Confirmation of Fixed 17" MacBook Pro Battery, Mac Mini with Firewire

[MacRumors]

AppleInsider confirms yesterday's report that the new 17" unibody MacBook Pro will arrive with a fixed non-removable internal battery.

In what's sure to be a controversial move on the part of the Mac maker, those familiar with the new unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro confirm that it will not share the same panel-covered battery layout as its 13- and 15-inch cousins. Instead, the notebook's battery will be fixed in place and not easily removable by users, similar to the MacBook Air's.

The rumor site also believes the Mac mini is also due with the NVIDIA chipset and will include a FireWire 800 port and an additional USB port.

In addition to sporting both a Mini DisplayPort and a Mini DVI connector, it's now also rumored that the new Mac mini will see the addition of a FireWire 800 port and a fifth USB port, with the legacy FireWire 400 port going away. The Mini DVI connector will allow the mini to continue to cater to users who already own a display, while the Mini DisplayPort will offer support for customers of Apple's latest LED-backlit Cinema Display.

MacRumors had also heard that the 17" MacBook Pro will contain a non-removable battery, so we feel this information is well corroborated. In exchange for this, the new MacBook Pro's battery is said to be longer lasting. 9to5mac's Seth Weintraub it will last up to 50% longer and speculates Apple could be exploring the use of Silver-Zinc which we previously explored.

MacRumors will post a Macworld San Francisco rumor roundup shortly.

Article Link: Confirmation of Fixed 17" MacBook Pro Battery, Mac Mini with Firewire

[fabian9]

i know some people who will not like to see/hear/read this!

[Kilamite]

So the Mac Mini will have FireWire 800. Awesome, I'm buying one.

Dual video out links will be interesting.

[djellison]

Originally Posted by Kilamite

So the Mac Mini will have FireWire 800.

Why on earth would they do that. Nobody uses Firewire according to Jobs.

[alexbates]

Good, the 17-in needs an update. I hope its a lot thinner than the 1st Gen.

When will Apple and other companies start using USB 3.0? When this is first used in future products, I will be getting one.

[Michael CM1]

Originally Posted by alexbates

Good, the 17-in needs an update. I hope its a lot thinner than the 1st Gen.

When will Apple and other companies start using USB 3.0? When this is first used in future products, I will be getting one.

I think USB 3 is due out in the middle of the year. It'll probably be longer before useful stuff comes out that is worth the extra dough.

[iParis]

Originally Posted by Michael CM1

I think USB 3 is due out in the middle of the year. It'll probably be longer before useful stuff comes out that is worth the extra dough.

USB 3. Huh. Maybe... Q2 or Q3 2010 we will see them in Mac's.

[(L)]

MBP17"-- I don't care, but even if they figure out a magsafe battery or whatever, I doubt this goes down without a hitch.

Mac Mini-- Again, not interested, but surprised to see so many fans of firewire. In my experience, many peripherals just don't have firewire, and those that do seemed to work as fast or faster with USB. Maybe I'm on a 400 thing instead of an 800 thing? Anyway, even if it were 2x as fast as USB, I'd still rather have an extra USB port, since most of my garbage is USB.

[Animalk]

If they double the battery capacity and make it much more durable (400 or 500 charges per year?) then the importance of having an interchangeable battery is greatly reduced to but the most specific of usages (stuck deep in the amazon filling out your spreadsheets on some animals mating habits or something).

I know its convenient but if they are using an expensive new battery technology, they may have been forced to forgo the battery casing and latch mechanism to simply throwing the cell inside the chassis of the MBP. I don't know how cutting edge their new battery technology is but it would be very very cutting edge if they deem it too expensive for the 17"MBP price point. I don't give this hypothesis much weight as I think the following one is the most probable.

Large open areas within are not good structurally for the laptop and batteries don't like pressure being exerted on them. Keeping the 17" MBP as thin as its 15" counterpart is very difficult and they probably gained reinforcement of the chassis by not making the battery a removable one. They might even have went to extreme measures by using the battery enclosure as a core structural backbone or as part of one (I know I said above that batteries don't like pressure being exerted on them but you can design a battery in a way that keeps the structural forces away from the chemical reactions happening inside). So much so that's it prevents the battery's removal from the chassis? Possible.

Pure speculation above. I couldn't resist taking part in all this .

