I'd love to see a 3G modem built into the MacBook, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Also, what's with the optical drive? Does anyone actually use an optical drive all the time while on the go? Wouldn't an external drive make so much more sense? Or is my usage pattern waaay out there?

I might just end up getting one of the new MacBooks (as my first ever mac) but only if the HDD is user-accessible.

EDIT: These are meant as actual questions, not flamebait.

I've had a MacBook Pro for over a year and I've used the optical drive less than 5 times, actually I can't even remember the last time I used it. If they secretly removed it without telling me, I don't think I would even know.

I'd love a 13" MacBook with its own GPU (like my 12" PowerBook). I'm hoping the HDD is easily replaced like the current MB.

No idea why you are getting voted down.

I think the Air is really designed for the 'no optical drive' crowd, but I agree that I don't often use by MBP's drive.

I too would like to see a 3G modem built in.

I'm not a fan of the Air, the price/performance ratio is just off. In particular, even with a rumoured upgrade to the HDD, it's just too damn small, and the RAM would be a severely limiting factor for me. I'd much prefer a Macbook with as-is spec but minus the optical drive. It would make it a bit lighter, a bit thinner and a bit cheaper, too.

I use the optical drive frequently, as I'm a netflix user and like "backing up" the movies I don't own. Besides, I use the MB+external monitor as a DVD player, anyway.

Yeah, I use my MBP's optical drive all the time. Having it external would be a big pain. Do tech work once in a while so it helps with that and burning Live CDs, etc., and it's just nice to have around. I would be sad if there were no more built-in optical drive, there's already limited USB ports.

Interesting. All I seem to need is a big hard disk, the optical drive only gets used when I'm installing something like an OS, or ripping a CD. I guess I'd probably use my laptop's drive more if it was my only computer, but I'd still prefer it to be external. Oddly enough, laptops without optical drives are almost all more expensive than comparable ones with.

Most likely, it takes extra engineering investment to gain the weight and size reduction that you are hoping for by removing the optical drive. I mean, they could just put some kind of doohickey in that empty space to cover it up, but I really don't think that's what people want. From the design specs describing how the new MacBook/Pro is basically carved from a single hunk of aluminum (or something) it's probably even harder to engineer another form factor without the disk.

Or, more accurately, they already did and called it MacBook Air.

Right. My laptop isn't my only computer, but I use the optical drive a lot. It's useful for watching / ripping DVDs whilst traveling, and it's just come in handy for me a lot of times. Again, there are only two USB ports on my MacBook Pro ... one is usually used for an external mouse and if there wasn't an internal optical drive I'd often have to use that port for the optical drive.

It also introduces storage and transportation concerns and issues of a majorly important component of a computer, which sucks. I mean, I use it a lot. When I'm out doing contract work clients often ask for a CD or give me one. Family members and friends do this with some frequency as well, it's one of the easiest ways to transfer data that exceeds reasonable attachment size (I have crossover cable with me at all times, but usually a CD is easier if it's not a ginormous amount of data). I'd be quite limited by the lack of an optical drive.

Incidentally, I use the optical drive in my main workstation somewhat less than I use the optical drive in my laptop, though I wouldn't want to give that up either.

Interesting, thanks. Most of my sneakernet data transfers seem to be on USB sticks, external HDDs or similar, and all of my customers so far have had WiFi or a wired LAN, so I haven't even thought about that being an issue. As for movies and other media... yeah, that's where the large HDD comes in. :)

I definitely wouldn't want to give up the drive in my desktop, but that's not weighing down my backpack, so it's a different story.

the macbooks (current gen) have a really easily replaceable hard drive, here's hoping the same is true for the new one.

I know, I almost bought a current-gen MacBook off someone I know, with the intention of replacing the built-in 80GB drive with a brand new 500GB one, but decided to wait out this new release. The new ones are rumoured to have 160-250GB of disk space, and if past experience is anything to go by, getting bigger disks from Apple is going to be a ripoff.

The store site is down right now, but I vaguely remember the upgrade to 320GB being of the order of a brand new 500GB drive (~€125), if you fit one of those yourself you end up with a spare drive as well of course. Plus, being able to replace it yourself within the space of a couple minutes in case it fails is worth a lot to me too.

FYI, the HDD is easily accessible on both the new MBP and the new MB: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/10/14/hands-o...

I guess I should start saving up — sucks being a student! My 1.83Ghz 2006 MBP does everything I need, but I cannot help wanting one of the new ones! :D

Macs seem to have an absurd resale value, you could always try to sell it.

If that's true, I'm surprised. We go through Macbooks like they're disposable. The case cracks, the keyboard gets unspringy, the screns sometime flicker, PMUs die. I love them, but "low maintenance" they are not.

I don't claim to understand why, but looking at recently sold Macs on eBay you'd think they'd stopped making them.

Some are surely unsatisfied customers, but a lot of old-rev Macs go on sale when the shiny new ones come out (there was a flood of sale listings on my local craigslist today). People need to blow their cash on something, I guess.

True for early MacBooks, though all replaced under warranty.

Yeah: they apparently devalue extremely slowly.

Depending on if they do release a new 17" MBP or not, I might look into that. If I can sell my 5-month-old one and make back my money, it would be a pretty neat deal overall.

When I open Photoshop on my MacBook it sounds like the fan is going to break off (it spins fast).

I would like to get a new one, but I was thinking about just getting a Mac Pro for the heavy work at home and using the laptop for school/travel.

i have a similar setup and i'll never look back.

I thought the Mac Pro is really noisy. I sent mine back.