonder how you are suppose to load software?

Nope
The Mac App Store, Steam, the software maker's website. How do you load software now?

 

[Printer Bandit]

i thought people still burned CDs to play in their car?

 

[KeithP]

i thought people still burned CDs to play in their car?

I know I do. Also, don't forget about making DVD for families or friends.

If you think about it, there is no functional reason to make the iMac as thin as it is now however, if you add Apple's app store into the reasoning one could assume the sole purpose of the redesign was to give an excuse to drop the optical drive moving more people to the app store.

-KeithP

 

[TheStu]

i thought people still burned CDs to play in their car?

I know I do. Also, don't forget about making DVD for families or friends.

Seriously? People still do this? Huh. Well, I guess my dad still burns photos to DVD to distribute to the family, so ok.

I think you are right though, that the larger issue is to push people to the App Store. Though my understanding is that the money Apple gets from their cut is primarily used to just run the store, the servers, the payment processing, all that. Kind of like how they don't make a ton of money off of music on the iTS.

 

[GWestphal]

OS X comes on a USB drive now. App store or other digital downloads. Get a Sony 820U for like $10 to keep in the drawer for when I need to burn a disk in the 5 times a year I would need to.

 

[vi edit]

As much as I think they are visually intriguing I'm just having troubles with the infatuation on thinness and sleekness at the cost of function.

At least on the old ones you had a superdrive and and the SD card reader on the side you could access. Now the card reader is on the back of the thing. How f'n convenient is that? And now if you need to do anything with DVD/CD/Blu ray you have a desk wart dangling off the thing which looks even worse than an extra inch of thickness.

I was waiting for this announcement but having a hard time not pulling the trigger on something like this:

Dell AIO XPS 27" with 2560x1440 display
2TB drive with 32gig SSD for OS
i7 3.1
8 gig ram
Blu ray player
TV Tuner
----------------
$1000 in the Dell outlet with Coupon.

It's not osx...but it's half the price of an iMac with a better screen and better hardware.

 

[vi edit]

For me the DVD player is useful for ripping movies to iTunes to put on iPads/Apple TV for the kids. No can do any more with the new one. Meh.

 

[Subyman]

A USB external drive costs about 30-40 dollars at newegg. You don't have to buy the Superdrive. I'm glad to see the move away from optical. My last PC build I did not include an optical drive.

It is a step in the right direction, but it will cause a little grief from people that still rely on them (such as loading some software like Adobe products.)

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Seriously? People still do this? Huh. Well, I guess my dad still burns photos to DVD to distribute to the family, so ok.

I think you are right though, that the larger issue is to push people to the App Store. Though my understanding is that the money Apple gets from their cut is primarily used to just run the store, the servers, the payment processing, all that. Kind of like how they don't make a ton of money off of music on the iTS.

I've been using Facebook as naught but a photosharing site for a while. Flickr has albums too. Videos get uploaded to YouTube and set to "private."

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

It's not osx...but it's half the price of an iMac with a better screen and better hardware.

The 27" iMac screen is one of the best in the industry it is comparable to the Thunderbolt Display/Apple Cinema Display which is comparable to the high end Dell ultrasharps. They even calibrate it before shipping it to you.

 

[manly]

Seriously? People still do this? Huh. Well, I guess my dad still burns photos to DVD to distribute to the family, so ok.

I think you are right though, that the larger issue is to push people to the App Store. Though my understanding is that the money Apple gets from their cut is primarily used to just run the store, the servers, the payment processing, all that. Kind of like how they don't make a ton of money off of music on the iTS.

I don't think that's a fair comparison because the record labels get the lion's share of the revenue from digital downloads. As for apps, Apple gets a 30% slice which is quite healthy gross margin IMO. The main reason they don't make a big deal about it is because the App store is such a tiny part of Apple's business and downloads are dominated by free apps.

Could always buy the superdrive...but theres another $100 on top of it.

I ran across a slim DVD burner for $21 at Target (clearance YMMV) earlier this month, and couldn't convince myself to crack open the wallet. Even though I'm a hoarder and buy tech items if they're a good deal.

 

[TheStu]

I don't think that's a fair comparison because the record labels get the lion's share of the revenue from digital downloads. As for apps, Apple gets a 30% slice which is quite healthy gross margin IMO. The main reason they don't make a big deal about it is because the App store is such a tiny part of Apple's business and downloads are dominated by free apps.

Well, they have said that they have paid out what, like 5 billion or so today? So that is about 2 billion in their pocket. I agree they are making some money, but not a ton, and that was my point.

 

[sourceninja]

I actually removed the DVD drive from my macbook pro and replaced it with a second hard drive.

 

[Red Storm]

It's the right move, a DVD drive is a waste of space. If you need an optical drive, get an external BD drive.

If we're talking about the Macbooks sure, I can totally agree to that. But this is a desktop that isn't going to be moving anywhere, it is plenty small already and could have easily fit an optical drive.

 

[Syrome]

It is honestly much better without the Optical/Superdrive. Most customers don't use an Optical Drive nowadays and especially considering everything is downloadable, i really don't see a point to keep including it into products.

 

[Anubis]

Seriously? People still do this? Huh.

ive burnt 15 CDs to play in my car in the last 3 weeks

 

[Syrome]

ive burnt 15 CDs to play in my car in the last 3 weeks

The fact that you have over 68,000 posts on here, im going to believe you.

 

[TheStu]

ive burnt 15 CDs to play in my car in the last 3 weeks

Why not get an MP3 player and an FM tuner? Carry all your music.

 

[Syrome]

Stu made a really good point though. That is probably easier as well.

 

[Kadarin]

ive burnt 15 CDs to play in my car in the last 3 weeks

You might consider a slightly more efficient storage medium... Just sayin'.

 

[Anubis]

Why not get an MP3 player and an FM tuner? Carry all your music.

sure link me a mp3 player that can hold 250 gb of music and has FLAC support

ill save you time - you cant
FM tuners sound like shit,
dont have line in
CDs cost pennies,