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8 hour battery life for MB Pros 15in coming soon?!

D

didb

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 26, 2009
31
0
Hey,

I'm looking forward to buy a MacBook Pro 15" during the week. Yet I've heard that there might be an update soon giving the 15 inch MB Pros the same battery life as in the 17 inch MB Pro. Any truth to the rumor?! And when do you expect the change?
 
yup, most likely tomorrow! Tuesday is "the" day ;) If not it'll be next tuesday or the tuesday after. Just keep waiting buddy...eventually Apple will release the macbook pro you want
 
I think that it is likely to happen soon, but have no evidence to back that up.
 
The two questions that come to mind are as follows:

Technical: Is it feasible on a 15" yet? Size is pretty important and the fact the 17" is larger lets it have a bigger battery.

Marketing: Does Apple plan on letting this battery life be a factor exclusive to the 17" for the next few refreshes as a "feature"?
 
Its not possible, the only reason they were able to do it with the 17" is because of the extra room, if you actually look at the magical 'new' battery technology its nothing new at all, its the same technology they were using before, and Dell use it too. It means they can build the batteries into fancier shapes to fill any excess room, but the 15" doesnt have any excess room, only the 17" does.
 
miles01110 said:
What's the point of a laptop if you can't have multiple batteries for long trips? Silly.
Click to expand...

That would be a good question to ask everyone with one of these ;)
macbook-air.jpg
 
Well it also wouldn't have the same battery life simply because of the size as well.

People are so happy about this battery. The facts are that Apple offers a 1 year or 400 charge cycle warranty on all their notebook batteries...(double check that on the 17") They say it will last 1000 charges but thats the life and we all know batteries don't actually work that well after a couple years. So when your battery life goes down the drain and you need to replace it that just requires another trip to the Apple store and an appointment.

The best thing about the 15" is the ability to swap the HDD and the battery so easily. Why would people want to get rid of that?
 
miles01110 said:
I do ask people with Macbook Airs why they bought one.
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As do I. But I would much rather have a Macbook with a dvd drive, ports, and a removable battery that also happens to be cheaper :)

Most people I talk to buy into the MBA for one of two reasons:
  1. The novelty.
  2. They take their computer almost everywhere or have other books to carry as well.
 
xhambonex said:
The best thing about the 15" is the ability to swap the HDD and the battery so easily. Why would people want to get rid of that?
Click to expand...

One from the peanut gallery agrees.................

If the 15" went to an enclosed battery, I can't see the 8 hour mark being acheived. I think the best would be about 6 hours, which is a total guess. I do like the battery management system in the 17", and how each cell is recharged separately.
 
miles01110 said:
I do ask people with Macbook Airs why they bought one.



I think it's usually a year or 300 cycles.
Click to expand...

Yeah the number is pretty low for me as a college student. Either way, the battery won't last and will need to be replaced, I rather not have to set up an appointment, go to the store, wait around until helped, then wait some more while they install the new battery. In that time I could have swapped in a new HDD and a new battery on a 15".

There's no reason for a MBA other than the COOL FACTOR. For what people do one those things, a Hackintosh on a netbook would cost fractions and be smaller and more portable. Not technically savvy, well you could still afford to pay someone to do it for you and end up 1000s less.

It's like the iPhone, why not just have one. I rather Apple figure it out then let some 3rd party manufacturers build these "case chargers."
 
One thing is for sure: if the 15" MBP goes to an enclosed battery, the MacBook isn't far behind.
 
Brien said:
One thing is for sure: if the 15" MBP goes to an enclosed battery, the MacBook isn't far behind.
Click to expand...

what scares me about that is Apple would further disregard the consumer by enforcing unusual design standards for the novelty of their hardware.

The mini-display port was a bad adaption, why because I have gone through 3 different Apple adapters, and it is far from being the standard. For a minimalist company like apple, forcing users to carry around adapters is just silly. That and limiting the new monitors to unibody notebooks and mdp iMac/MacPros. I don't even need to speak to the pane of glass on all the screens. :eek:

Hopefully the next Apple notebook update will be one with the addition of features benefiting all users instead of those solely operating on Apple products.

So for now I still recommend last gen MBPs because they are cheaper and IMO an overall better machine. (Minus the unibody construction which is better than the old shell but still lacking strength in some areas, like the screen)
 
Guys, they make notebooks so that douche-bags like me can sit in a café and post at MacRumours while working on their essay, thesis, etc. Perhaps Apple would be ignoring the part of their market that carries around multiple laptop batteries, but that market is small. Furthermore, the reason they carry around multiple batteries is because 3 - 3.5 hours isn't enough. If the MBP had an built-in enclosed battery, perhaps some of the people who have 2 batteries wouldn't even need 2 batteries anymore. I'm assuming that a 15" MBP with a built-in battery would have a reported battery life of around 6 hours, and real-world battery life of around 5 hours if all you're doing is using MS Office (no internet).

So Apple probably thinks that pissing off a small part of their customers, which would shrink to an even smaller percentage with a new built-in battery, is worth it, because they'd also please a part of their market as well.
 
Abstract said:
So Apple probably thinks that pissing off a small part of their customers, which would shrink to an even smaller percentage with a new built-in battery, is worth it, because they'd also please a part of their market as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they follow the money. Look at the glossy screen transition that occurred over the past year. Because it makes the colors "pop" more.
It's a sore subject with some, so I'm sorry to bring it up again :p
 
The technology may filter down, but if it also requires a non-user accessible battery ... would people still want it.
 