[Sgt.Pepper]

Making a 17inch computer a bit thinner isn't going to make it much more portable if at all. When I take my laptop around the thickness of it doesn't even cross my mind. Thickness doesn't do anything to portability when the computer has a large footprint. The current 17" Macbook Pro is by no means a thick laptop either.

I see this as just a marketing movie, so they can say they have such a thin 17inch computer like it means something, and fool all the consuming drones, who unquestionably listen to advertising.

Sure when you need you battery replaced you can take it into a store to be replaced, but that's just another extra cost. I'm sure than was another reason for doing it, so they can squeeze more money out of customers in replacement costs beyond the price of the physical battery.
Not to mention the costs you have to pay in petrol and time going in, or sending in your whole computer (and time costs some people a lot of money)
And then also sell external battery solutions that cost more than a regular, replaceable battery.

I hope they have a huge recall, that costs them millions. (Although I don't hope so because of the inconvenience to customers)

As far as environmental benefits, I wonder if they outweigh, if there is a battery recall I wonder if the petrol, and other resources used to recall laptop instead of just batteries will outweigh the benefits. (That just a theory, one that is most likely not true)

Also if you can replace your battery yourself, having a spare battery gives twice as much battery life, which for those who struggle with maths, is more than the 50% increase this new built in battery promises.

So in closing, no I don't think a built in battery is good. I haven't even gone into all the reasons why it's not good either, this is just some of the main ones.

[Trishul]

Originally Posted by Sgt.Pepper

Making a 17inch computer a bit thinner isn't going to make it much more portable if at all. When I take my laptop around the thickness of it doesn't even cross my mind. Thickness doesn't do anything to portability when the computer has a large footprint. The current 17" Macbook Pro is by no means a thick laptop either.

i don't agree, thickness does make a huge difference, my friend has a big slab of plastic XPS Dell 17", and there have been many, many instances when he will have avoided taking it somewhere because of its inability to fit in bags, and generally being the heaviest thing on earth.. he looks at my MBP, and lusts after it. After getting an Air though, the MBP feels like a mammoth compared to it, and if Apple can do anything to the MBP, they can make it lighter and thinner. People who need desktop replacements that are easily portable, they can just buy an iMac, i'm sure the majority of people that actually move around with a 17" laptop would love it to be lighter.

[Sgt.Pepper]

Originally Posted by Trishul

i don't agree, thickness does make a huge difference, my friend has a big slab of plastic XPS Dell 17", and there have been many, many instances when he will have avoided taking it somewhere because of its inability to fit in bags, and generally being the heaviest thing on earth.. he looks at my MBP, and lusts after it. After getting an Air though, the MBP feels like a mammoth compared to it, and if Apple can do anything to the MBP, they can make it lighter and thinner. People who need desktop replacements that are easily portable, they can just buy an iMac, i'm sure the majority of people that actually move around with a 17" laptop would love it to be lighter.

Comparing a Macbook Air to a 17" Macbook Pro is a stupid comparison. That surafce area of the Macbook Pro is much biggest than the Macbook Air which means the comparison is completely moot, and actually pretty stupid.
Comparing a 17" inch computer that is thinner than a Macbook Pro to the current Macbook Pro would result in a computer than doesn't feel much more portable. We're not talking about a behemoth 17" Dell XPS, the Macbook Pro is already thin, making a little bit thinner isn't going to have major portability increases at ALL.
Using a built in battery ins't going to halve the thickness of the computer, there is a limit, not only due to the components in the machine, but heat become a greater issue with faster specs.
You're example of a Macbook Air compared to Macbook Pro is not apt.

And you saying people who want a desktop replacement that's portable can get an iMac is even stupider. An iMac isn't a desktop replacement, nor is it portable. Can I use it away from the wall? NO.
Can I use it without an external keyboards and mouse? NO.
Can I actually use it on the move? NO

The iMac is not a desktop replacement, it is a desktop however neatly it sits on the desk.

The Macbook Pro IS a portable desktop replacement. So having a slightly thinner case, which I've pointed out doesn't mean much, at the sacrifice of any function (I've pointed out previously the draw backs) is stupid.

It sounds like you want an very portable computer, well get a Macbook Air. Or just a Macbook, or a 15 inch Macbook Pro. It seems don't actually want a 17-inch computer.

