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amanuensis1Some, not unexpectedly, have negative reactions to the sleek'n'shiny new MacBook Air's lack of an optical drive (that's a CD/DVD drive to most of us). Okay, I won't try to convert you, but I'll take what Steve Jobs had to say about it and go into further, personal depth.
Remember when the iMac appeared in 1998 and had no floppy drive? And everyone went buh buh buh and WTF? Apple wasn't saying, "You have no need for one," but "Move forward from the need for one, because that's how the future of storage is." Floppy discs were too small in capacity; the future was Zip discs and Jaz discs and thumb drives and external drives with dozens of gigabytes.
This did not mean Mac users stopped using floppies on that day. I had my Blueberry iBook and I bought myself a third-party USB floppy drive to go with it, because, sure, I used floppies. Except...not so much, within mere months. Soon I had my thumb drive and my external hard drive for backup and for storage and for file swapping. And I needed a floppy once in a while but that was primarily because they were making me use PCs at work (natch).
I still have that third-party USB floppy drive (in Blueberry) and, yeah, every so often since 1999 I've dragged it out and dusted it off for use maybe, oh, a couple times a year. The last time I needed it? Two years ago, when I picked up the two floppies that I'd used to file swap with my work PC and did a backup of the old files on 'em, just in case I did ever need 'em, and put them away once and for all (work PCs compatible with thumb drives at last, thankyouverymuch). Plugged the thing into my new MacBook Pro when I got it, too, just to check if it was still compatible. Was. It might be a relic but it's nice to know, you know?
Jobs addressed the ways a consumer most frequently uses an optical drive at present.
1. Burning Audio CDs. Yeah, I do this, and I play them...except, not so much. I really don't play them, do I? Instead I copy my music to my iPod. I haven't listened to a CD in my car in over two years, except for audiobooks from the public library. I use my iPod or my computer for music when I travel. When I'm at home. When I'm at work. The only place I listen to CDs is when I go to sleep at night; I have a handful of environmental/mood CDs in my bedroom which I play on the twelve-year-old CD/cassette boombox next to my bed. And if that thing broke tomorrow, I could set up my iPod in its place with that old set of (blueberry) computer speakers that I have in storage and put the CDs away entirely. I still burn audio CDs here and there, though--for backup, for the bedroom boombox, for my mom. But that use has already become archaic.
2. Importing/installing software. I do this too...except, not so much. For the computer I'm currently running, I installed Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop Elements; those were the only two programs that required a CD-ROM. Every other piece of software on my computer which wasn't preinstalled I downloaded from the web via wireless connection. 'S it. Downloads are the new standard; they're always the latest version.
3. Watching DVDs. I do this...except, not so much. I play my DVDs on my DVD player on my big flat-screen television. It's how I want to watch movies; Jobs acknowledged this is what people want and so that's what the overhaul of the Apple TV is all about. What do I watch on my laptop? AVI files, because those tie up my computer to play them whether I just watch them on my laptop screen or hook up the computer to my TV screen. So those are already DVD-less. I do use my laptop as a DVD player when I travel but, again, not so much--when I travel there's so much to do I don't sit around in my hotel room watching DVDs. And the last hotel I stayed in had its own computer with a DVD player and I used that for my exercise DVDs; plus DVD players are becoming more standard in hotel rooms as well. Airplanes? Yeah, maybe. Maybe one movie for a long trip. Except airline in-seat entertainment systems are actually getting more extensive (as opposed to airline food) so I'm more likely to fiddle with those. And if I only want a few movies for the ride I can put those on the hard drive temporarily, if I have the technology--and now we really do, with Apple's movie rentals emerging. Yes, I still want my movies on DVD, if I'm going to keep them. And I still like my Netflix, where I can keep the film as long as I want and watch it as frequently as I like before I return it. Not getting rid of that. It's just that those aren't the movies I'm clamouring to play on my computer.
4. Making backups. I do this...except, not so much. I mean, yes, but pretty rarely. Regular backups I make to external hard drives rather than CD-ROMs. I still live in fear of that EMP that's going to take down the Eastern Seaboard on the next episode of 24--yes I watch too much television--and wipe all soft-storage data, so, yes, every couple of years I make backups of all the fic folders and art folders and emails on my drives, because the post-apocalyptic world should not survive without Harry Potter fanworks omigod, but, again, this is a rare use of a CD/DVD burner for me.
