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Confirmation of Fixed 17" MacBook Pro Battery, Mac Mini with Firewire
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We all know ifixit.com is going to open 17-incher and show you how to replace the battery anyway. It'll just be harder to do (and void the warranty) and that is fine. Hard things (and voiding warrantees) build more character.
If the next 17 incher is as nice as it sounds I might look at it over the 15 incher. The screen real estate would be nice, not to mention the better cooling.
Very true, the whole post is definitely the truth.
DS, I thought you'd be the first to comment on that
Yeah, you know it. And I know you know, but I was calling the person you quoted close minded. I agree with TLJ that some just don't really comprehend being able to take a slightly heavy laptop over a really heavy Mac Pro and monitor.
And TLJ, I am falling in love with that Dell more and more. There is SO MUCH hardware out there that Mac users keep themselves from made by Panasonic, Sony, HP, and Dell.
I know a hiker that would die for a Panasonic tough book running OSX, and I would die for a Sony TZ/TT running it as well. That Dell and the HP Blackbird are on my list as well.
And by the way, for those suggesting just unscrewing the bottom of the future 17" case and changing the battery yourself mid flight, can i ask:
Where would I get the Apple proprietary battery? And do they make Air batteries too? Just curious to if a 3rd party does or not.
Fuel cells still need to be refuelled with Hydrogen.
- It'd be technically not removable, but the rumours would have mentioned this
- The lack of Hydrogen availability to most consumers holds back fuel cells in cars, and would hold back fuel cells here. I rarely leave home with a canister of Hydrogen.
- Hydrogen still can't be stored very well. It's a gas at room temperature, which is a very inefficient way to store something. It needs to be kept as a liquid, but that requires some staggeringly low temperatures. Keeping it in pressurised cans isn't much of a solution. For a given volume can, you either have low pressure (less Hydrogen) at a reasonable temperature, or high pressure (more Hydrogen) at a low temperature (unreasonable). High pressure at high temperature will make the volume expand, causing the can to explode, and low pressure at low temperature is just stupid.
I don't see the battery being a problem. I rarely see people with extra batteries any more. I stopped carrying an extra battery about 8 years ago. I now use a 17" MBP. Nearly any place I go I can get an AC adapter. Every meeting I go to the first thing everyone does is start looking for adapters. At conferences they generally bring out extension cords so everyone can use their adapters. Panera Bread has adapters all over the place. Most airports are starting to provide better access to adapters.
The need for a second battery is clearly fading. If you really do need longer battery life I think there will be third party, external solutions. Even if Apple doesn't open up the Magsafe connector design Xantrex and others make portable inverters with rechargeable batteries so that you can simply plug in your AC adapter and get extended power that way. No big deal.
On the plus side, if the battery is built in it makes the notebook case stronger as it doesn't have to have a hole in it. It means the battery is cheaper, smaller and lighter as it doesn't have to have its own case and connectors and built in electronics. Currently the battery shell has the same design as the notebook which surely adds to the cost.
So where are the leaked photos?
If all of these products are really going to be released, I would think we would see a lot of pictures. Maybe Apple is starting to become even more secretive.
I bet Apple just decided to put those white banners there to bother us.
If all of these products are really going to be released, I would think we would see a lot of pictures. Maybe Apple is starting to become even more secretive.
I bet Apple just decided to put those white banners there to bother us.
Exactly, and just another reason to spend $3000 on an Apple product. I think the 15-in has been selling more in the past few years so Apple has changed that by making the 17-in thinner. Just bragging rights...
And i bet Apple is going to make a lot of money off of battery replacements.
Then who would buy this computer? It's people like Digital Skunk who buy this beast, and I'm sure he wouldn't get that.
I think they would be crazy to remove to OD on a 17", but it is Apple ...
A lot of people here said that about the Air, and the firewireless MB. If they think there is a big enough market (or they can make a market), they will do it.
