no SuperDrive not just 'cheap'..
There are other valid reasons. First, if Apple actually offered a SuperDrive for $10 or $15 I would probably go for it, but they don't. You mention the Dell upgrade (to dual layer though) as being $60 - I'd even pause at $60 - here's why:
A) Repairs - if I have a burner in each of, say three computers, and no external DVD, and one of those breaks - I have to pay to get it repaired and I'm SOL for burning on that computer until I do. It can cost a bit to repair/replace an optical in a laptop or some of Apple's hard to open cases. For less than the cost of one repair, I can buy a new external.
B) Upgrade - with an external, if I upgrade it, I've upgraded ALL my computers at home. And I can use the old one somewhere else (or give it away), if it is still functional.
C) Sharing outside my home - I have taken my external burner over to someone's home w/o to work on some iDVD projects.
That just works best for me, I'm not saying anyone else should do it. It may be important for them to have the burning capability right in their computer. To each his own.
If you want to argue that Apple should just include a burner @ $1099, OK. But that is a a pricing argument. I still prefer to save some bucks and gain flexibility by applying that money to an external burner. I still would like to be able to buy a stripped down model.
It's kind of like the AIO argument - I don't want a monitor built in with my CPU for many of the same reasons.
-KCMW
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