So, yes, some use of an optical drive is still necessary and will also be desired for at least some time. So this time, rather than have consumers go off cussin' to buy third-party products, Apple's made plans for this. Native software and native hardware both. On the bet that a purchaser of the MacBook Air likely has another computer available, software's available for both Mac and PC to let you use another computer's optical drive for importing CD/DVD data wirelessly. And if you don't, if you're all, "Oh, yeah, high-and-mighty so-and-sos, assuming I can afford another computer. What if I can't? What if I don't want to maintain my old one's software to keep up with my laptop? What if I want to take the optical drive with me, Mr. Smarty Pants?" Done. USB-connectible Apple-made slim external optical drive. For $99. $99. That's chump change.
Am I on board for the elimination of the optical drive? Yes, I am. How about the elimination of certain ports, like FireWire and Audio In and an extra USB port? Not so much, not yet. I admit I'm not ready to rely solely on wireless for all backups (the beauty of a laptop is that in a power failure you can still work on battery, dial-up, and unpowered external drives for a bit), nor can one feed all externals via USB and get the same performance (FireWire through USB is only as quick as USB, for example). And I still prefer an ergonomic mouse to a trackpad, despite the innovations that keep arising in trackpad use, so I like having that extra USB port. But if Apple's saying that FireWire and the like are soon going to be secondary, older tech compared to wireless technology...I may squirm, but I don't think I can doubt them.
Remember when the iMac appeared in 1998 and had no floppy drive? And everyone went buh buh buh and WTF? Apple wasn't saying, "You have no need for one," but "Move forward from the need for one, because that's how the future of storage is." Floppy discs were too small in capacity; the future was Zip discs and Jaz discs and thumb drives and external drives with dozens of gigabytes.
This did not mean Mac users stopped using floppies on that day. I had my Blueberry iBook and I bought myself a third-party USB floppy drive to go with it, because, sure, I used floppies. Except...not so much, within mere months. Soon I had my thumb drive and my external hard drive for backup and for storage and for file swapping. And I needed a floppy once in a while but that was primarily because they were making me use PCs at work (natch).
I still have that third-party USB floppy drive (in Blueberry) and, yeah, every so often since 1999 I've dragged it out and dusted it off for use maybe, oh, a couple times a year. The last time I needed it? Two years ago, when I picked up the two floppies that I'd used to file swap with my work PC and did a backup of the old files on 'em, just in case I did ever need 'em, and put them away once and for all (work PCs compatible with thumb drives at last, thankyouverymuch). Plugged the thing into my new MacBook Pro when I got it, too, just to check if it was still compatible. Was. It might be a relic but it's nice to know, you know?
Jobs addressed the ways a consumer most frequently uses an optical drive at present.
1. Burning Audio CDs. Yeah, I do this, and I play them...except, not so much. I really don't play them, do I? Instead I copy my music to my iPod. I haven't listened to a CD in my car in over two years, except for audiobooks from the public library. I use my iPod or my computer for music when I travel. When I'm at home. When I'm at work. The only place I listen to CDs is when I go to sleep at night; I have a handful of environmental/mood CDs in my bedroom which I play on the twelve-year-old CD/cassette boombox next to my bed. And if that thing broke tomorrow, I could set up my iPod in its place with that old set of (blueberry) computer speakers that I have in storage and put the CDs away entirely. I still burn audio CDs here and there, though--for backup, for the bedroom boombox, for my mom. But that use has already become archaic.
2. Importing/installing software. I do this too...except, not so much. For the computer I'm currently running, I installed Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop Elements; those were the only two programs that required a CD-ROM. Every other piece of software on my computer which wasn't preinstalled I downloaded from the web via wireless connection. 'S it. Downloads are the new standard; they're always the latest version.