Abstract said:
So Apple probably thinks that pissing off a small part of their customers, which would shrink to an even smaller percentage with a new built-in battery, is worth it, because they'd also please a part of their market as well.
Click to expand...

Well sure, that's just business. I could honestly care less about the battery, I plug mine in most of the time. It's more about the process of enforcing novelty features across the board on all their computer products.

Sure put the battery in everything that's fine, but like drew said, I don't want to see the gimmick features like a piece of glass to make the colors "pop" on the $2k+ machines. MDP is a whole seperate issue. But this is a trend for Apple, and not a very good one, or a good one, depending on which consumer you are.
 
xhambonex said:
Yeah the number is pretty low for me as a college student. Either way, the battery won't last and will need to be replaced, I rather not have to set up an appointment, go to the store, wait around until helped, then wait some more while they install the new battery. In that time I could have swapped in a new HDD and a new battery on a 15".

There's no reason for a MBA other than the COOL FACTOR. For what people do one those things, a Hackintosh on a netbook would cost fractions and be smaller and more portable. Not technically savvy, well you could still afford to pay someone to do it for you and end up 1000s less.

It's like the iPhone, why not just have one. I rather Apple figure it out then let some 3rd party manufacturers build these "case chargers."
Click to expand...

The battery won't just stop working after 300 charges, it'll just retain 80% of its original battery life.

Also, there are many reasons to buy a MBA that don't include the "COOL FACTOR". Sure, asthetics count, but here are why people buy MacBook Air's. They need a full featured notebook, without much compromise on speed, screen or display, but need it to be thin and light as well. The MacBook Air is the only notebook on the market that gives you a 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, an SSD, an LED display, full sized backlit keyboard, multitouch trackpad and weighs only 3 pounds. Netbooks are NOT an option if you want a readable display and a notebook you could really use in the real world. The Macbook Air is perfect for those things.

So please don't tag everyone who owns a MacBook Air as someone trying to be "cool". Take some time and learn about the consumers and the target market for the product. Just because it does not suit YOU because you don't appreciate the thinness or weight (or lack thereof) doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to understand other people's decision to purchase one.
 
kastenbrust said:
Its not possible, the only reason they were able to do it with the 17" is because of the extra room, if you actually look at the magical 'new' battery technology its nothing new at all, its the same technology they were using before, and Dell use it too. It means they can build the batteries into fancier shapes to fill any excess room, but the 15" doesnt have any excess room, only the 17" does.
Click to expand...

While that's true to an extent, I think another point was that making a battery removable requires extra room for a door, mechanisms etc. By making it built-in, you can make it slightly bigger. It probably wouldn't hit 8 hours., but I'm sure 7 would be the sweet spot for many. That, and they can include their 1000 cycle claim, and smart talking battery or whatever it's called tech. Hopefully at WWDC, we'll see it on both the MB and 15" MBP.
 
aaquib said:
The battery won't just stop working after 300 charges, it'll just retain 80% of its original battery life.

Also, there are many reasons to buy a MBA that don't include the "COOL FACTOR". Sure, asthetics count, but here are why people buy MacBook Air's. They need a full featured notebook, without much compromise on speed, screen or display, but need it to be thin and light as well. The MacBook Air is the only notebook on the market that gives you a 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, an SSD, an LED display, full sized backlit keyboard, multitouch trackpad and weighs only 3 pounds. Netbooks are NOT an option if you want a readable display and a notebook you could really use in the real world. The Macbook Air is perfect for those things.

So please don't tag everyone who owns a MacBook Air as someone trying to be "cool". Take some time and learn about the consumers and the target market for the product. Just because it does not suit YOU because you don't appreciate the thinness or weight (or lack thereof) doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to understand other people's decision to purchase one.
Click to expand...

Obviously there are reasons for purchasing a MBA.ss

Well I wasn't trying to knock your purchase, Macs are all about the cool factor. Even mine, so don't get so worried over that. The full featured part of you MBA is under debate for sure but it may be full featured for you. You can really use netbooks in the real world.

Look at the Thinkpad X Series, I think you'll find most of those features you just listed, except the multi-touch trackpad.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...001BD5:&smid=27260E1983734A91A115802FE145A51A

There's an example and it comes in at around $1900. So it's not like I don't know what is out there.

As far as the targeted market goes, well I get the opinion they aren't going after your educated consumer. But that goes across the line as far as their products now.

Sorry to offend you. But I wasn't trying to focus on the MBA, I care way more about the MBP line.
 
guys ... another thing ... 3G ability. How likely do you see that coming up? If that wouldn't be sweet, huh? Heard rumours about that, too.
 
drewsof07 said:
Not soon.
Click to expand...

So. I don't needa wait a few days. You don't think it's gonna happen?! Because I really need a new laptop. My old windows one took a sh**. But 3G implemented, that be great since I use it about every day.
 
Doesn't a 17" notebook take more power? I would imagine that you could get similar(maybe minus 1 hour) life when driving a larger screen... look at the current MBP 15" battery life v.s. MB battery life: both 5 hours. So even with the larger size, they still get the same results. I personally don't care about it being built-in, but sense alot of people seem not to like it, I would hop for the custom batteries, just in removable cases. I doubt we loose that much battery life....
SG :apple:
 
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