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17" MacBook Pro Disassembly, RAM, HD and Battery Access

jbrenn said:
just get an airline adapter
Click to expand...

Yes, when you are in a vehicle (car, plane, boat,...) there is power available. For those times when there is no power available you CAN still take a spare battery with you. Just cable the battery to the power port. This is actually better because you can select whatever size/shape spare battery you like. Anything from a case filled with AA size cells to something like this: http://store.cseoffroad.com/d34m.html

I do not see the point of swapping out a batery, you still have the used battery to carry. Why not bring a spare battery and a small cord?

I'm sure some one will sell a flat battery that is the same shape as the bottm on the 17" notebook and you just stack the notebook on top
 
darwinian said:
If ever there were a 17" laptop I wanted ... impressive design. PS any word on the battery weight?
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any word on if you read the article? Oh, it appears as if that word has just come in! The word is NO, THAT YOU DID NOT READ THE ARTICLE.

MASSIVE FAIL.
 
All I can say is...wow. I really wish I could have an 8 hour battery. I get maybe 2 now, and I hate it. I've been awake for about 20 minutes now and it's already down to 86% from a full charge.

Still though, I really do not like having notebooks bigger than 13".


Give the new MB's a non replaceable battery, and I will be on that like flies on pie.
 
Sweet. Come two years from now, when I need an update to my workhorse and Apple finally goes quad core, I know I can at least take out the optical drive and replace it with another HDD without having to tear my machine apart.
 
It has to be a money thing, why else would they require an Apple tech to replace it? Maybe an environment thing since 99% of the people would just throw the battery out after they replaced it,they probably recycle it.
 
I wonder why no one has come out with an external battery that attaches to the MagSafe connector? Seems like it'd be a no-brainer of an accessory.
 
polaris20 said:
I wonder why no one has come out with an external battery that attaches to the MagSafe connector? Seems like it'd be a no-brainer of an accessory.
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Im not sure if they can, I have never seen a 3rd party power adaptor.
 
There are no batteries with magsafe adapters because apple has not licensed the magsafe connector to third parties.
 
Gotrpms said:
There are no batteries with magsafe adapters because apple has not licensed the magsafe connector to third parties.
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There are a few.... that is, I have seen one. But it's VERY expensive since the company basically had to BUY an Apple Power adaptor and splice off the Magsafe portion and attach it to their battery pack.

linkie
 
ChrisA said:
Yes, when you are in a vehicle (car, plane, boat,...) there is power available. For those times when there is no power available you CAN still take a spare battery with you. Just cable the battery to the power port. This is actually better because you can select whatever size/shape spare battery you like. Anything from a case filled with AA size cells to something like this: http://store.cseoffroad.com/d34m.html
Click to expand...
Picture from above site:
yhst-35554245108358_2041_9887314

I would love to see what the TSA would have to say if I tried to carry that on-board.

One issue with an external battery pack is the extra cords/charger etc necessary for the battery pack. Right now, I can carry an extra Macbook battery and swap it out in a few second.

Also, there is the problem of cost. An extra Macbook battery is $130. The Battery Geeks Portable Power Station is $350. That's a pretty significant difference for the same additional runtime.

Finally, since Apple will not license the MagSafe connector to other companies, 3rd party MagSafe compatible connectors are sometimes problematic. Battery Geeks seems to have solved their problem, see this link for more info than you ever wanted about the issue: http://www.atpm.com/13.08/magsafe.shtml
 
foodle said:
As someone who just had to switch batteries mid-flight on a 13" Macbook, I would be against the other models going this way. With a battery lasting ~4 hours, the machine will not last a cross country (that country being the US) flight. It gets even worse if you're taking an overseas flight. Having to bust out a screwdriver on my tray table would not be ideal...
Click to expand...

OK call me crazy but who the hell uses notebook during the ENTIRE flight? I can't barely stay focused or awake for an hour. I tried it before and I just can't use my computer more than an hour. If people so picky and cant watch flight movies then bring your iPhone. =)
 
jbrenn said:
just get an airline adapter
Click to expand...

I use a airline adapter. Cheaper than an extra battery and keeps my battery charged at a fixed level(although it doesn't charge it).

