[chemist]

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My biggest complaint is having to turn the whole thing around to get to the IO. I would like to see one or two USB in the front, especially for students in a lab. Its such a pain to watch a student have to turn the whole machine around to plug something in like thumb drive or external HD ...

One would think the lab manager would be clever enough to fit all those machines with USB male-to-female cables, plugging the male end into the back of the machine and leaving the female end easily accessible in the front -- thus obviating the need for students to turn the machines.

[Kingdaddy2000]

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Everyone freaked out about the iMac doing away with the Floppy drive and it was no big deal. The last I used a CDROM I can't even remember so not really a big deal now. I think its a year or two too soon and think its a shame for Blu-Ray and video professionals, but do you really need a CD Drive of some sort? Like I said I can't remember the last time I used mine. For the rare occasions have an external, but then again like you said who cares how thin a desktop computer is, the old one was fine and was nice having everything in one. I think they could have curved the backing enough to include a drive in its normal area. I don't think it would have taken away from the new design that much. My biggest complaint is having to turn the whole thing around to get to the IO. I would like to see one or two USB in the front, especially for students in a lab. Its such a pain to watch a student have to turn the whole machine around to plug something in like thumb drive or external HD and now they have to do it with a SDCard since its on the back now. All in all I don't see it being a major issue, always have an external and most people in labs use an external HD or thumb drive so schools shouldn't be affected that much. My biggest worry is everything going to the cloud like the Mac App Store.

Yes, I do! We have a small business and deal with acquisitions of other companies who have files on CDs, we make CDs to give to our instructors who teach classes off site, and much more. You obviously don't have a personal need, but are forgetting those of us in business who still need these things much more than we need a "thin" computer. Ridiculous decision by Apple, just about as dumb as getting rid of "Save As", or the lack of the ability to set different time intervals in "Notifications". I won't go into all of the other problems like iCloud, or Apple Maps, etc. Someone at Apple is asleep a the wheel.

[Kingdaddy2000]

However, I will still be upgrading, even though I'll now have a more cluttered desktop by having a CD drive plugged into one of the USB slots and sitting on my desktop.

The question I have is, does anyone have an idea of what the upgrade costs will be? I'm interested in the fusion drive setup with 2TB hard drive on a 27" iMac. I'm also interested upgrading to 32GB RAM, but I'll probably buy the RAM from OWC or another 3rd party vendor.

TO LEX: It would be very helpful if articles like the one above would give us answers to these type of questions, even if they're only "guesstimates based on past experience". Thanks!!!

[marbachan]

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Everyone freaked out about the iMac doing away with the Floppy drive and it was no big deal. ... but do you really need a CD Drive of some sort?

One must not forget the basics, backups!

For years, CD-ROM and DVDs, were the primary backup solutions for homes and small businesses. Laser discs were touted to have very long life-span in storage. Questions is how will these backups be made available easily?

So, what secondary storage solutions do we have now?

Can we wholly trust clouds?

[dasein]

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We have a small business and deal with acquisitions of other companies who have files on CDs, we make CDs to give to our instructors who teach classes off site, and much more.

Why not use your old Mac with the optical drive on your network for such needs? As far as the CDs, with the volume they hold, I'd just upload that from now on to a website or cloud service. That would seem to be a much easier way for a scattered workforce to function, no?

[Mystakill]

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It appears that you can add memory yourself on the 27 inch, but the memory is not user accessible on the 21 inch?

The lack of upgrade accessibility has soured me on the recent MBP and iMac releases. While I can live without an optical drive, replacing the HDD in an iMac requires removing the display, which is not for the feint of heart, and is solely to keep Ive's unholy "aesthetics" intact. RAM upgrades are also non-existent in the new MBPs (really MB Air+ now), for the sole purpose of shaving ever more millimeters off of the thickness of the case (again, more Ive "aesthetics").

At least when Steve was around, Ive ambitions were somewhat tempered. Now that he's got free reign over both hardware and the UIs on both Macs and iDevices, I'm dreading to see what he screws up next.

[himbo]

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At least when Steve was around, Ive ambitions were somewhat tempered.

Sorry, buddy, but from almost day one of Apple, Steve wanted machines that were sealed up tight to keep out meddling end users. He wouldn't have been the one standing in the way of non-upgradeability. Non-upgradeable/replaceable batteries for the laptops (and iPhones), for example, were very definitely implemented under his watch.

[Stewsburntmonkey]

Mystakill, on 28 November 2012 - 07:24 AM, said:

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It appears that you can add memory yourself on the 27 inch, but the memory is not user accessible on the 21 inch?

The lack of upgrade accessibility has soured me on the recent MBP and iMac releases. While I can live without an optical drive, replacing the HDD in an iMac requires removing the display, which is not for the feint of heart, and is solely to keep Ive's unholy "aesthetics" intact. RAM upgrades are also non-existent in the new MBPs (really MB Air+ now), for the sole purpose of shaving ever more millimeters off of the thickness of the case (again, more Ive "aesthetics").

At least when Steve was around, Ive ambitions were somewhat tempered. Now that he's got free reign over both hardware and the UIs on both Macs and iDevices, I'm dreading to see what he screws up next.

Non-upgradability isn't solely (or even primarily) for aesthetics. There is a lot of benefit to the engineering of the product (size and weight have very practical ramifications) and removable parts open up a lot of room for failure that having permanently secured components prevents (resulting in more reliable devices). To claim Ive is only concerned with aesthetics is to completely misunderstand what he does.

[inspiredmac]

So, when I get a new iMac home, how do I load all the software I have onto it without an optical drive? Like, for instance, Adobe Creative Suite 5.5.

[Stewsburntmonkey]

inspiredmac, on 28 November 2012 - 10:17 AM, said:

So, when I get a new iMac home, how do I load all the software I have onto it without an optical drive? Like, for instance, Adobe Creative Suite 5.5.

Most software, including the Adobe products, is downloadable. If you really need an optical drive, you can buy one (from Apple or any number of other manufacturers). Or use AirDisk if you have another system with an optical drive on the network.

This post has been edited by Stewsburntmonkey: 28 November 2012 - 11:10 AM

[trichardlin]

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... We have a small business and deal with acquisitions of other companies who have files on CDs, we make CDs to give to our instructors who teach classes off site, and much more.

Time to move on to USB thumb drives. They are smaller, with much bigger capacity, faster and much more reliable. One big scratch on the CD and you are toast.

[my2cents]

Is It really thinner? I say not, it's more a visual illusion, with the tapered ends, how much thickness is added to the center?