Apple attempts to justify non-removable batteries

[Russian]

It looks like Apple grew tired of going through reviews of their products, with each and every one criticizing their decision to go with non-removable battery. Regardless of that product being an iPod, iPhone or a MacBook Pro “Unibody”, media criticized that bit.

But it is not just media, it is just the law of physics. Our web designer has two-year old $4200-paid MacBook Pro (1st Gen Intel) and the battery went “kapput”, as Germans would say. New battery exceeds $400 in Croatia, and for that price, he refuses to buy a new one. He also refuses to purchase a new unibody Mac, opting to build Intel Skulltrail platform instead, and turned that 8-core in Hackintosh faster than our original 45nm 8-Core 3GHz system with 16GB of veeeery expensive memory. For a fraction of Mac Pro’s retail price.

If you go to Apple Store, even biggest Apple zealot will take a look at non-removable battery feature and lower his/her shoulders. So, what do you do if people criticize your design decision, placed to force you to buy a new system after battery cycles out its natural life span (couple of thousand recharges, sometimes even as low as 500 recharges)?

Go and advertise that non-removable battery is green, that’s what you do. Apple’s marketing wizards decided to put a nice green spin on the feature, and claim that new Mac comes with five years of battery life is quite brave, given that Apple has no control over the quality of the battery. Even the best battery in the world will cycle out, and there is nothing Apple (or anybody else, unfortunately) can do.
Look at how green we are...



Look at how green we are... anyone want to place a bet will the battery still work in 2013? Of course not, you're expected to replace your Mac next year...

Apple claims their proprietary electronics will keep the battery in check (let’s hope their marketing is right) and that the more people have non-removable batteries, less land will be filled with electronic waste. Thus, we can conclude that non-removable battery can actually save the world. And fill Apple’s coffers with those pesky charges that users have to pay the moment their device exits warranty period.

original source:
http://theovalich.wordpress.com/2009...attery-policy/

edit: sorry, having internet issues with TW.

[jellyrole]

Glad to hear they care about when the battery dies!

[Alex Suraci]

Let's see... Replaceable battery: batteries in landfills. Non-replaceable battery: laptops in landfills.

[faster3200]

Let's see... Replaceable battery: batteries in landfills. Non-replaceable battery: laptops in landfills.

That or charge money for an apple tech to replace the battery and THEN it ends up in a landfill.

[highoctane]

Yeah the greenest as in they want to take your money again because your battery died.

[Vapor]

Let's see... Replaceable battery: batteries in landfills. Non-replaceable battery: laptops in landfills.

You got it wrong

Non-replaceable battery = no sale. No sale = no battery in landfill

[clo007]

I hate this company. If the damn Ipod didn't come out, that company was going under in 6months times. Grrrrrrrrrr

[turbox997]

I hate this company. If the damn Ipod didn't come out, that company was going under in 6months times. Grrrrrrrrrr

I'm with ya. But unfortunately mac is so trendy now though, it's like the "prada" and "michael jordan's"(in reference to the basketball shoes) of gadgets. It's like when a kid explains to you why air jordan's are better than other basketball shoes, "because they just are"...that's how most(there are exceptions..pple who know what a mac really is) mac users explain why their hardware is better than others.

I had a buddy come up and ask me a million times what DDR2 so-dimm would work in his macbook because he wouldn't take it that it uses the same stuff in pc's...lol... he'd say, "but mac charges more for additional ram on their site, it's because it's special and better ram right?"


bah, end rant..

anyways, like others have said, mac is making a very lame excuse for their non-replaceable batteries, if the user doesn't take it out and put it in a landfill, then a technician will, and if that doesn't happen, then the whole friggin laptop will end up in a landfill.... not to mention, don't they try to recycle most batteries these days?

[faster3200]

To play devil's advocate I have to say this:

I hate macs. I am forced to use one for at least 5 hours every day and it pisses me off to no end. Maybe, it is because I am used to Windows and Server Linux but I think that OSX is designed too much to be pretty and not as much to be functional. The mac peripherals are awful, especially the mighty mouse which is the worst mouse I have ever used, even compared to my $5 MS Intellimouse. The keyboard has two delete keys, which always screws with my mind. Apple's insistence on forcing everyone to use the CMD key instead of right-clicking is annoying and often causes some uncomfortable hand positions. I won't even bother complaining about the users...

That said, Macs do have a purpose. They are wonderful for media creation. Macs have superb handling/rendering of type compared to PCs. They are also the only the only comps with the ability for > 8 bit printing, which is pretty important for photographers and graphic design. If you are in web it doesn't matter since you will not be printing and you are limited to sRGB anyway. Macs are also by far the best choice for audio production. Pro Tools always comes out with their Mac versions first. I am not too much of an audio guy but, everyone I know with a recording studio uses a Mac. I know I also used a Mac for video production, but I don't know if pros do as well so I won't comment on that. I do know that it tends to be the most popular among amateurs though.

For everything else a PC is better imo. Sorry, for the rant/off topic but I just had to say something before there is too much hate going around.