3. Watching DVDs. I do this...except, not so much. I play my DVDs on my DVD player on my big flat-screen television. It's how I want to watch movies; Jobs acknowledged this is what people want and so that's what the overhaul of the Apple TV is all about. What do I watch on my laptop? AVI files, because those tie up my computer to play them whether I just watch them on my laptop screen or hook up the computer to my TV screen. So those are already DVD-less. I do use my laptop as a DVD player when I travel but, again, not so much--when I travel there's so much to do I don't sit around in my hotel room watching DVDs. And the last hotel I stayed in had its own computer with a DVD player and I used that for my exercise DVDs; plus DVD players are becoming more standard in hotel rooms as well. Airplanes? Yeah, maybe. Maybe one movie for a long trip. Except airline in-seat entertainment systems are actually getting more extensive (as opposed to airline food) so I'm more likely to fiddle with those. And if I only want a few movies for the ride I can put those on the hard drive temporarily, if I have the technology--and now we really do, with Apple's movie rentals emerging. Yes, I still want my movies on DVD, if I'm going to keep them. And I still like my Netflix, where I can keep the film as long as I want and watch it as frequently as I like before I return it. Not getting rid of that. It's just that those aren't the movies I'm clamouring to play on my computer.
4. Making backups. I do this...except, not so much. I mean, yes, but pretty rarely. Regular backups I make to external hard drives rather than CD-ROMs. I still live in fear of that EMP that's going to take down the Eastern Seaboard on the next episode of 24--yes I watch too much television--and wipe all soft-storage data, so, yes, every couple of years I make backups of all the fic folders and art folders and emails on my drives, because the post-apocalyptic world should not survive without Harry Potter fanworks omigod, but, again, this is a rare use of a CD/DVD burner for me.
So, yes, some use of an optical drive is still necessary and will also be desired for at least some time. So this time, rather than have consumers go off cussin' to buy third-party products, Apple's made plans for this. Native software and native hardware both. On the bet that a purchaser of the MacBook Air likely has another computer available, software's available for both Mac and PC to let you use another computer's optical drive for importing CD/DVD data wirelessly. And if you don't, if you're all, "Oh, yeah, high-and-mighty so-and-sos, assuming I can afford another computer. What if I can't? What if I don't want to maintain my old one's software to keep up with my laptop? What if I want to take the optical drive with me, Mr. Smarty Pants?" Done. USB-connectible Apple-made slim external optical drive. For $99. $99. That's chump change.
Am I on board for the elimination of the optical drive? Yes, I am. How about the elimination of certain ports, like FireWire and Audio In and an extra USB port? Not so much, not yet. I admit I'm not ready to rely solely on wireless for all backups (the beauty of a laptop is that in a power failure you can still work on battery, dial-up, and unpowered external drives for a bit), nor can one feed all externals via USB and get the same performance (FireWire through USB is only as quick as USB, for example). And I still prefer an ergonomic mouse to a trackpad, despite the innovations that keep arising in trackpad use, so I like having that extra USB port. But if Apple's saying that FireWire and the like are soon going to be secondary, older tech compared to wireless technology...I may squirm, but I don't think I can doubt them.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 04:18 pm (UTC)Some of us don't have dvd players in the house. And the fact that one uses the cd drive infrequently almost makes it worse. Sure you don't use it a lot but how about that one time when it's crucial. Then you have to pay for a gadget you're not going to use again.
Excuse me for sounding bitter but I like my computer, I even like vista so those attack ads... and by extension, Apple Co.... piss me off.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 04:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
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From:A Small Problem In A Specialty Market
Date: 2008-01-16 04:33 pm (UTC)One of the big uses for MacBooks is as a portable audio workstation. Now, there are lots of USB interfaces for audio input... but they're still not as fast as they could be. I'm a working musician, and on my PC I use a direct hook-up to a sound card, because USB and the hard drive together just aren't fast enough for reliable sound capture.
They will be. But they aren't now.
Why do I mention this, when certainly the Mac pro audio market can't be that big? Because of the Mac amateur audio market. Garageband users, of whom there are a lot. Who will have no alternative but to use a USB input or a cheapie mic. It's possible to get a phantom power supply and pump that in through the mic input... but what about your guitar/keyboard/whatever?
I also worry about having backups that don't rely on a separate unit and a wireless connection to it. Gimme that optical disk.
< /2¢ >
Re: A Small Problem In A Specialty Market
Date: 2008-01-16 04:51 pm (UTC)backups that don't rely on a separate unit That one--I won't disparage it, but it's a feeling rather than logic. All the separate parts within your CPU can go blooey at any given time, even the computer's ability to recognize that they're there. As long as the parts are all made by the same guys, I'm not so worried about whether they house inside the same brick.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 05:24 pm (UTC)If I didn't have USB Overdrive for my Mac life would not be worth it. I need right-click and Scroll wheel Page Up/Page Down functions or I go maaaaaaaaaad.