[Lanbrown]

Originally Posted by alexbates

When will Apple and other companies start using USB 3.0? When this is first used in future products, I will be getting one.

http://www.usb.org/press/USB-IF_Pres..._17_USB_IF.pdf

[cyberwolf777]

I don't think that the idea of a 17" macbook air (as for instance put forward here: http://blogs.eweek.com/applewatch/co..._credible.html) should be dismissed. maybe we will see both, a 17" MBP with a replaceable battery, the new Core 2 Duo T9800 CPU, GForce M9800GTX etc.

AND

apart from that a 17" Macbook Air with non-removable battery that distinguishes itself from the 13" MBA through only the following two to four points:
-4GB RAM
-a 17" 1920p-screen
-(maybe) a FW800-port
-(maybe) a 2,67Ghz P9600 Core 2 Duo processor

This is perfectly doable from a technical point of view: unibody frames are extremely stable and the new Core 2 Duo P9600 only uses max. 25W - only slightly more compared to the 20W of the Rev. A MBA C2D and the 17W of new MBA C2D. Due to the increased size of the machine, the fan can also be of a larger dimension which is why 25W are probably possible.

Realistic pricepoint for the 128GB SSD version: min. $3199.

The thing about the machine I described is exactly that I think it could be done easily with the current state of innovation within apple and intel and be a cash cow for apple, too. I'd buy it the minute it would be released since I as somebody who only wants to use only one computer, the necessity of a high-res screen and being on the go all the time is not necessarily going well together.

Such a 17" MBA will probably not be released tomorrow. But I don't think it will be too long!

[infernohellion]

Originally Posted by cyberwolf777

I don't think that the idea of a 17" macbook air (as for instance put forward here: http://blogs.eweek.com/applewatch/co..._credible.html) should be dismissed. maybe we will see both, a 17" MBP with a replaceable battery, the new Core 2 Duo T9800 CPU, GForce M9800GTX etc.

i pray what you said here is true

[kastenbrust]

Originally Posted by infernohellion

i pray what you said here is true

17" Macbook Air = Bought

[Airforcekid]

Originally Posted by alexbates

Good, the 17-in needs an update. I hope its a lot thinner than the 1st Gen.

When will Apple and other companies start using USB 3.0? When this is first used in future products, I will be getting one.

We havent even fully used 2.0 to its max!

[Kilamite]

Originally Posted by Airforcekid

We havent even fully used 2.0 to its max!

Eh?

USB 2.0 gets used to its max all the time. Writing to external hard drives for example.

[air-ick]

Originally Posted by Airforcekid

We havent even fully used 2.0 to its max!

I have a external hard drive with FW400 FW800 and USB and i can tell you USB2 is much slower than FW800 Because i am forced to use the USB currently.

[Annngel]

Ohh no

I hope the unremoveable battery is only a rumor! I don't like that!

And iMac isn't getting an update for its CPU and nvidia thingy?

I've been waiting for it to be updated so i can buy it...

[glennsan]

Originally Posted by alexbates

Good, the 17-in needs an update. I hope its a lot thinner than the 1st Gen.

When will Apple and other companies start using USB 3.0? When this is first used in future products, I will be getting one.

Last I heard USB 3 was anywhere from 6 - 12 months away.

Glenn

[MatLane]

Originally Posted by alexbates

Good, the 17-in needs an update. I hope its a lot thinner than the 1st Gen.

When will Apple and other companies start using USB 3.0? When this is first used in future products, I will be getting one.

I think usb 3.0 will be built in Hardware from 2010

[sgibson]

What if the "fixed battery" is something that hasn't been seen in a production laptop before, say a fuel cell? If that was a case they may need to keep it user inaccessible, but the ends would justify the means.

Andy Ihnatko knows something and he says he's seen *no* rumours about it, could it be something this game changing?

[Spadeychops]

From a selvish point of view, where's the news on the new iMacs!!

...anything...please!

[ayeplussjr]

Originally Posted by Spadeychops

From a selfish point of view, where's the news on the new iMacs!!

...anything...please!

I'm with you on that...I want to find out more news about the iMac's, but we probably won't hear anything until Tuesday. Once the new iMac's (hopefully) are on store shelves i'll purchase one, can't wait to get my hands on one. This will be my first iMac purchase.