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Editorial: Apple's officially over the optical drive, for better or worse
I don't like it. Not one iota. But frankly, it doesn't much matter -- Apple's officially done with the optical drive, and there's no evidence more strikingly clear than the mid 2011 refresh of its Mac mini. Last year, that bantam box arrived with a $699 price tag, pep in its step and a personality that could charm even the most hardened desktop owner. This year, a $599 model showed up on my doorstep promising the same, but instead it delivered a noticeable drop in actual functionality. Pundits have argued that you could tether a USB SuperDrive to the new mini and save $20 in the process compared to last year's rig, but does relying on a cabled accessory go hand-in-hand with beauty and simplicity? No, and I've every reason to believe that Apple would agree. Despite the obvious -- that consumers would buy a mini to reduce the sheer burden of operating a convoluted desktop setup -- Apple's gone and yanked what has become a staple in both Macs and PCs alike. For years, ODDs have been standard fare, spinning CDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs (however briefly) and Blu-ray Discs, not to mention a few other formats that didn't do much to deserve a mention. Compared to most everything else in the technology universe, the tried-and-true optical drive has managed to hang around well beyond what it's creator likely had in mind, but it's pretty obvious that 2011 is to the ODD what 1998 was to the floppy drive. At least in the mind of one Steven P. Jobs.
Slimmer 5.25-inch internal optical drive gets wolf-whistled at Computex
Fatty internal optical drives have so far been content to sit back and watch their external cousins do all the figure-slimming push-ups. But this low-profile 5.25-inch slot-loader clearly got bored of being XXL. It was spotted eating carrot sticks and taking up significantly less than its allotted bay space inside an Antec Solo II chasis at Computex. According to AnandTech, it represents a new industry standard that will start hitting the market by the end of the year -- along with new cases designed to hold it. Slot-loaders may not appeal to everyone, but if you're in the market to buy or build a small form factor PC then this baby might just turn your head.
Apple patents 8cm to 12cm disk adapters
We're not sure this is still relevant -- the patent was filed in May of 2006 -- but the USPTO has just published a patent application from Apple detailing a number of different 8cm to 12cm optical disk adapters. The application, credited to Tony Fadell, chief of the iPod division, says that since most software doesn't take up all of the available storage on a disk, it would be cheaper and simpler to use the 8cm disks when appropriate -- but that having to ship a standard adapter for slot-loading drives reduce any costs, because they're the same size as 12cm disks. The solution is to make the adapters smaller when they're not in use, and the filing goes on to detail several different folding and multi-part takes on the idea. Considering that such an adapter would make things slightly more complicated for the vast majority of Apple's all-slot-loading installed base, we can't see these ever actually shipping, but it's still an interesting idea.
Samsung unveils panoply of DVD burners, hard drives
We already glanced at Samsung's SpinPoint F1, but the firm also let four other storage devices out of the bag (officially, at least) alongside its 1TB behemoth at its storage press conference in NYC. Up first is the SpinPoint N2 series of 1.8-inch HDDs, which offers up a "world's largest" 120GB flavor at 4200RPM for a dollar under $250. Catering to the 2.5-inch hard drive buyer, the MH80 lineup that we've been hearing about finally went official, and the "world's first" hybrid HDD to come in a 160GB iteration was introduced alongside a bevy of other SpinPoint M5 offerings ranging from 60GB to 250GB (in the dual-disk model). In the burning realm, the WriteMaster SE-T084L portable slot-loaded DVD writer enables USB disc writing with minimal fuss for just $150, while the $70 Super-WriteMaster SH-S203 SATA burner (falsely) claims the "world's fastest" title by churning out discs at 20x. Thankfully for those intrigued, all of the aforementioned devices are currently shipping, so snagging one (or more) in the near future ought not cause too much grief.
Samsung slot-loading DVD burner supports 8cm discs
A huge problem with the all those sweet DVD camcorders is that any machine with a slot-loading DVD drive (cough, Apple) totally chokes on 8-centimeter discs. Well, Samsung's got you covered with its new SE-T084L external burner, which it's touting as the world's only slot-loader to accept the format in addition to standard 12-centimeter discs. The bus-powered USB 2.0 burner features a seek time of 130 milliseconds, and record speeds of 8X DVD±R, 6X DVD+R DL, 4X DVD-R DL, 8X DVD+RW, 6X DVD-RW, and 5X DVD-RAM. For some reason, Sammy only announced this thing today, but they've been shipping since April for $150 -- maybe it wanted us to focus on those snazzy Blu-Ray burners instead?
Dell's XPS M2010 now sporting slot-loading Blu-ray drive
We've got all ideas that anyone crushing on Dell's awkward, albeit expansive, XPS M2010 probably already has one by now, but if you've just started falling for the unsightly beast, this one just may pull the trigger for you. Just over a week after cramming half a terabyte of hard drive space into the machine, Dell is now offering up an internal slot-loading 2x speed Blu-ray burner for the HD set. As expected, this newfangled luxury won't run you cheap, as the BD-equipped machine will run you upwards of $4,000 -- and that's before the upgrade bug attacks at the checkout aisle.[Via NotebookReview]
FastMac debuts Blu-ray Drive for your fast (or slow) Mac
Have $800 burning a hole in your pocket and a strange urge to create Blu-ray discs with your slot-loading Mac? All four of you might dig FastMac's new Blu-ray Drive upgrade, which can fit in a wide range of Macs, including the 17-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini and Intel iMac. Apparently no love for the MacBook or 15-inch MBP, but the iBook G4 can handle it -- though it's hard to fathom stuffing one of these drives inside that oh-so-consumery laptop. The drive is rated at 8x DVD±RW and 1x BD-RW. You can write to 50GB dual-layer discs, and boot to the drive with OS X. FastMac calls the drive "Plug & Play," but the "plugging" end of that equation is going to take some adventurous exploits inside your Mac, by you, your hacker nephew or a trained computer repair guy. If you think you can stomach it, the drive is available now.[Via MacMinute]
Nintendo Fusion Tour begins, no one listens to the music
Truth be told, if you're headed off to one of the Nintendo Fusion Tour in numerous locations around the country, you're probably not heading there for the music. Hawthorne Heights and Relient K may excite the plebian youth, but not seasoned and impossibly articulate gamers such as ourselves. No, we are drawn to higher forms of art and diversion. Like, you know, pretending to hula hoop to earn a green checkmark on a bright screen.In any case, the NFT kicked off with its opening act in Columbus, Ohio last night, and we've got some early impressions of the event. Wii and DS units galore, but nothing Earth-shattering, save perhaps for the mysterious disappearance of the glowing blue light from the propietary slot-loading DVD drive. It's a rather disturbing absence, as that remains on the coolest aesthetic features of the console. Is it gone for good? Read the full impressions after the jump.
Hitachi's Prius One type S all-in-one PC
Yep, another all-in-one PC in white for ya here. This time, it's Hitachi's Prius One Type S (AW31S1R) PC which brings a 1.6GHz Celeron M 380 processor, a 17-inch LCD capable of 1280 x 1024 pixels, a maximum of 2GB RAM, Intel 910GML Express graphics, up to 320GB of disk, and a front-mounted slot-loading dual-layer DVD writer which makes good use of that 7.8-inch of depth. You also get 5 x USB 2.0 ports, a multi-format memory card slot, Firewire, modem, and outs for D-Sub 15 and S/PDIF. Yours for a steep, estimated starting price of ¥160,000 (or about $1,389) when these drop July 15th in Japan.[Via Impress]
