What do you think of a "non-removable" battery in the MacBook Pro 15" as an option?

Hey there guys and gals!

What do you think of a "non-removable" battery in the MacBook Pro 15" as an option?

Also do you think Apple would implement it in the MacBook Pro 15"?

Just a thought!

 

It all boils down to personal preference and usage habits......neither of which Apple has any direct control over.

Apple might consider it if the technology demonstrates that it can be successful, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

I hope thet do, I mean replacing the battery via Apple is no problem for me... Just the idea of having something like 8 hours battery life is very tempting! :O

 

The only downside I could see is the possible loss of user upgradable hard drive and ram, which at the moment is accessed by removing the battery.
If they can still keep those features then I'm all for a longer lasting battery... can't even remember the last time I removed my battery, so loosing that feature doesnt' really affect/bother me
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RAM is not accessed by removing that battery, the hard drive is if you remove the door. For RAM you still have to unscrew some screws and remove the bottom.

 

I'd do anything for longer battery life! I think that there using their heavy weight macbook as a test tun and then might silently upgrade or add the option for an internal battery for the 15" and 13" macs

 

There is speculation around the blogosphere etc that Apple will eventually, someday migrate all of their power supplies in the notebook line to non-removable, high density units like the Li-polymer tech that is now in the 17" MBP. This is based on Apple's history of moving previous products away from replaceable batteries to internal, non-user serviceable power supplies (most notably the Ipod series).

This does make a certain amount of sense from a production and marketing standpoint.... Li-polymer is moldable, better electrical density and not restricted to cylindrical cells, which allows it to be placed in smaller spaces (i.e. how it's being used in the 17" MBP). Extending the expected 8 hour battery life for the 17" MBP into a 15 or 13 inch screen, you might be looking at a notebook with 9-10 hours runtime (or more) in a highly portable system. The moldability of the Li-polymer could allow one to just rearrange the internals so that the RAM/HDD were still user-accessible. Now that's a marketer's dream for the business culture, as well as the public at large.

I'm willing to bet that the 17" MBP's battery is just Apple working out the kinks in production and application for a more limited number of units, and this will be where the others are going in the next 12-24 months. As supporting evidence for this sort of progression, the MB Air was pretty much the trial run for the current aluminum MB/MBP chassis', wasn't it?

 

I'm all for the idea as long as RAM and HD remain user-upgradeable. I don't even remember the last time I removed my battery. But I think there's also the negativity surrounding anything "non-user-replaceable" so apple will have to weigh that in. I'm sure apple is carefully watching how the new 17 MBP does on so many levels, be it sales, reliability, performance etc... and if all is good I'm sure we'll see this trickle down into other mac portables.

 

Is there any reason why we cant have high capacity Li batteries that are removable ?

 

it's not a bad idea. we'd get better battery life, longer bettery lifetime(According to apple) and the battery doors would not wobble as some users have reported. also, it would appear more neat at the bottom of the notebook.

Apple may implement it in the 15" since it did so on the macbook air and the 17" pro. It may be another reason and the reason is that apple could decrease the thickness of the notebook..

 

I'm a new user of a mac pro 17" older version but I've read about this non removable battery in the newer notebooks and was wondering what happens if the book freezes up ! do macs freeze up ! and if so how do you reboot ?

 

Just hold the power button down for three seconds. I've had to do that two times in a year.

 

I'm glad to hear that it works for the mac but I've had notebooks that froze up and without removing the battery and power supply it would never reboot for me, just wondering with a non removable battery and a froze up happened what would have to be done in that case!

 

Just like every computer in the last, 10? 20? years, Holding down the power button for an extended period of time will kill the power, enough said.

It would be great idea, I can say without question that with the millions of notebooks out there, it is very unlikely the more the 75% have ever even had there battery removed at all.

The reason you can't have as high capacity battery that is removable is the engineering space required to make a battery user removable. And as mentioned, those are wasted parts anyway.

Non-user removal battery is such a non issue for 90% of users it is just ridiculous that people complain about it at all. Most of the people that complain about it likely don't even need a removable battery anyway.

 

I think everyone has a point but when you think about it (or when I think about it) I've removed my battery 2 times and that was when I was testing for lower temps during gaming without the battery...

But I've only just thought of something, wouldn't they need somewhere to insert that chip that "talks" to each battery cell? I duno much about motherboards technically but where would that chip go?

 

apple just redesigned the case, they arent touching it for 3 years.

 

i had no problem if the battery could still retain strong charge for 10 years without needing service...

 

But your current notebook does not hold a strong charge for 10 years so what's the difference?

 

You know what I was thinking of...

The 17" MBP has an NRB (Non-Removable Battery) which in according to Apple last between 8 to 7 hours (If your running intergrated or discreet).

Lets say that the battery capacity drops to arround 5 to 6 hours - is that such a big problem?

I mean how much portable usage are you going to do with a 17" powerhouse? It was built for dektop useage mostly.

Just a thought..

 

If the battery could last for 10 years, having it non-removable would be less inconvenient. Most notebook batteries die after 2 years. Other notebooks allow users to purchase user-replaceable batteries.

You are so biased through your fruit shaped glasses.

 

Okay so when it dies in two years you spend $170 and get apple to replace what's the big deal?

 

This is the biggest downside IMHO, especially considering the Apple tax added to the upgrade prices. I mean 1000 bucks for an 8 GB RAM upgrade? Seriously...(I realize 8GB RAM is still relatively expensive, but it can be had for around 600 bucks elsewhere...)

 

No way, only reason I'm staying away from the 17" is the non removable battery.

I just dont like dealing with shipping off the whole notebook to anywhere just to get the battery replaced. Instead I just like to order my battery and just have it delivered to me to just put in myself which would take only 15 seconds to do.

 

Jjahshik32,

Apparently, the new 17" MBP's "non-removable" battery is actually very easy to remove seems like. Check out this link that was posted on the MBP 17" thread.

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/First-Look/MacBook-Pro-17-Inch-Unibody/618/1

 

I guess it all boils down to the definition of user-replaceable and non-removable.

In the 17" MBP, the owner is free to replace the HDD and RAM with whatever they want and it doesn't void the warranty. It just isn't as convenient to do so since it requires multiple screws and opening the whole back. Personally, I don't think it's a huge problem since it's not like changing RAM and HDD is a daily occurrence.

As it turns out, replacing the 17" battery is also fairly easy to do and doesn't look to require soldering, just screws. Apple just doesn't support users doing it themselves.

Personally, I think all Apple notebooks should go with the 17" embedded battery design. If they can reliably get 8-9 hours of battery life and have fast charging mechanism, then I think the lack of easy battery swappability will be a non-issue for most users. The RAM and HDD will be harder to access, but as long as Apple allows users to change it that's not a huge concern. The change that Apple does have to make though is allowing users to change the battery themselves under warranty. It really only requires a screw-driver, which isn't exactly technically complex, but it's something people should be allowed to do.