Maybe it’s a coincidence, or it could be that Apple wants to usher in a new era of spatial computing with the final end of another. On the eve of the official launch of the Vision Pro, Apple placed the last remaining Mac with optical disk drive on the obsolete model list.
This means that Apple, officially, will no longer provide any type of service to Macs with a CD and DVD drive. And this has a certain irony, because in recent times we have seen how this type of physical medium is finding some life again.
Goodbye, MacBook Pro Mid 2012
The last Mac model that was not included in the obsolete list (until today) was the mid-2012 MacBook Pro. A computer that, if purchased on launch day, is aging almost 12 years old. Apple can add a product to the obsolete list seven years after stopping selling it, so with this MacBook Pro it worked out very well. Even if he keeps it in the product list ancient.
All subsequent models prioritized the abandonment of optical discs in favor of a thinner, lighter format. At that time, Apple defended media such as USB key and external drives for data and digital purchases of music and films.
And yes, a large part of the market currently opts for subscriptions to services like Apple Music or Apple TV+. But sales of physical CDs have started to increase for the first time in two decades, thanks in part to low prices, according to Esquire. It seems that some consumers are once again attracted to a format that can be kept forever, tired of the subscriptions that dominate the current market.
Will the external Superdrive survive?
If you’re one of those people with a renewed interest in physical discs, don’t worry: Apple’s Music app still supports CDs (it’s even still available). rip
Now this drive still has a USB-A cable and therefore needs a USB-A to USB-C adapter to continue working. Knowing that the European Union is giving Apple until December of this year for products like this to adopt USB-C… it’s possible that that month we see the removal of this drive or its little renewal to adopt this port. We’ll see in eleven months.
Picture | Chris Yates
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