Apple Details 17" MacBook Pro Battery Replacements, Same Day Service at Apple Retail

[MacRumors]

After verbally acknowledging that the new 17" MacBook Pro's non-removable battery would be cost $179 to replace, Apple has posted an official page describing how one would seek a battery replacement and the exact cost depending on your region.

The battery in your MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009) is a consumable item, which means it will require replacement at the end of its useful life. A replacement battery can be purchased directly from Apple. The price of the replacement battery includes installation of your new battery and environmentally responsible disposal of your depleted battery.

If you are fortunate enough to live near an Apple Retail location, Apple says the procedure should be a same-day replacement with appointment. Mail-in replacements, however, will require 3-4 business days after shipment of the unit.

Apple claims that their improved battery technology will allow up to 5 years without needing a replacement.

Article Link: Apple Details 17" MacBook Pro Battery Replacements, Same Day Service at Apple Retail

[macintel4me]

I wonder if AppleCare covers the $179 fee.

[ltldrummerboy]

That's not too terrible. Better service than I would have expected.

I would imagine that Applecare does cover it. If the battery fails within 3 years (that's as long as Applecare goes) then that's at least two whole years less than Apple said the battery should last.

[JBytes]

Although I either live or work very close to an Apple Store, I think I'll make my next MBP purchase a 15". The 17" is too big for me.

[illitrate23]

in 5 years time, surely you'd rather upgrade to the latest pro macbook (or whatever it is called then) rather than keep your old workhorse going

and also, in 5 years time, who's going to remember what Apple said would be available now - they'll be able to change their minds about the in-store changes

do you think they are training people on how to swap the batteries already? or wait for a couple of years before bothering? how confident are they of the lifespan? :-)

[Full of Win]

Originally Posted by macintel4me

I wonder if AppleCare covers the $179 fee.

Assuming that it fails after its rated life cycles, then its a consumable (intended to be used up and then replaced), therefore would not be covered.

[NATO]

The battery replacement programme sounds pretty reasonable to me

[nagromme]

This also means you COULD even replace it yourself--and third parties may offer their own replacements if/when enough demand develope.

It's just not an official, Apple-recommended route to take. Much like with the Air and various iPods.

What has been lost is just quick-swapping on the fly. Considering this gives you the same battery life as two normal batteries, without the bulk and hassle, I wouldn't worry too much. (Look how thick other 17" laptops are--and THEN add the external battery you wish to lug. And then look how big the charger brick is!)

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by ltldrummerboy

That's not too terrible. Better service than I would have expected.

I would imagine that Applecare does cover it. If the battery fails within 3 years (that's as long as Applecare goes) then that's at least two whole years less than Apple said the battery should last.

That is wrong. This is like buying a set of tyres that usually last three years (if you do 10,000 miles a year) and complaining that they are worn out after a year (when you do 50,000 miles).

The battery life will depend on how much you use it. If it wears out after 2 years and 500 charges, then you have a point. If it wears out after 2 years and 1500 charges, then you don't.

[Matthew Yohe]

Considering Apple's fast turnaround with their mail in service, I don't see how anyone could complain about this.

Seems pretty decent.

[Winni]

Originally Posted by Matthew Yohe

Seems pretty decent.

Seems almost three times as expensive as the battery for the older 17" notebooks. "Decent" is something else in my book - especially when there is no option for the customer to change the battery him- or herself.

Usually, a battery will need to be replaced after one year of regular usage. Let's see how long those new batteries will last and if the 179$ charge will still be regarded as "decent" in a year from now.

And let's also wait for what the "low-end" MacBook customers will say once Apple will introduce non-replaceable batteries to that series.

I also doubt that frequent long-distance travelers will be happy with non-replaceable batteries. And by long-distance I mean something like Seattle to Düsseldorf or Frankfurt to Grand Junction (which usually took me between 18 and 24 hours to get there, long hours of waiting at the airports included).

This new "feature" sucks about as much as the dropping of FireWire in the "consumer" notebook line sucked. Apple is losing perspective.

