Do tell - how many batteries would you need to last the entire flight to Tokyo? If you own a MBP you'd honestly take 2-3 extra batteries with you? Really?
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MacBook Air Battery Replacement Trivial?
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Do tell - how many batteries would you need to last the entire flight to Tokyo? If you own a MBP you'd honestly take 2-3 extra batteries with you? Really?
I have never flown on a seat in which that plug works. I was told that the plug only works if you are in first class. Coach flights that I have taken on Delta, United and Alaskan in the states have not had the plug, nor have United, Quantas or Lufthansa flights internationally.
An easily swapped battery would be nice.
Like I mentioned above, that's just not true. Even the larger international planes are often missing the DC power plugs.
Exactly...
And, am I the only one here who finds it odd that Apple supposedly stripped this machine down to the minimum, got a low power CPU, and and so on to make this an ultra portable that only gets 5 hours (according to them) of battery life?
Of course, it could be less than 5 hours given how optimistic Apple tends to be when rating their battery power.
But, the thing is, on Apple's site, the MacBook (the base model low-end MacBook) gets 6 hours of battery life (again according to Apple).
So, you mean to tell me that they stripped the MacBook Air down to it's minimum, made it supposedly more power efficient, used the same basics as a MacBook but with lower specs, and also ended-up giving us less battery life than a cheapo MacBook?
How is it that we are to pay so much more, for so much less, and get less battery life?
How is it that they think this is something great?
It's a repackaged MacBook with the following cuts:
A slower CPU
A smaller slower hard drive
No CD / DVD drive at all (unless you want to lug an external)
No FireWire
Fewer USB
No upgradable RAM (although it does come with a reasonable amount).
No user quick swap battery (who's going to realistically dismantle their computer to change the power pack when their away from the office to extend productive mobile time?)
No easy hard drive upgrade
No Ethernet Port
A few misc. input ports missing
And, 1 hour less battery life??????
Sure, it's 2 pounds lighter. Sure, it looks sleeker (although it's effective size is the same - it's still going to require as much space to store / carry / hold it as the MacBook. The reduced size is only minimal and some of it's thickness remains similar in the rear.
So...
take all those features away from a standard MacBook
take away two pounds
put it into a pretty case
And, raise the price by about $700.
Now, that's a great formula for Apple.
Think about this from a strategic point. They have found a way to cut the cost of production, decrease the feature set, cut a lot of useful / necessary ports, cut battery life, and they sell it for $700 more.
Now, the real kicker. The extra stuff you'll carry in your laptop bag for this machine will weigh more than the 2 pounds shaved from the computer (and you still won't get the higher performance of the cheaper systems).
Throw a USB hub in the bag, and throw in an external DVD-R drive, and throw in a small USB portable hard drive, and you'll quickly wish you has saved $700 and purchased a MacBook.
Personally, I'd rather have the ability to swap another battery in on the go, and have the extra features and speed, and longer battery life; while saving $700.
That 2 pound savings comes a much higher cost than just the additional price tag. It comes at the additional expense of battery life and useful features.
14 hours from ATL -> Narita (Tokyo). Figure 7-8 hours sleeping, so 1 extra battery would be all you would need to remain productive for the flight.
As long as you have Apple Care you should be covered. Once Apple Care runs up, there is no more warranty to void out with cracking the case open to get at the battery.
In 2-3 years I expect the iPod battery manufacturers to be on board with the replacement batteries for the MBAir so that we can all crack the case to do the dirty deeds.
In 2-3 years I expect the iPod battery manufacturers to be on board with the replacement batteries for the MBAir so that we can all crack the case to do the dirty deeds.
Ummmmm.... if your MPA is under warranty or AppleCare, Apple should replace the battery for free.
Now if the battery was removable like the other MacBooks, then they might only replace it if it was deemed defective somehow. I've had mixed dealings with Apple and batteries in the past, so it's hard to say if they would cover all batteries under AppleCare or not.
But with them designing it not to be user replaceable, I can't see how they can avoid replacing the batteries under warranty/applecare when they stop holding a charge. If they did, a class action lawsuit is sure to follow.
Yep... Quite right.
I've flown on as long of flights as you can get in the United States, and I have absolutely never (and I mean never) been on a plane with something I could plug a computer into. No power taps anywhere.
Now, if you can come up with a flight longer than Alaska to Florida within the borders of the United States (keeping in-mind that I have to fly past Canada), then I'd like to see where you went.
My flights from Alaska to Texas, Alaska to Florida, Alaska to California, Alaska to Seattle, have never had power taps on their planes.
I've been on repeat trips to several of those destinations, and never had a power tap available yet. And, of course those were all round trip flights, so they had twice the opportunity to provide me with one if they were going to.
Turn off the WiFi and Bluetooth and you wouldn't even need an extra battery w/ the MBA... Since you said you only want 6-7 hrs of battery life it'd be quite easy to get that out of it w/ no WiFi or BT on.
