These days, a disc player may be more valuable than some people think, as DVDs are making a well-deserved comeback. It’s also a good retro format for media and storage. With a standard DVD holding around 4.7 GB on a single layer, MacBook owners may find owning a drive rather appealing. However, those hoping for a MacBook with a built-in drive might find themselves looking for other options.
While there are still laptops you can buy with a CD-DVD drive in 2026, a MacBook certainly won’t be one of them. In fact, the last MacBook with a DVD drive (or in this case, an optical drive) was the 13-inch MacBook Pro from mid-2012. Even though the machine boasted impressive stats when it was first released over a decade ago, users may not want to use it as their primary machine today.
Not only has the brand not produced these machines for a while, but Apple has also declared the product obsolete. Although it sells an alternative option for those who need an external drive (the superdrive), that too has been discontinued. The days when MacBook owners expected a DVD drive to arrive with their machine are probably long gone. There are still a few options available for those interested in physical media.
Apple said goodbye to DVDs with this MacBook
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The mid-2012 13-inch MacBook Pro was the last laptop to feature Apple’s DVD drive, and while its specs may have been impressive for its time, its 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of DDR3 memory aren’t as impressive in 2026. There was also a 2.9GHz model with 8GB of DDR3 memory.
As for the drive itself, this MacBook Pro model came with an 8X optical SuperDrive, offering read and write speeds of up to 16X for CDs and up to 8X for DVDs. In February 2024, Apple considered the mid-2012 MacBook obsolete since it defines obsolescence as a product that it stops distributing for more than seven years. This means that the MacBook will not receive hardware service from Apple and service providers will not be able to order replacement parts from the company.
Given that this MacBook was first introduced in June 2012 and stopped receiving software updates in 2020 with the arrival of Big Sur, finding one may be more of a novelty rather than something you’ll actually use – although turning one into a media center is a smart use for your old MacBook. Unfortunately, even if you want an official external drive, Apple discontinued their version in 2024. However, finding an external CD/DVD drive for Mac on Amazon isn’t too difficult, and they can be found cheaply.
