Storage 'back wave' beat the CD-ROM version of MacBook to death on the beach

On February 1, 2024, Apple updated its global discontinued product list and added the 13-inch MacBook Pro released in June 2012. This MacBook Pro is Apple's last laptop with a built-in optical drive, marking the end of an era.

The 2012 MacBook Pro equipped with a SuperDrive optical drive was on the market until October 2016, until Apple stopped supporting its system and software in 2020. Subsequently, on January 16, 2022, Apple officially included this MacBook Pro in the list of "retro and obsolete products" and stopped all hardware services, including repairs and parts ordering. This also announced that Apple had completely bid farewell to the built-in optical drive function. .

(Photo source: wholesale website)

With optical drive function The MacBook has become a symbol of the digital age with its unique "charm". It is not only a tool for information transmission, but also a "witness" of the changes of the times. However, with the rise of digital media and mobile storage, optical drives have gradually disappeared.

The optical drive era was ended by U disk

The development history of optical drives is closely linked to the evolution of digital storage technology. In 1982, Philips and Sony jointly launched the first CD (compact disc), but it was not until 1985 that a dedicated optical drive device appeared. The original optical drive could only read CDs, but later developed to be able to write to CD-RW, and then support multiple formats such as DVD and Blu-ray.

(Source: Sony official website)

However, with the development of mobile storage devices, such as USB flash drives, SD cards and other USB flash memory technologies, as well as the emergence of cloud storage technology, the "dominance" of optical disks in mobile storage media has been completely destroyed. Compared with built-in optical drives, flash memory-type mobile storage devices can provide more convenient offline file exchange functions. Because they have many advantages such as smaller size, easier portability, larger capacity, and faster transmission speed, they are suitable for use without When data must be delivered read-only or in batches, flash memory technology has natural advantages in all aspects.

After the popularization of high-speed Internet, the demand for the distribution of large amounts of data is also growing rapidly, such as games, software downloads, high-definition video online viewing, etc., but these can only be achieved through high-speed Internet. In such an environment, it is no longer necessary, so keeping the built-in optical drive on the computer host seems superfluous. After all, most PC users simply do not have this need, and the value of its existence is naturally greatly reduced.

And as the price of external optical drives has dropped sharply, the demand for internal optical drives has had a serious impact. You must know that around 2005, the price of a mobile optical drive was still several hundred yuan, but now you can buy it for only a few dozen yuan. Therefore, users in need no longer pursue the built-in optical drive function, but choose a more cost-effective external optical drive.

(Photo source: usadobrasil website)

This also positively reflects the inevitable trend of technological development—— Pursue more efficient and convenient solutions.

Are CDs really abandoned?

The execution of the optical drive version of MacBook is naturally a landmark event, but the optical disc has not been completely "abandoned."

Xiao Lei believes that optical discs still have functional features that are difficult to replace, such as read-only and tamper-proof capabilities, as well as the convenience of mass production and distribution. However, these irreplaceable functional features are almost useless to ordinary users, because ordinary computer users do not have any data with a particularly high security level that must be prevented from being altered, and large-volume distribution has nothing to do with individual users, nor does it have anything to do with individual users. It is only needed in the media distribution field.

(Source: ASUS)

For example, the latest versions of Sony PlayStation 5 (PS5) and Xbox Series X game consoles still have optical drive versions, and major game manufacturers will provide physical game disc versions when releasing games. This part of the market demand does not seem to be affected by the overall shrinkage of the optical drive market. Although the demand is small, the overall demand is relatively stable.

Therefore, we can say that although the status of optical drive equipment in the mainstream market has declined, its historical contribution and continued use in specific fields have also indirectly Proving its long-term "vitality". Therefore, optical discs will not disappear yet, but their application scope will be mainly limited to certain specific industries, and for ordinary individual users, optical discs are no longer a necessity.

Will cloud storage replace physical storage?

Optical drives have been eliminated by "Hanglang" storage technology, but don't be too happy about semiconductor flash memory. Cloud storage may make history repeat itself. Cloud storage has begun to show its strong influence in many fields, especially in cloud gaming applications.

As an emerging game model, cloud gaming uses cloud servers to provide players with a high-definition gaming experience. The main advantage of this model is that it can break hardware limitations and allow users to experience high-quality game content on a variety of terminals without occupying local storage space or worrying about the performance limitations of local hardware. Through cloud gaming, players can experience games on mobile phones, computers or other devices that could otherwise only run on high-performance hardware. But the disadvantage is that it has extremely high requirements for network quality and consumes a lot of network data.

##(Photo source: Tencent START Cloud Game official website)

other On the one hand, cloud storage has also penetrated into many fields such as personal information backup, enterprise management, public services, and media entertainment. For example, major mobile phone manufacturers now also have their corresponding cloud services. Individual users can back up photos, videos, documents, etc. to the cloud to prevent data loss. Enterprises can use cloud storage to back up important customer information, financial data, etc.

(Source: AppleiCloud official website)

For For digital devices, the maturation of cloud storage may reduce consumers' demand for built-in storage. For device manufacturers, reducing built-in storage means lower costs. Therefore, device manufacturers may invest more resources in improving the processing power and network connection speed of the device to optimize the cloud storage experience.

If there are any shortcomings, cloud storage completely relies on network connection and cannot be accessed when there is no network. And the privacy and security of cloud storage have yet to be studied. Although cloud service providers usually implement strict security measures, the risk of data leakage and privacy invasion still exists.

Generally speaking, cloud storage, as an emerging storage method, will play a greater role in the field of digital electronics in the future. In the future, as network construction improves and network speeds continue to increase In addition, there is no chance that digital electronics will return to the "8GB" era.

Written at the end

When exploring the evolution and future trends of digital storage technology , we can see an obvious pattern: the development of technology is always moving in the direction of improving efficiency and convenience. From early built-in optical drives, to portable mobile storage devices, to today's popular cloud storage, these changes have It reflects our continuous exploration and optimization of data storage and access methods. This evolution process is not only the result of technological progress, but also the most intuitive reflection of changes in user needs.

As cloud storage technology continues to improve and become more popular, it may become the dominant form of digital storage in the future. But at the same time, we must also realize that each storage technology has its unique applicable scenarios and advantages. Driven by emerging technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, more innovative storage solutions will emerge in the future to cope with increasingly complex data processing needs.

Therefore, although cloud storage will occupy an important position in the future, other forms of storage technology will continue to exist and play their irreplaceable role in specific areas. Future storage technology development will be diversified, including different types of storage solutions to meet various needs and application scenarios.

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