The only planes I've been on in my past 8 round trip flights (about 24 planes due to transfers and such) that didn't have working DC outlets in coach were 1x2's and those flights were about 3 hours. Maybe it's an American thing, idk but I do know for a fact they work on the AA flights in coach because I've used them.
The problem, is that manufacturers often use a different measurement to determine when a battery is no longer "good".
So, the battery could be effectively useless for a portable computer, but still "good" enough that they wouldn't replace it. Each company uses a different measurement. But, I've never seen a measurement standard that favored the consumer.
Out of curiosity, as I don't work for a company that has more than a few Macs, do apple laptops have the issue where by if your machine is in standby and only on battery and the battery runs out of juice the machine can only be restarted by completely removing the battery and then reinserting to allow you to boot up, even if the laptop has been reconnected to ac power when you try to power it on?
Just curious, cos if they do, then you are SOL with the Air. Void your apple care so you can boot your laptop? Thats classy.
Just curious, cos if they do, then you are SOL with the Air. Void your apple care so you can boot your laptop? Thats classy.
Are you serious? The MacBook Pro is rated for 6 hours. With wifi and BT off, the screen on dimmest and doing nothing but browsing so the CPU never goes over 20% you'll be lucky to get 3 1/2 hours. Same with the MacBook. I believe the only way you'd get 6 hours out of either an MBP or MB is to turn the screen off and use it with an external monitor.
For the MBA I bet you'll be lucky to get 3 hours under light use. With a rated 5 hours there's simply no way you'd ever get 6-7 hours no matter what you turn off.
Unless it's a new issue, no, they don't. That's happened to my PB a few times and I just plugged it into the adapter and it fired right up.
I just wish the whiney crybabies would just leave this forum, full stop! They do the forum no good. Nothing but negativity, emotions, bashing...page after page after page. I just skip through them but in doing so, I would miss one or two good valid posts.
Not quite sure what in the world you're doing with it but CNet ran their battery drain tests on the MBP and it performed just fine (215 mins watching a DVD off of the optical drive). I consistently get longer than rated battery life out of my 3 year old PB.
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/apple-macbook-pro-2007/4505-3121_7-32465635.html?tag=prod.txt.1
I came up with this theory because I want it to be true I think Apple is going to come out with something cool that will actually be worth buying in the near future, but in order to offload the MBP/MB computers they put out this cool looking showcase of what they can do with a laptop that no one will want to buy. I personally waited two months for Macworld to see what was coming and immediately realized that the Air is not even close to being something I want. Then I went to buy a Macbook and there were no refurbs, and I thought "I am probably not the only person to go to buy a MB/MBP when they realized the MBA isn't for them". They honestly can't expect the MBA to be a huge hit- Apple isn't that stupid. I really really think they are using it to boost sales of the MB/MBP and give sort of a taste of what they are capable of. I could see a really cool new computer coming out that will replace the MB/MBP.
I think Apple is going to come out with something cool that will actually be worth buying in the near future, but in order to offload the MBP/MB computers they put out this cool looking showcase of what they can do with a laptop that no one will want to buy. I personally waited two months for Macworld to see what was coming and immediately realized that the Air is not even close to being something I want. Then I went to buy a Macbook and there were no refurbs, and I thought "I am probably not the only person to go to buy a MB/MBP when they realized the MBA isn't for them". They honestly can't expect the MBA to be a huge hit- Apple isn't that stupid. I really really think they are using it to boost sales of the MB/MBP and give sort of a taste of what they are capable of. I could see a really cool new computer coming out that will replace the MB/MBP.
Maybe I should fly American then, lol. I don't know exactly what planes I flew on... I know I've been on a mix, 737, 747, 757, some big airbus things I don't know the model # of and a handful of other planes. None of them had anything to plug into for LA to Vancouver, NY, FL, DC, New Zealand, London, Frankfurt Berlin or Prague.
/oh and yeah, thats everywhere I have traveled to by plane, enjoy. lol.
//The AirNZ flights I have been on do not have the plugs either.
i always thought that apple tended to under promise the battery ratings, like they with most of their products... this way it over performs and makes people happy!
215 mins is well below the 6 hours Apple state for the MBP. Check this site out which gives some real world results from various MBP models...
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/faq/macbook-pro-battery-life-hotswap.html
Basically, under any kind of normal use you can expect about 50-60% of whatever Apple claim. Anyway, the original claim was that you'd get 6-7 hours of battery life when Apple claim 5. No way, simply no way in hell. You'll never get more battery life than Apple claim... you'll never even get close under normal use.
Not usually.
With the first several batches of the MacBook Pro, they were quoting in the 4+ hour range. But, users were frequently reporting that in their most conservative use that they could only get between 1.5 and 2 hours at the most. Some were even getting far less than that with no resolution being provided by Apple.
I don't know about the new ones since I quite following the discussions on them after I decided to get something different.
If you're in first class, plug your laptop in.
If not, get yourself an external battery pack. Viola!