I wouldn't imagine there being a serious editor planning to use a 13" screen to edit with in the first place, of course its possible to do so but hardly desireable, but concerning firewire, any editor wanting to do more than just edit home videos will want to use a firewire connected scratch disk at the bare minimum, i don't know any single editor that uses a USB drive unless they have no other choice, not even to edit DV with. I personally see the new Mac Mini being a mini revolution in the world of Final Cut, we'll have to see how much RAM the Mini will support, but with the 9400 and at least 2GB of RAM the specs of the Mini will be more than enough to natively edit HDV with and most uncompressed SD formats and some flavors of HD like XDCAM 35, or basically any format if doing an offline, but with it being able to support 2 monitors then it more than fulfills the basic requirements for a useable editing workstation and for those who can't afford mammoth monitors. With the mini having FW800, its also clear Apple are aiming it towards creative professionals not just ipod users, and that it will be a genuine alternative to those who don't need the power or have the space for a Mac Pro, and don't need the built in display and inherent markup in price of an iMac, but still want something that runs Mac OS out of the box to do serious work with and still have money to pay the rent. Having something be defined as a 'pro' device, doesn't mean it has to be expensive, 'pro' just means you use it to earn a living.
I myself do have a 17" Macbook Pro, but i travel abroad for work and with the strict luggage enforcements and the low budgets i work with, i can't afford to carry my 10kg broadcast camera as hand luggage along with a bulky laptop (thank god for the Air!), i'm lucky if i can get through with just my camera, and true it's no toughbook but i would consider a Mini far more rugged than a laptop, and would gladly throw it into my suitcase and check it in. I could daisy chain drives to it via FW800 and operate a mirrored raid to do backups, and i could either use the hotel tv as a display, or any variety of broadcast monitor or TFT screen i usually have at hand. This is just one example of how the mini could be used in a pro environment, i could think of countless others, its going to be pretty powerful for what it is size wise, and i don't think i'm out of order for prematurely considering it a little powerhouse, it is going to be a similar spec to the Macbook, which is already pretty close to a Macbook Pro, and that IS a powerhouse.
I think the iPod shuffle is different to the case of optical drives, its a gimmick item and it didn't cost a small fortune so lots of people (including myself) brought them on a whim, and to be fair it is pretty revolutionary, i've yet to find a smaller mp3 player with better capacity, battery power, as well as build quality. But i know many people who will remark about the Mini "it doesn't have a DVD drive? well forget it, how else am i going to backup and share the films i downloaded off bittorrent? I don't care if its cheaper and more practical in the long run, i don't want to pay for a separate optical drive", and no amount of Apple hype is going to downplay that omission to the general public on a desktop machine. I would personally like it taken out for selfish reasons, in that for the occasional time i use an optical drive i would just plug one in, just like how i plug in a printer, and i would in return appreciate the slimmer enclosure and lower base cost, but if there was the option to have it taken out and have a hard drive fitted in its place and run a RAID through Disk Utility, then i'm all for that.
With the exception of a intercontinental plane flight in coach, where you wouldn't have room to open your 17 inch laptop anyway.... its hard to see the need for a extra battery if you have four honest hours of use.
The death of firewire is a much bigger deal in my opinion.
The death of firewire is a much bigger deal in my opinion.
I doubt it because then there would be no point in getting the Air except for the lower price. And think about how much space the 17-in is going to need for the 320GB or 500GB HD.
Maybe it could happen. There's always a chance.
That means nothing. The Macbook without firewire people will buy because it's a consumer laptop and the general consumer knows nothing about firewire (or USB for that matter, they just know the plug fits), the macbook air is for a rich person without the need to do any heavy lifting and has a good wireless set up. The 17 inch laptop is, and probably always will be, a professional laptop, for the pros that do a lot of heavy lifting. If Apple were to take out any of the heavy lifting features then only a tiny market would be left.
I'm not saying no one would buy it if they removed the user replaceable battery, as not many actually do this. I'm just saying if they made it Air thin (which would require removing a lot of power) and they took out the optical drive then no pros would want it.
Nothing.
The usual self-proclaimed "power users" claim they need to be able to swap out batteries as they sit in the Australian Outback editing their Aboriginal documentaries 1000 miles from the nearest outlet.
I've been laptop-bound for the past few years in both development and management roles, and have never EVER found myself unable to plug in when my battery runs low.
Apple is simply marketing to the 99% of users who don't want (or need) to muck with carrying extra batteries, and prefer instead longer battery life obtained via technologies that can optimize the odd spaces with flexible (but non-user-friendly) battery packs.
it's good the mini will still have firewire, but there adding another USB port?
doesn't the mini already have 4? why don't they add more USB ports the Imacs i hate only having 3.
doesn't the mini already have 4? why don't they add more USB ports the Imacs i hate only having 3.