Well, TRIM seems to be pretty redundant these days. The latest generation of SSDs (Intel, Sandforce) work just fine even without TRIM due to intelligent block management and aggressive garbage collection.
As for Blu-Ray, I don't really see them taking off just yet and honestly don't see a point in preferring them over digital distribution. AND, I would gladly dispense with optical drives altogether if I could get a smaller, lighter laptop instead.
Remember how Steve Jobs said that they would never build a netbook--and now there is the 11" Air.
Remember how Steve Jobs said that they would never build a netbook--and now there is the 11" Air.
What he actually said was: "We don't know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk."[1] Notice also how the Air is not in the same price bracket as netbooks, does not have the same performance profile as netbooks, and not referred to by the manufacturer as a netbook.
It's unclear whether that's total cost to manufacture or only the price for the parts. It's also unclear how they estimate things like the unibody shell.
In any case, that strikes out any chance of "sub-500" as it's very likely an under-estimate.
Regarding your Blu-ray comment. There are many reasons to prefer it.
1. Much higher quality video and audio than you can get from digital distribution.
2. Many people still don't have access to the bandwidth that makes digital distribution easily possible or worth it. Now there are bandwidth caps being put in place by some ISPs making this less desirable.
3. Tangible. You cannot resell that digital copy. You can trade, borrow out, sell that Blu-ray you bought at Amazon or where ever when ever you want.
4. DRM. With the Blu-ray physical copy, you can do whatever you want with it.
5. Price. Digital distribution are priced near or above the tangible version in some cases and it's lower quality and has zero tangible and re-sellable value.
One example: Toy Story 3
Right now you can pre-order the Blu-ray which comes with the digital and DVD version also for just under $25.
The HD version on iTunes can be pre-ordered for $19.99, which is of course much less quality in audio and video than the Blu-ray. Also, you can't resell it.
If this keeps up I honestly don't see how digital distribution will be preferred. I'd love to get rid of all the optical disks and cases, but not if it continues on like this.
As for Blu-Ray, I don't really see them taking off just yet and honestly don't see a point in preferring them over digital distribution. AND, I would gladly dispense with optical drives altogether if I could get a smaller, lighter laptop instead.
Remember how Steve Jobs said that they would never build a netbook--and now there is the 11" Air.