Optical media is so old-fashioned. Handing over a CD or DVD to a business associate for data transfer in 2008 is like using handing them a floppy disk.
If you have to use a device, USB Flash sticks are perfect. Given the amount of data your business transfers, they should consider setting up a VPN-connection with their laptops anyway. Or use their dotMAC account. (BTW, how many companies are now moving to laptops exclusively for their business, and phasing out their desktops? Just curious, because I believe that one day, there will not be anymore desktops – only powerful laptops and portables.)
Over the Internet data transfers are much quicker than CDs anyway. By the time the lead-in on your optical media is written, you should have the most data already on your laptop from any number of high speed online sources. I update and download a number of media over the Net from my Power Mac at home, while I am out elsewhere. I just never bother to carry CDs or DVDs anymore.
Perhaps Apple will do away with all their optical drives fairly soon – not that this is a rumor or prediction, per se. It just seems to make sense today.(However, if you are still on dial-up, I am sure you would disagree with me.)
Imagine how much smaller and more energy efficient laptops would be without their drives? And how much longer their batteries would last? Does anyone deny that this is the direction computers are going tomorrow?
Besides, think about it. Syncing your Mac at the office, especially combined with Leopard’s Mac sharing features, means you probably don’t use your optical drives very much, do you?
What’s that? What about the Hard Drives? Ahem. Yeah, solid state or flash drives are still pricey, but they are a lot cheaper this year than they were last year. And that market is very soft right now, with a product glut and falling prices. Apple is partially responsible for this, since they buy most of the world’s supply of chips for their ‘pods. Speed before was always an issue too, considering that some flash drives are so slow. However, a year has gone by and flash drives are getting to be much faster than hard drives, as well as about the same price in some cases.
Fact is, it would not surpise a lot of people if Apple came out with a driveless laptop this year, regardless of how much of a price difference remains between small hard drives and solid state memory.
I don’t have a clue what Steve Jobs will show us in two weeks from today. I know I just can’t wait. Christmas really does come in January nowadays.
My excellently informed son (“No I won’t fix your computer”) has informed me that there could not possibly be a sub-notebook coming from Apple. Why? Because Steve Jobs does not use one. He says that no product has been brought to market unless Steve uses one himself. I have no answer for this, except to say that an awful lot of people are expecting one in two weeks. I am one of them.
Time will tell. Your mileage may vary. Accept no substitutes. Film at 11.
Regards,
Roger Born
“Sorry. No Refunds.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.