Electronics

[DoubleDog2]

You might check out the MacMini (about $600) unless you need a laptop. I finally gave up on PC's and used my old monitor, keyboard and mouse with the mini. Love it!

[RainCityGirl]

I have always had Macs. Mine have always had DVD slots and burners, ever since the advent of the DVD. My relationship with Macs dates back to 1988 when I bought my first little Mac with its floppy disk drive. I have progressed from there in steps every three years pretty much till my big Mac that I have now and my Ipad. I wouldn't have any other computer.

[Mz iMac]

The newer desktop iMacs - no DVD/CD drive.

MBP Retina notebooks - no DVD/CD drive.

MBP non Retina notebooks - DVD/CD drive.

Personally, I have always hated "slot" drives. They are very fussy & always need cleaning. I much prefer "tray" drives. No fuss & no TLC involved. I have always used an external DVD/CD burner for my Macs.

[jaxs mom]

Interesting. I've had tray drives fail, infact I ended up buying an external DVD drive for my last windows machine because the tray drive in my tower no longer worked. I've yet to have any of my slot ones in my macs die nor have they needed cleaning.

[Mz iMac]

On 8/8/2014 jaxs mom said:

Interesting. I've had tray drives fail, infact I ended up buying an external DVD drive for my last windows machine because the tray drive in my tower no longer worked. I've yet to have any of my slot ones in my macs die nor have they needed cleaning.

Don't get me wrong, I never had any problems with my Macs slot drives. Been using them since 1999. Sooner or later, the slot drives will need cleaning depending on your usage. I burn a lot. So I would need to clean my slot drives every 3 months or so.

Now that I have an external drive, I do all my burning on it. The regular stuff - playing a CD or watching videos on a DVD I use my slot drive. Now I clean my slot drive once a year since it's hardly used.

Generally, Mac slot drives are very picky.

[Kay SD]

My suggestion is that you not base your decision on the DVD question but on what computer y want to use, and to a great extent that means what software you want to use. The DVD is really a non-issue. One hardly ever uses or sees DVDs these days, and if you find you really need one it's easy to add it. Meanwhile you will have the computer you really like, whichever that is. I've used both Macs and PCs both since they were invented. Both types are good. However, it seems PCs have more problems these days; there must be reasons why PC sales are declining while Mac sales continue to grow.

[Mandy Moo]

I have a MacBook Pro that is over 7 years old and it is still going strong. My son has a MacBook Pro w/retina display (no dvd drive, he uses an external if necessary but probably hasn't used it more than once or twice). He and my husband both have iMacs, I have an iPad and we have, between the four of us, three iPhones (my youngest son does everything PC because he likes to build his own computers as he plans to make a career out of doing this). We use AppleTV everyday to watch Hulu, Netflix, etc., and we run our wifi off an Apple Airport Extreme. Apple products, IMO, are the best. They are expensive but they are well made and last for many years. I do not know anyone that has had a laptop last as long as mine has, most people seem to replace theirs every couple years. The ease of use with Macs is ridiculous! My husband will be the first to tell you how challenged he is with technology but he can work his Apple products easily and he even set up our wireless internet, all by himself, at home with the Airport Extreme. We will never own anything other than Apple/Mac if we can help it.

[Mmsfoxxie]

I appreciate all of the comments made regarding the imac verses the imacbook pro. It's a lot to absorb. I thought about the mini but it might be too small. I want something that I don't have to use my glasses with. With my Ipad, sometimes I have to use my glasses so I don't want anything smaller than that.I'm assuming that if I get the imac with the dvd drive, it will have to be a used one? Anyway, thanks so much for the help.

[Buck-i-Nana]

On 8/8/2014 Mz iMac said:

The newer desktop iMacs - no DVD/CD drive.

MBP Retina notebooks - no DVD/CD drive.

MBP non Retina notebooks - DVD/CD drive.

Personally, I have always hated "slot" drives. They are very fussy & always need cleaning. I much prefer "tray" drives. No fuss & no TLC involved. I have always used an external DVD/CD burner for my Macs.

Only fussy slot drive I ever had was on an HP tower. I've not had any problems with my slot drive on my macbook.

[glb613]

On 8/8/2014 Mmsfoxxie said:

I appreciate all of the comments made regarding the imac verses the imacbook pro. It's a lot to absorb. I thought about the mini but it might be too small. I want something that I don't have to use my glasses with. With my Ipad, sometimes I have to use my glasses so I don't want anything smaller than that.I'm assuming that if I get the imac with the dvd drive, it will have to be a used one? Anyway, thanks so much for the help.

Buy a new iMac and the external CD/DVD drive.