With that your MacBook lasts what the flight lasts;)

Although, I would never mind having a built in battery if it can give me 6+ hours.
 
foodle said:
As someone who just had to switch batteries mid-flight on a 13" Macbook, I would be against the other models going this way. With a battery lasting ~4 hours, the machine will not last a cross country (that country being the US) flight. It gets even worse if you're taking an overseas flight. Having to bust out a screwdriver on my tray table would not be ideal...
Click to expand...

Well, if they designed the screws to stay in the lid instead of falling out and hinged one side of it to reduce the amount of screws needed, it'd make it a bit more practical. THe battery could last up to 5 hours instead, too.
 
What are the warranty implications of this?

If I order 50-60 of these per year, in just under 3 years, when my users have cycled these things hard, and they need to be replaced, will I need to have them down-time their machines to replace the batteries?

What if I need to swap hard drives, or RAM, for failure testing, or emergency backup?

Will those sorts of activities, which I can do on any PC laptop available, without voiding the warranties, will AppleCare hold?

I was skeptical about this before. I am still skeptical on a policy standpoint, regardless of how direct the physical action may be.

Captive screws are a nice touch. I see current 17"s with missing assembly screws fairly often, both from the side periphery, and the long screws from the bottom of the case, near the screen hinge. once they get loose, unless they are monitored and re-tightened, which most users don't notice, it is a matter of time until fan or HDD vibrations spin them loose, even with a dab of loctite.
 
ivladster said:
OK call me crazy but who the hell uses notebook during the ENTIRE flight? I can't barely stay focused or awake for an hour. I tried it before and I just can't use my computer more than an hour. If people so picky and cant watch flight movies then bring your iPhone. =)
Click to expand...

Well, I for one use my computer for things other than just dicking around. So I stay on it for hours at a time.

More than 8 hours, sure! I doubt the new 17" MBP may not even get to 8 hours when running Aperture and Photoshop, let along three apps in the Final Cut Suite.

jav6454 said:
I use a airline adapter. Cheaper than an extra battery and keeps my battery charged at a fixed level(although it doesn't charge it).

With that your MacBook lasts what the flight lasts;)
Click to expand...

Not all flights have power for your laptop.
 
ivladster said:
OK call me crazy but who the hell uses notebook during the ENTIRE flight? I can't barely stay focused or awake for an hour. I tried it before and I just can't use my computer more than an hour. If people so picky and cant watch flight movies then bring your iPhone. =)
Click to expand...

Ok, you are crazy. {smiles}. I have swapped out my battery on numerous overseas flights. Sometimes its work. Sometimes its movies. Why shouldn't the choice be mine? All these people suggesting those of us swap batteries should modify our behavior to fit Apple are sorta missing the point IMHO.
 
I dunno if anyone mentioned this yet but the CPU on the 2.66GHz model is T9550. It is a 35 watt processor same as the 2.93GHz which houses a T9800 processor.
 
G5isAlive said:
Ok, you are crazy. {smiles}. I have swapped out my battery on numerous overseas flights. Sometimes its work. Sometimes its movies. Why shouldn't the choice be mine? All these people suggesting those of us swap batteries should modify our behavior to fit Apple are sorta missing the point IMHO.
Click to expand...

And why should the majority of their customer base suffer with a heavy and thicker model and less capacity because a small fraction of the users have to swap batteries? I've owend laptops all my life and I've never had a need to swap a battery and I'm guessing that a large portion of their customer base is this way.
 
detz said:
And why should the majority of their customer base suffer with a heavy and thicker model and less capacity because a small fraction of the users have to swap batteries? I've owend laptops all my life and I've never had a need to swap a battery and I'm guessing that a large portion of their customer base is this way.
Click to expand...

Why should those of us that need power sacrifice on quad core and dual HDDs for those that cry about thicker and heavier machines? Why don't they just get a 15" MBP instead?

Why should the majority of users buying the 17" as a desktop replacement be limited to only getting a 15" MBP with a 17" screen?

Why couldn't Apple just make the 17" MBP heavier (since a lot of people whine about it's 6 lbs weight anyway) and give professional users the best of both worlds.
 
Apple rules, you follow :rolleyes: Offering a more diversified (does this word exist? :D ) product lineup may lead to higher production costs. that is not in apple's interest as a high profit company. apple is about to make money, and as long as people complain AFTER they bought their products, there is hardly a need to change anything...
 
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