Report: Apple Developing 15-inch Super-Slim MacBook Pro

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If the Pro is make slimmer and still retains respectable GPU as well as battery life, then, this is the winner.

Installing OS and operating systems through USB drives is the future because:
1. Faster install time.
2. No more scratches problems and easier to keep.

Well, everyone laugh at Apple for ditching the number pad for a phone and Google even tried to mandate "lots" of physical keys on the 1st generation Android phones. Now, what?
 
Why does it seems they are starting to make their computers like their phones? "here's a new feature, buy a new phone." Next year to 6months later they are telling you the same thing. WTF?
 
[citation][nom]ReggieRay[/nom]I really hope this whole "You don't need no stinking DVD drive" thing blows up in Apples face. I am not buying another Apple. No DVD support, no Apple for me.[/citation]

Are you kidding? The optical drive is a dead man walking. Slow, takes up gobs of space, and is very seldom used in the Mac community. I replaced my ODD with a second hard drive last year and never miss it. Apple will likely use the freed up space for larger batteries and better cooling. this could give the MacBook Pro a huge edge over the competition - smaller chassis, more performance, less hot, last longer - "blow up in Apple's face?" - better luck next time.
 
[citation][nom]ReggieRay[/nom]I really hope this whole "You don't need no stinking DVD drive" thing blows up in Apples face. I am not buying another Apple. No DVD support, no Apple for me.[/citation]
I hate DVDs, CDs, and all other optical media, except for maybe LaserDisc. It is slow, glitch-prone, fragile and cumbersome. The standard was set by some audiophile CEO at Sony who 'insisted' that some work of Beethoven be able to be heard on a single side of a single CD, which sucks for us now, as CDs don't fit in your pocket, and now, neither do DVDs or BluRays.

How many gigabytes of lost data have I gotten from corrupt CD-Rs, DVD-Rs and even stamped media, from almost unnoticeable scratches on the read side, to imperfections on the label side.

I can't wait for optical media to die. It has been too long. At least LaserDisc, there was no illusion about what happens to a scratched disk, and nobody is going to try and put one in their pocket.

All hail Flash Media and it's universally readable format that is smaller, and denser, faster, more durable and ultimately more usable than optical trash.

I am so happy that an industry leader is trying to kill off the DVD drive. They suck. Plain and simple.
 
"I never use my optical drive, so that means no one else does either."

I still play Civ4 every now-and-then (requires disk). I like to go to the store and buy a physical copy of my games; need a optical drive to do that. I do have a Steam Account, but that's only for the free games they offer. I like to burn pics of my family and hand out disks at Christmas. Should I buy a few-dozen USB memory sticks?

If you don't see the need for an optical drive, you should just stick to a smart phone or tablet.
 
I have a netbook. It has no CD/DVD drive. I did need to install something from a CD once... I got a USB CD drive. Works just fine. Apple users can use one too...
 
[citation][nom]The Greater Good[/nom]"I never use my optical drive, so that means no one else does either." I still play Civ4 every now-and-then (requires disk). I like to go to the store and buy a physical copy of my games; need a optical drive to do that. I do have a Steam Account, but that's only for the free games they offer. I like to burn pics of my family and hand out disks at Christmas. Should I buy a few-dozen USB memory sticks?If you don't see the need for an optical drive, you should just stick to a smart phone or tablet.[/citation]
I see the need for it. And I also see the market for devices that force the manufacturers to think of other ways of distributing their media. It isn't like you can't just attach a USB CD drive...
 
Losing it's optical drives?

Apple is going to be a WHORE to the "cloud".

Just one more reason to hate Apple.

But you can see the moronic hipster drooling about his new "skinny iMac" to go along with his "skinny jeans".

All this kitchy marketing is making me ill!
 
What bothers me is that windows-based PC manufacturers have been trying to produce this sort of system for years, always failing because no one wants weaker hardware in exchange for maybe a quarter of an inch of thickness. When apple does the exact same thing, it works? That doesn't make any sense to me. I'd love to see a thin form factor laptop with a screen larger than 13.3, but I can't stand apple's styling. Maybe if apple's product becomes popular for being an apple then the already existing windows ones will get more attention.
 
[citation][nom]legacy7955[/nom]Losing it's optical drives?Apple is going to be a WHORE to the "cloud". Just one more reason to hate Apple.But you can see the moronic hipster drooling about his new "skinny iMac" to go along with his "skinny jeans".All this kitchy marketing is making me ill![/citation]
Amazon is doing it. Google is doing it. None of those are platform specific. Even MS is slowly migrating to the cloud...

As long as there are still USB ports, you will be able to get you media any way you choose, even on an Apple...

Part of the reason I dislike iPads... No external 'local' connectivity of any quality...
 
If you are an informed user, you know "the cloud" will put more power in the hands of a few that will be able to control ALL YOUR data at their whim. Are you really OK with this?
 
[citation][nom]JohnnyLucky[/nom]Now that I think about it all of the software apllications I use were downloaded and installed. The only exception was Windows 7.If there is no optical drive then how would an OS be loaded in a new DIY build?[/citation]



Simple you download the iso where you bought it. Copy the contents off the iso to a usb drive. make sure you partition the drive to at least 4gb NTFS, and that is primary and active first before you copy the contents. look for the bootsect.exe file in the boot directory from the iso, and copy that file to your desktop Run bootsect.exe in cmd from desktop location or drag and drop in the cmd window.