(no subject)
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Date: 2008-01-16 05:20 pm (UTC)Yes, optical drives are on their way out. We still have a few years to go, but I really appreciate this move away from rotating parts (solid state HD ftw!).
My main hesitation with the laptop (and the reason I won't pick this one when I go to buy a new mac later this year no matter how sexy I think it is) is that it's not enough of a workhorse to be a primary machine. There were no real upgrade options on that pre-order screen, so you're stuck with 2gb memory, 64 gb hard drive (bumped up to a minuscule 80gb if you want to deal with traditional rotating disk), and a processor speed that's ok but not their best. There's no separate video memory, which isn't surprising considering it's a MacBook and not a Pro, but still annoying for my needs. My primary machine needs to be able to run 10 major apps at once and be able to do it as well several years from now as it does today, no matter what new thing I'm doing. The Air just isn't there yet, and there's no way to make it there through customization.
So no matter how awesome I think it is (and I do, despite what I said above, think it's really, really awesome. And hot. Is it wrong to get turned on by a laptop?), I'm not ready to jump on board quite yet.
Unless I suddenly come into a lot of money and can get it as an addition to the new primary comp. Or is 4 laptops starting to get excessive? I can never tell...
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 05:31 pm (UTC)But give it a year, and see what they do with it, and see how soon it takes other technology to catch up with what's "top of the line" now, and let's see if don't start saying, "Sure, I can give that skinny little thing a try; since they upgraded it it's as good as the year-old thing I have now."
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 05:29 pm (UTC)I too have my old external floppy drive. It's been gathering dust for the past five years. I finally disconnected it from my USB hub and put in a drawer, because, you know, why?
I think the other thing to remember about this computer is that it's aimed at folks who already have another—it's meant as a traveling computer for the kinds of folks who need to bring work with them. So it's small screen size and lack of optical drive mean diddly—just sync up with your desktop Mac, and you've taken care of #s 1 and 4. If you're using iTunes for video, you've taken care of #3. And I have to imagine that installations and maintenance are done with the MBA (hee! even the acronym says traveling executive!) in target disk mode, so there's nothing to #2 either. Or, as you suggest, set up a dock at home with a USB hub, DVD burner, keyboard, mouse, external drive for Time Machine backups and an external monitor—boom. You're all set. Most working folks have most of those components already for their current computer (except perhaps the optical drive), so there wouldn't even be a huge price to pay.
I'd love one—my only worries would be the small screen size (I have to imagine that working on a full-width page of text would leave you with tiny characters, though certainly no tinier than on an iPhone), and the fact that I'm, er, a bit hard on laptops. I have visions of crushing the wee thing. XD
Oh, and price. Since I don't see having $1800 to burn any time soon. But hey! A Mac addict can dream, right?
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 05:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 07:44 pm (UTC)The only event you'd be really screwed without an optical drive is when the program you need for your internet connection fails and you cannot download the update/fix because you HAVE no internet connection anymore. Then again, this shouldn't happen at all, and in the unlikely event it did happen, you could use the external drive. In any event, I'm all for the pretty.
(there was, however, an interesting article in a German newspaper today about how the Air isn't really all that amazingly new and how other companies have developed similar products years ago. Still, it's PRETTIER, I say.) *g*
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 08:13 pm (UTC)That kind of recursive difficulty's not as outlandish as all that, either. I can't tell you how many times I've seen FAQs which read, "If you cannot connect to the web, please visit www.gofixthispieceofcrap.com..." *headdesks*
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 08:58 pm (UTC)No they don't. I can't get DSL at my house. We are too far from the central office.
Guess where I live?
*waves to Apple, Yahoo, Google, and Adobe, all of which are within a few miles of me*
oh the irony.
We are surviving on the local free wireless with dialup as a backup, but being free, the wireless is not the best thing in the world (I would estimate about 75-80% uptime with certain recurring problems).
In the event of internet catastrophe, I can download stuff at work, but still, it's annoying. Website design these days often assumes everyone has broadband, and a significant percent of the time, I don't.
