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Old Aug 11th, 2012, 11:58 AM   #11
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What would it matter if the HDD was more accessible? They have proprietary connections and hard drive cables, you can't change it anyway.
Not true for the past 2 revisions - the drives can be changed no problem with anything you want. The Late '09 models had proprietary temp sensor cables.
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Old Aug 11th, 2012, 12:18 PM   #12
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Not true for the past 2 revisions - the drives can be changed no problem with anything you want. The Late '09 models had proprietary temp sensor cables.
Not true. In the last two revisions, mid-2011 and late-2011, Apple has altered the SATA power connector itself from a standard 4-pin power configuration to a 7-pin configuration. Hard drive temperature control is regulated by a combination of this cable and Apple proprietary firmware on the hard drive itself.
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Old Aug 11th, 2012, 12:59 PM   #13
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Not true. In the last two revisions, mid-2011 and late-2011, Apple has altered the SATA power connector itself from a standard 4-pin power configuration to a 7-pin configuration. Hard drive temperature control is regulated by a combination of this cable and Apple proprietary firmware on the hard drive itself.
Interesting. That said, I've still swapped in other non-Apple branded drives no problem into Mid 2011 iMac models without issue.
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Old Aug 11th, 2012, 03:46 PM   #14
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I certainly don't miss the optical drive on the rMBP. For the quiet alone, it's worth it.

I haven't hooked up my external DVD-RW once.
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Old Aug 11th, 2012, 05:30 PM   #15
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...If you're the sort of person who uses an optical drive a lot, moving to an external drive is a much better idea for you...
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huh? that makes zero sense. absolutely none.....
Maybe you didn't read the rest of chas_m's post.
In his original post, chas_m states quite clearly why this makes perfect sense.

I'll repost chas_m's reasons for you here:

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... External drives are cheap, fast (and going to get faster now that you can use eSATA and Thunderbolt), easy to replace if they break, don't heat up your valuable computer while running, don't drain the battery, can handle odd-shaped discs and mini-discs since they can be tray loading, can be taken out of one case and put into another, and are just generally superior to the built-in drive in nearly every way except one: ubiquitousness....
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Old Aug 11th, 2012, 05:46 PM   #16
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What would it matter if the HDD was more accessible? They have proprietary connections and hard drive cables, you can't change it anyway.
also lol-level hilarious to have a guy calling himself emacman commenting about difficult hard drive upgrades..i would rather change the drive in a current iMac drunk and blindfolded than have to change the drive in an old emac haha
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Old Aug 11th, 2012, 05:50 PM   #17
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Have to agree with chas_m on this one. External USB tray loading optical drives are dirt cheap, faster and more reliable than an internal optical drive.

The slot loader on my MacBook is pretty much unusable. When it refuses to read a disc, I have to reboot and/or get out the Emergency Straightened Paperclip of Extraction

I bought an IDE multiburner years ago and put it in an ancient FW400 case (remember DVD-RAM? I had one...) and it is a hell of a lot faster and more reliable, plus it has DL that Apple didn't bother to put in my MB.

SATA burners are under $20 and a case still makes it less than Apple's exorbitantly priced unit.

These days, I would splurge and get a SATA Blu-Ray burner and stick it in a FW800 case.
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Old Aug 11th, 2012, 07:30 PM   #18
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Interesting. That said, I've still swapped in other non-Apple branded drives no problem into Mid 2011 iMac models without issue.
Not likely. Unless you use a software fan controller (HDD Fan Control), the fans rev to 6000 rpm. Unless you short the leads on the drive connector, AHT and ASD (likely MRI too) will fail.
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Old Aug 11th, 2012, 07:43 PM   #19
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Maybe you didn't read the rest of chas_m's post.
i absolutely did. maybe you didn't read the rest of my post where i said i agree with the move away from it for portables, am indifferent for it on imacs , but completely against it for mac pros. the thread is about the rumour of apple axing it on their desktop models, so when he suggests that someone who used optical media a lot would be better off with an external optical drive i completely disagree. to go through his points:


Quote:
... External drives are cheap, fast (and going to get faster now that you can use eSATA and Thunderbolt),
internal optical drives already use a SATA connection

Quote:
easy to replace if they break
just as easy to replace on a mac pro

Quote:
don't heat up your valuable computer while running, don't drain the battery, can handle odd-shaped discs and mini-discs since they can be tray loading, can be taken out of one case and put into another, and are just generally superior to the built-in drive in nearly every way except one: ubiquitousness....
all not an issue with a mac pro....

but even on an imac, if a user really needed to use optical media they'd still be better off with an internal device. (or at least the option of it being there). if they really wanted an external then they're free to add that after the fact. why should EVERY desktop owner be deprived of that option?
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Old Aug 11th, 2012, 09:01 PM   #20
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As the owner of a 2008 Mac Pro which will be due for a replacement sometime in the next few years, I'm not all that worried if the optical drive is gone. I can't remember the last time I used mine and can certainly cope with an external drive. I have plenty of USB flash drives (keeping track of them is the main challenge - there IS a downside to making things tiny!) so don't burn things to CD/DVD very often either. I suspect that I may never use up the collection of blank CDs and DVDs I have.

I do still have some software on DVD - Adobe Creative Suite, Windows 7 OEM, etc. However, more and more, my software purchases are online as well.

So rather than lament the things that the new Mac Pro may not have, what do people want to see in the new beasts? I'm hoping that Apple will finally see the light and include eSATA.
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