Apple unveils 17in MacBook Pro with fixed battery

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 07 January 2009 01:51

Opinion and Analysis

Rumours that Apple's new 17 in MacBook Pro would feature a fixed battery have proved correct.

As previously reported, pre-Macworld rumours suggested Apple would announce an updated version of the 17 in MacBook Pro with unibody construction like its smaller siblings and a battery that cannot be swapped by the user.

And that's exactly what Apple has delivered.

The new $A4499/$US2799 17 in MacBook Pro does indeed have a fixed battery - but one that's said to be good for up to eight hours use.

Eliminating the battery housing and related parts means the battery itself could be 40 percent bigger than on the previous model.

Additionally, a combination of new battery chemistry, system and battery monitoring, and adaptive charging is credited with extending each charge as well as allowing the battery to be recharged up to 1000 times.

Apple officials claim this means the new battery has a lifetime of up to five years, or more than three times that of a typical notebook battery. In this context, "lifetime" means the point at which the battery no longer delivers at least 80 percent of its original capacity.

"Up to" tends to be a weasel phrase among marketers, so we'll take this with a pinch of salt until we hear from real-life users about how much use they actually get from a charge. But we also note that Apple only guarantees the battery for 12 months.

When the battery eventually does give out, it'll mean a trip to an authorised service provider. There's no word yet on whether it will be a while-you-wait operation, or about the cost of replacement.

What else does the new MacBook Pro have going for it? See page 2.