[Russian]

To play devil's advocate I have to say this:

I hate macs. I am forced to use one for at least 5 hours every day and it pisses me off to no end. Maybe, it is because I am used to Windows and Server Linux but I think that OSX is designed too much to be pretty and not as much to be functional. The mac peripherals are awful, especially the mighty mouse which is the worst mouse I have ever used, even compared to my $5 MS Intellimouse. The keyboard has two delete keys, which always screws with my mind.

I couldnt help it... someone posted this in another forum after i posted this.

[gOJDO]

You got it wrong

Non-replaceable battery = no sale. No sale = no battery in landfill

I fail to understand why not to leave the option to replace the battery? The battery will last longer, so instead of replacing the battery every two years, you can replace the battery after 3 or 4.
So, throwing a notebook+battery every 4 years is less waste than throwing a battery every 2 years?
What Apple wants is to force their customers to buy a new PC every 3 years, so they can make more money. They don't give a s*it about ecology!

My parents have their notebooks for more than 4 years and their notebooks are still satisfying their needs (word processing, e-mails, surfing, etc.). Last year I replaced the batteries on both notebooks and the notebooks are working fine.

[randomizer]

Of course the battery will last until 2013. A charge just won't last longer than half an hour with WiFi off.

[cx-ray]

To play devil's advocate I have to say this:

They are wonderful for media creation. Macs have superb handling/rendering of type compared to PCs. They are also the only the only comps with the ability for > 8 bit printing, which is pretty important for photographers and graphic design.

If you hang out with them for too long those Mac lies may begin to stick

http://blogs.msdn.com/adrianford/arc...n-windows.aspx

[gumballguy]

Why would having a battery that lasts 5 years EXCLUDE you from being able to replace it? Having a good abttery last longer and replacing it when necessary is greener than what they're pushing.

This whole marketing campaign makes no sense.

[faster3200]

If you hang out with them for too long those Mac lies may begin to stick

http://blogs.msdn.com/adrianford/arc...n-windows.aspx

I was aware of that, I guess I should have been more specific. Mac support is native. The Windows support requires a special driver which so far as Adobe has said only Canon has. Most people I know use Epson printers.

[mr_knowitall15]

Apple=Fail

F that. This is a technique to more or less force you to buy a new comp every few years (as people already stated)
WTB a time machine, so i can take my zune back in time, and make microsoft produce it BEFORE the ipod, and sink apple totally. I think it would work. Someone hook me up with a flux capacitor and some plutonium.

[saaya]

that doesnt make any sense... nobody buys a laptop battery if he or she doesnt actually use it...

you might argue that shops and distributors have a lot of unused batteries on their shelfs, but first of all thats just a buffer until somebody buys them, and second of all, apple has the exactly same buffer, but they have it in their own fabs/warehouses for replacing their laptops that have broken batteries...

very brave to try and take a big drawback of your products and trying to market is as a superior feature though... i give them that

[iboomalot]

My Dell 9400 at work battery crapped out on me about a month ago and it was plugged into the wall 98% of the time.

I was told I should have only had the battery in the unit when off direct power but the battery lasted almost 3yrs.

Dell said they only warranty for 12 months

good luck getting 5 yrs out of a battery

[[XC] gomeler]

One of the big perks in the non-removable battery was the ability to encase a much larger battery within their unibody chassis. I don't know if this is marketing crap or not, but it does make a little sense if you don't have to build an enclosure within the case to hold a user-accessible battery. This way the battery doesn't need a 1/4" surrounding to keep the internals away from pesky fingers. 1/4" saved on all sides definitely helps keep size down and possibly enable a larger battery.

[Levish]

wtf is it with them and pita batteries to change ...

[Particle]

16-bit printing? Heh. I work at a digital imaging lab, and let me just say how pointless this is on consumer hardware. Yeah, you can implement 128-bit printing if you want to, but that isn't going to make your printing hardware magically produce 128-bit color resolution.

[slpdLoad]

Anyone seen the 17" battery? It better last 4 years, it's huge!

edit: the battery isn't 17", I'm referring to the 17" MacBook Pro model. But the battery is 20% of the weight!

[acidpython]

That or charge money for an apple tech to replace the battery and THEN it ends up in a landfill.

Bingo! The battery in my ipod nano died after a year, what are my options? Buy the new 4G (convinently out after a year) or play £30-50 to replace the battery.

[Vapor]

One of the big perks in the non-removable battery was the ability to encase a much larger battery within their unibody chassis. I don't know if this is marketing crap or not, but it does make a little sense if you don't have to build an enclosure within the case to hold a user-accessible battery. This way the battery doesn't need a 1/4" surrounding to keep the internals away from pesky fingers. 1/4" saved on all sides definitely helps keep size down and possibly enable a larger battery.

That's exactly why they went non-removable.

[takamishanoku]

Apple have honestly taken the cake with perhaps the dumbest argument in human history ... They really piss me off. It's got me worried now about my iPhone (which I'm currently on). Never thought about the battery dying..