Point it to the usb drive which the os installer is copied, and presto!. You now have a self windows USB installer. Or you can download a utility that does this for you but it might erase everything you have on that usb drive which is why i prefer method one plus its already included in the 7 installer. If you are stuck and don't know what to do. You can type bootsect /? or /help while in cmd to get further instructions of how to make your flash drive bootable. Its amazing what cmd can do for you :)
 
[citation][nom]bystander[/nom]If they keep making these thinner and thinner, do we still need or want tablets?[/citation]
Tablet are just a form factor, meaning either a single, unhinged screen/touchscreen with the interface on the same plane as the screen (buttons like Kindle or touchscreen like iPad).

Many people like tablets because they can be interfaced with in much the same way as books.

I however, prefer the laptop that sits on its keyboard, and has the screen propped up for me. I don't like to hold books, or tablets. I find it cumbersome. But laptops offer me more portability than my desktop.

Having a laptop that is as thin as today's popular tablets that can, perhaps, have a built in keyboard/mouse interface that can be snugly tucked away inside the tablet will be popular, if they can be made to have good battery life, durability, and weight...
 
Lack of an optical drive is a nonissue for me. I haven't installed anything from my Macbook's optical drive in over a year, nor do I bother with boxed DVD movies when I'm on the road. Meanwhile, my GF's MBAir can access my desktop optical drive wirelessly if need be, and the process seemed pretty painless when we tried it out. So I'm game for a thin MBPro with no optical drive--but what I DO want is dedicated graphics. I haven't upgraded to the new 13" Pro because its craptastic Intel 3000 Hamsters-On-Wheels™ video performance is actually worse than my outdated 2009 unibody MacBook's ancient Geforce 9400M, while my MB's 2.4 ghz Core2 is perfectly fine for the office work and Aperture photo archiving I do on the laptop, and pretty much irrelevant for the occasional gaming I do on the laptop. I don't like the current 15" MBP because it's just too big for me to want to lug it through airports (I travel for business a lot), but a thin-n-lite version would be great. So yeah, bring on the 15" Air/Pro, just make sure it has decent 3D performance!
 
[citation][nom]ReggieRay[/nom]I really hope this whole "You don't need no stinking DVD drive" thing blows up in Apples face. I am not buying another Apple. No DVD support, no Apple for me.[/citation]

Ha, it's crazy to think that some people are content without a DVD drive. I'm not even content with a DVD drive now that we've had bluray drives for quite some time now. I really want to know what the holdup has been in the market lately.

We're still listening to 16bit 44.1K CDs for music when we could have 24bit 96k (or more) audio from DVDs (now they the prices are down). With that said, we could also be burning Blurays for data and videos instead of DVDs, but people just aren't embracing the new tech.
 
Many enthusiasts with MBPs use a third party caddy to replace their Optical drive with an ssd (Or hdd and replace the primary hdd with an ssd). I don't own a Mac laptop, and only actually use a laptop at work. My main desire in a laptop would be support for 2 2.5" drives, and no optical drive. If you need a dvd drive, hook it up via USB.

That said, these will probably look slick, and cost a hefty sum.
 
Apple has an app store capable of replacing a dvd slot, should work out fine, for most users.
You're more likely to forget where you put a dvd or cd-key then apple is to forget you bought something. That's why I love steam.
 
[citation][nom]legacy7955[/nom]Losing it's optical drives?Apple is going to be a WHORE to the "cloud". Just one more reason to hate Apple.But you can see the moronic hipster drooling about his new "skinny iMac" to go along with his "skinny jeans".All this kitchy marketing is making me ill![/citation]
Apple is hated because of their outrageous prices on their hardware and devices. There's no reason to hate their Mac OS X or their choice to move to the cloud. Everyone (including Microsoft) is doing this.
 
[citation][nom]bennaye[/nom]And sorry for the double post, but are you suggesting that we pirate? Because I'm pretty sure programs (or apps, whatever floats your boat) are still installed via. discs. I mean, god knows Apple could do with an ego and revenue beatdown right about now, but pirating programs such as Adobe PS is still illegal.Or am I missing something?[/citation]


Besides common sense before you post? Nobody suggested pirating software, he said "u get all of these from the internet these days."

Which also means buying, downloading and installing. It's where I get 80 percent of my software instead of media based content and it is easier than driving down to the store or ordering a CD/DVD online and it is usually fairly cheap. I have a raid to store the software on in case I ever need it.

While I rarely use a CD/DVD (I will miss them, just like my old floppy friend), it probably is getting close to the time that they will no longer be used. Didn't a car maker just come out with a media center console that was laking a CD player?

Whether Apple has it right or wrong, only time will tell, until then I'll just use my windows based PC with my lonely lightscribe DVD writer and dream of days gone by.


 
[citation][nom]bennaye[/nom]And sorry for the double post, but are you suggesting that we pirate? Because I'm pretty sure programs (or apps, whatever floats your boat) are still installed via. discs. I mean, god knows Apple could do with an ego and revenue beatdown right about now, but pirating programs such as Adobe PS is still illegal.Or am I missing something?[/citation]

You only install programs once. U can do that at home by putting the disk into your desktop's optical drive and sharing that over the network. No need to carry an optical drive every single day.
Software on optical disks is not going to be around much longer.


Even the OS can be loaded straight from the internet. U can insert a completely empty HDD into a Mac, enter "internet recovery mode" and download&install the OS straight from Apple's servers.
(Don't know if that internet recovery mode "lives" inside EFI or if it's basically just a fancy network boot)
 
If they make a 15" and 17" MBP, don't expect it to have a powerful dedicated GPU unless they do some innovative cooling techniques and they might have to use the 17watt Sandy Bridge processors like the 11" and 13" Air uses.


I agree that optical drives are practically dead to most consumers.
 
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