[Macmel]

Originally Posted by Matthew Yohe

Considering Apple's fast turnaround with their mail in service, I don't see how anyone could complain about this.

Seems pretty decent.

I'll make you see why, then: I want a battery that I can exchange myself, like I can in my current 15" MBP. And I complain because if I buy this computer, I won't be able to do it anymore.
Also, I don't live in the US and the closest Apple retail store is 5000 miles away. I can't even send it to Apple because there's no Apple service in France. You have to send it to an Apple "associate" business, which in many cases are used to work with other brands and are not as knowledgeable about Mac computers as one would desire. Bad enough is having to send the computer to them for repairs. Now you have to do it even for stupid things like battery replacement.

[sgntscrawn]

The tyre analogy is spot on, and I reckon applecare will be much the same.

All those whinging about a non-removable battery seem to forget that the battery lasts far longer than any other removable battery. The video explains this quite clearly. Whilst you can always shave off a bit of the quoted battery life, this is significantly more than any other 17" laptop I've seen.

Besides, I can almost see in the future, for those crazy power users, an external battery solution that plugs into the magsafe... that'd shut people up, I reckon.

[sgntscrawn]

Originally Posted by Winni

I also doubt that frequent long-distance travelers will be happy with non-replaceable batteries. And by long-distance I mean something like Seattle to Düsseldorf or Frankfurt to Grand Junction (which usually took me between 18 and 24 hours to get there, long hours of waiting at the airports included).

This new "feature" sucks about as much as the dropping of FireWire in the "consumer" notebook line sucked. Apple is losing perspective.

So you're telling me that long-distance travellers lug along 24 hours worth of batteries with them? That's what, half a dozen batteries!? Or do they simply get an airline magsafe adapter instead?

[VoR]

Originally Posted by sgntscrawn

All those whinging about a non-removable battery seem to forget that the battery lasts far longer than any other removable battery. The video explains this quite clearly.

The video doesn't sufficiently explain why it is non-removable though. It's still just a battery with a terminal - seems to me like their design spec was too concerned with small outside seams and the increased revenue from a shop only replacement.

[mixel]

Sounds good about the battery replacement plan, nice they're being open about it. Hopefully that'll help people be less afraid of the non-replaceable battery.

[alexbates]

It still seems like something complicated to do. I wish you could just take it into an Apple Store and they would have it replaced in 5 minutes.

[lifeinhd]

3-4 days just another reason that internal batteries are bad. At least you could be still using the computer if all they had to do was ship you a new battery.

[Hattig]

Doesn't seem to be a problem. It's got an 8 hour battery life, so even the people who are recharging all the time will get three years out of it, assuming 1 full use/recharge cycle a day.

In addition for long journeys without a power source you can use external magsafe battery packs - what's the difference between them and replacing the internal battery, except it is far far easier and doesn't require you to hibernate the computer?

Problems will come if the battery in reality lasts less than 8 hours, which has been a problem for Apple since they switched to Intel - their battery lives turned from pessimistic to optimistic. Two cycles a day could mean some people's batteries are unfit for purpose after a couple of years. Then again, $180 isn't a lot of money for a professional who uses their computer so much (and I bet most of these would but a new laptop anyway, regardless of battery life remaining). Also if the battery doesn't reach the quoted 1000 cycles there will be problems. I expect to see a class action lawsuit in three years time relating to this.

The good thing with such a replacement programme is that the old batteries will get properly recycled/disposed.

[Veri]

Originally Posted by sgntscrawn

All those whinging about a non-removable battery seem to forget that the battery lasts far longer than any other removable battery.

A regular mostly unused li-ion battery will lose over 20% of its charge per year just sitting in a laptop, since it's often warm and in fully charged state.

A battery stored at around 50% charge in a cool environment, only brought out when needed, loses around 4% charge per year.

So, unless you're mostly using your laptop on battery, no.

Also, $179?! And will it give 8 hour charges on year 4? For a normal machine, the user just carries as many replacement batteries as needed, but on this laptop, clearly replacement will have to occur when the battery lasts for less time than you might ever need between charges.

