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17" MacBook Pro houses mega battery

by Dave Caolo Feb 19th 2009 at 1:00PM

As usual, the fine folks at iFixIt immediately took apart the newest piece of Apple hardware to arrive at their offices, a unibody 17" MacBook Pro. The whole process was detailed with step-by-step photos, some of which reveal an internal battery roughly the size of a baby dolphin.

In case you're curious, and we know you are, that's a 7.3V 95Wh (12820 mAh) battery, Apple model #A1309. It contains no mercury (Hg) and weighs in at 1.5 pounds (0.7 kg)! The folks at iFixIt note, "It's only a matter of time until you'll be able to buy this battery online from companies like us."

It reminds me of the battery that came in the clamshell iBooks (in size at least). It sure looks easy to replace...

[Via Ars]

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Hardware Portables Macbook Pro

As usual, the fine folks at iFixIt immediately took apart the newest piece of Apple hardware to arrive at their offices, a unibody 17"...
 

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Happy Camper

DO NOT BUY APPLE - their customer service is terrible!!!!!
DO NOT BUY APPLE - they lack transparency!!!
DO NOT BUY APPLE - they have technical difficulties that they do not admit to!!!
DO NOT BUY APPLE - you'll never get your product despite their pathetic promises!!!!

Don't get the Macbook Pro. Apple's arrogance is ridiculous. They screwed up on the delivery estimates over 3 times - i am still waiting close to TWO months with every peripheral you can imagine but no laptop. This is unacceptable. Never gave a reason and no apology.

This company must be producing sub par products as they are facing continuous delays - this is extremely worrying since they pride themselves on leading technology. Their customer service representatives are amazingly arrogant. Spoke to about 5 of them and they all had the same arrogant unapologetic approach to the delay.

February 19 2009 at 10:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Happy Camper's comment
magi

Are you kidding? Look at
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/02/19/latest-survey-apple-customers-happiest/ as a recent happy example.

I bought a new 13" MB last week. Could not be happier. By the way, my battery lasts for at least 6 hours.

Sorry you're having trouble, but I suspect there is more to the story.

February 20 2009 at 10:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SlowFlight

Any word on the tightness of the hinge? i.e., the 15" hinge was designed to be easy to open and close, but that resulted in screens flopping near shut when tilted at certain angles (or in turbulence on a plane). I took mine back because it was driving me nuts (that and the glossy screen was annoying). I'd like to know if the 17" screen flops as well.

February 19 2009 at 3:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Peter

I wonder if the battery has the integrated electronics that the normal removable ones do?

The "lifetime" and "calibration" issues could be interesting if the battery is just a bare battery rather than a "battery package" with the other stuff integrated into it.

February 19 2009 at 3:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
NK

I don't really see the non-removable battery as really that big of an issue. How many people will probably still have their new laptop 4 to 5 years down the line?

February 19 2009 at 2:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to NK's comment
Shunnabunich

*raises hand*

I bought the 17" PowerBook G4 I'm typing on in early December of 2004 and it still works beautifully. Besides, I won't likely be able to afford a new machine for the foreseeable future, so it's a good thing it's such a trooper. That reminds me, I've been meaning to look at replacement batteries; after 266 load cycles, this one's down to 28% capacity. :P

February 19 2009 at 6:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
vandil

I still have my 17" PowerBook G4 1.67GHz. It's battery life isn't what it used to be, for sure, but I find that whenever I use it, I am in a location where I can plug it in. Be that on the porch, a plane, the bed, or wherever.

So, I just plug it in.

February 20 2009 at 4:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
vandil

"Non-removable" battery in Apple terms means something the non-technical users of Apple products might now want to try. The same sort of people who wouldn't want to pry open a Mac Mini with a putty knife.

Good to see that technical Mac users can simply buy a replacement battery and swap it out 3-4 years down the line (OWC will no doubt have a cheap replacement module for order by then).

February 19 2009 at 2:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to vandil's comment
andrew

its not "non-removable", its "non user-replaceable", which means that replacing it will void the warranty

its not like apple says this as some sort of suggestion for what users should do with their products...

February 24 2009 at 1:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
iGO

By all indications, as iFixit conveys in their take-apart, there is no way to show that you have removed the battery IF you are careful.

At minimum,
it will allow end-users to replace their own battery with Apple brand or third-party brands (which should be available way before 1000 recharges), which many should welcome.

Especially if they know how to follow directions, use a screwdriver and be careful.

February 19 2009 at 1:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to iGO's comment
Joe

If you're going to buy an original Apple battery anyway, you might as well let the folks at the store replace it for you. If I had a laptop as expensive as an MBP, I certainly would not risk f-ing it up, and voiding the warranty just to save a few dollars by replacing the battery myself.

As far as I recall, Apple doesn't charge any service fee for installing batteries on the new aluminum models - it all comes with the price of the battery itself.

February 19 2009 at 2:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David

I imagine that getting to it without voiding the warranty will be the tricky part.

February 19 2009 at 1:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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