Broadband coverage is better in Canada, Europe, and even parts of east Asia than it is in the US.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 07:45 pm (UTC)This is part of why I find the change to Vista so profoundly annoying as well: because I'm nearly sure that in another year or maybe less, I'm going to have to have Vista (bugs and all--I have it on one computer now and it's a NIGHTMARE) because it is, for the first time for PC, fairly incompatible in a lot of ways, so other companies are having to drop support for XP-related stuffs to focus on the new Vista drivers and accessories and whatnot. The more MS focuses on and forces Vista and Office 07, the more likely it is I have to upgrade despite that I find both products dreadful (and yes, I am fairly change-averse, but not entirely; my averseness is to change for the sake of shiny, not change for a useful reason).
I have had a computer with a DVD playing drive in my house (it's not mine) for less than a year. There is no chance I can afford one with a faster USB port or a faster wireless hoo-hah in the next couple of years unless my circumstances change radically. My kids have thumb drives, but so far I don't. I have never used FireWire. I have had to install things from CD ...five or six? times so far, with the new-to-me-hand-me-down comp, which I have had for, oh, six weeks? Seven? It's not a NEW computer, but it's not THAT old. Anyway. To me? $99 is not chump change at all. No, really. And yes, I have been gainfully employed, full time, for 16 years.
I get that Apple has an interest in moving things along, because it will make people Buy More Products, so from their profit POV, pushing these changes makes sense. But it just feels more and more like there is an expectation that if you want to play in the current not-even-really-techie environment, you have to be prepared for it to compete with your rent, and I really find that objectionable. They may be right as to the direction the technology is going, but in part that's because they're making it go there at breakneck speeds, dragging the middle of the road or even the relatively low-needs consumer along in order to have the new-and-cool for the high-end user.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 08:19 pm (UTC)I'm still using XP and have had to install other software that is Vista-compatible, like my ISP and MS Office 2007. Since installing those, I have endless problems when both MS Word and my ISP are open, and worst of all .... I am limited in what I can do on LJ (dropdown boxes don't always work, custom styles on communities never fully load, etc).
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 07:56 pm (UTC)I love the way it looks. Not having an optical drive would kill me though. I use mine all the time (Though if I finally went out and got myself an extenal drive I'm sure I wouldn't miss it).
It's nice, but I'll wait (also the fact that I just bought a new Macbook kinda helps in the waiting).
I'd like to see where this leads though. Very interesting :)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 08:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 08:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 08:48 pm (UTC)I would love to eliminate all the plastic waste of CDs. I am paranoid about EMP type stuff too, so I still back up to optical. What we really need to get going is that, like, holographic laser-crystal type stuff, which is solid-state but not magnet- or static-sensitive. Come on, future!
no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 12:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 09:35 pm (UTC)I still use my CD/DVD drive on a regular basis though. At least once a week, mostly to rip music.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 09:59 pm (UTC)I have a (light, simple) external floppy drive that I got with a coupon when I bought a laptop four years ago. Just this past weekend, I finally moved all my early manuscripts off diskette onto my laptop and to jump drive backup.
I'm sure in three years or so, I'll be re-storing everything in the next dominant format.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 10:35 pm (UTC)I can see here Jobs wants to go with this but a) not all of us live in the US so can't legally download TV shows and movies into our iTunes yet and b) I wouldn't be able to use this computer seamlessly at work since they're about ten years behind me technology-wise (and still relying on PC's).
no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 10:51 pm (UTC)But. But. It's very pretty. <3
no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 11:09 pm (UTC)However, I've been using my optical drive quite a lot lately: to play The Sims 2. I know I'm not supposed to use my laptop for that (it doesn't have enough power to run it properly) but it's the only computer I have. And games aren't the only kind of software that require the CD to be in while you run them, but most of the other stuff I have are dictionaries running on virtual drives. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable having to set up a virtual drive for something I've legally bought, not to mention I'd probably wouldn't know how to do it either. Of course, I won't be sad if they change software so it never asks you for the original CD again.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 12:24 am (UTC)Is there still a lot of that? See, I don't have to encounter that myself because I don't play games much on my laptop; I play them on my playstation. And not too many of those because I'm so wrapped up in fandom!
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 01:47 am (UTC)It meets all my standards for expensive gadgetry. I'm so getting one.
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Date: 2008-01-17 01:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-01-17 10:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-27 02:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 03:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-27 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-20 06:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-27 02:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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