And what do you do if your laptop develops a hardware fault that causes it to start overheating in a confined area? Wait for it to catch fire or smash it open? There's something very wrong about a high energy power source that I can't disconnect.

Why can't Apple be an honest profit-making business and say they do it because they want more money? Capitalism works best when it doesn't suffer from self-denial.

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by Winni

Seems almost three times as expensive as the battery for the older 17" notebooks. "Decent" is something else in my book - especially when there is no option for the customer to change the battery him- or herself.

Sure, $179 is almost three times as much as $129.

[Macmel]

Originally Posted by sgntscrawn

So you're telling me that long-distance travellers lug along 24 hours worth of batteries with them? That's what, half a dozen batteries!? Or do they simply get an airline magsafe adapter instead?

I don't know the world you live in, but in the real world (most of which, believe it or not, is OUTSIDE the US), economy seats in comercial flights do not have power outlets.
Why the f*ck people are always trying tu justify Apple?. Imagine the battery is exactly the same but user removable: how the hell is that worse than being non-removable?.
If Apple puts sharp pins on your keyboards tomorrow, you will be saying how great is the contrast of the red color of your blood with the aluminum and you'd type on that computer over a PC any day.

[rayz]

Originally Posted by Macmel

I don't know the world you live in, but in the real world (most of which, believe it or not, is OUTSIDE the US), economy seats in comercial flights do not have power outlets.
Why the f*ck people are always trying tu justify Apple?. Imagine the battery is exactly the same but user removable: how the hell is that worse than being non-removable?.
If Apple puts sharp pins on your keyboards tomorrow, you will be saying how great is the contrast of the red color of your blood with the aluminum and you'd type on that computer over a PC any day.

Well, I don't see Apple doing this, unless they could charge to remove the pins from your fingers.

[Veri]

Originally Posted by Macmel

If Apple puts sharp pins on your keyboards tomorrow, you will be saying how great is the contrast of the red color of your blood with the aluminum and you'd type on that computer over a PC any day.

Also, think of how many angels could be living on each of those pinheads. Your machine would surely be blessed!

But seriously, yes, the most irritating thing about being a Mac user is the occasional company of zealots. Guys, you're not in the presence of a divine miracle, rather a good but imperfect tool. Until I see Jobs doing this, or this, or this, I'll continue to see an approach that welcomes talent and attracts riches but denies humanity.

[jb1280]

Originally Posted by Macmel

I don't know the world you live in, but in the real world (most of which, believe it or not, is OUTSIDE the US), economy seats in comercial flights do not have power outlets.
Why the f*ck people are always trying tu justify Apple?. Imagine the battery is exactly the same but user removable: how the hell is that worse than being non-removable?.
If Apple puts sharp pins on your keyboards tomorrow, you will be saying how great is the contrast of the red color of your blood with the aluminum and you'd type on that computer over a PC any day.

Of all the arguments against the built-in battery, the long distance traveling one is one of the weakest.

In the real world, 16-18 hours of travel time for a transatlantic trip [from check-in to baggage claim], once we account for check-in, security screening, transferring, boarding, clearing passport control, clearing pre-screening for the transatlantic flight, take-offs, landings, and myriad meal services on board quickly gets reduced to a significantly less amount of viable time to get substantive work done.

Further, I can't imagine comfortably working on a 17" notebook in a KLM economy seat from AMS to SFO for 6 to 7 straight hours.

For the last year, I have traveled monthly transatlantically with a macbook air, and have not felt inhibited by the battery while traveling.

Was it necessary for Apple to integrate the battery on the 17" notebook? I am not sure.

Is it less than optimal to have to send off notebooks to have the battery replaced should something fail in it unexpectedly? Of course.

Are there myriad other issues that involve this battery? Most likely.

To say that this is going to drastically alter the productivity of a large number of frequent long-haul travelers is absurd.

This is of course anecdotal, but I rarely ever see people working on large notebooks from the end of the first meal service continuously to landing.