Confirmation of Fixed 17" MacBook Pro Battery, Mac Mini with Firewire

[apolloa]

The Mini is shaping up to be an awesome lil machine, fantastic. But the fixed battery!!
No wonder Steve doesn't want to do the show, if it's a fuel cell I say about bloody time! But I doubt it, which leaves me to believe Apple feel it's users are incapable of managing battery's or it's because Steve doesn't like changing them. Regardless it is GOING to have to be damn impressive to sell to it's target market. Especially as most 13 and 15" pro users are used to carrying spare battery's around, 50% extra isn't enough IMO.

 

[jgbhardy]

There's no way they can pull of a 9 Hour Battery life? The only way is if the battery was twice as thick...Or Twice as LONG..If it was longer it would be slimmer so the NoteBook could keep it size. But when it Says "9 Hour Battery life on a Box or 5 Hour battery life always Minus 2 Hours of what it says the battery life because it depends on what your running/watching...So Maybe if it says 9 hours its probally means your going to get 6 to 7 Hours of Battery life.. HOPE THAT HELPED =)

Did you even read the fact that its a new technology (zinc-silver), also other company's such as Dell have 24 hour battery life laptops! Also it says wireless productivity, I have got 6-7 hours out of my white macbook! (half display brightness and wireless turned off and mainly doing word processing and keynotes.

 

[monke]

seems apple is spreading random rumors to throw off all the rumor sites.

I wouldn't doubt it. I figured they've done it before, as it has too many benefits.
1) It helps cover up other rumours, maybe bigger things they have planned
2) Throws everyone off, gives that 'unexpected' feeling
3) They can turn any of the top 'Apple insider' type sites into virtually nothing by releasing false rumours

I can't wait for Tuesday, another spoiler free event for me (hopefully).

 

[Gunga Din]

Thanks for the compliment. I happen to not have been alive then.

My number one complaint with Apple is the obsession with thinness, at the cost of reason and logic. Your average 1.5" thick PC notebook is the form factor I want. Much cooler, better specs, and a whole lot cheaper. Same weight (or close enough).

Yea, Honestly with all the things we want in a notebook , i've never read posts "we want a thinner notebook !!, i want to fit my notebook in a manilla folder !!"

Now i'm sure that MBA thinness helps a few people out, but the majority want the best machine possible. The WT and thickness of my 8 month old MBP seems perfect to me. maybe 5% of u would disagree, but its not 80% complaining about the current size and wt of the notebooks. (80% was a made up percent, plz dont research this or anything lol)

 

[BruceEBonus]

Can I just go very quicky OT here pse ... ("Well alright but make it snappy, then!'_Ed) I have just bought the 'missus as White Macbook ... about 3 weeks ago. Imagine my amusement when they now talk about discontinuing it. My question to the Forum is:
I have 'til January 9th to return IF I want to. But she likes her Macbook and so do I - will discontinuation lower its value overnight or will it having the much vaunted Firewire Port which they Alu's dont have ... keep its value up on eBay in a year's time etc?.
Or should I just pay the extra and return it for a Ali... the fact is - in the UK its £700 .... with the Alu 2.0ghz being £900. .. ouch! But with talk of a $1000 dollar Alu .. this would make it about the same price as the White Book.. D'oh!.
Cheers Steve ... you sure know how to make folks loyal maaaaaan!.
Will we all be eligible for a refund ? (ahem)
\
Thanks y'all etc

 

[fedup flyer]

WTF Steve, the mac mini gets FW 800 while the MacBook looses its Firewire altogether. Argh...WTF-O

 

[dubhe]

I wonder how thin the Mac Mini will be. I work away from home but stay 'in location' for a few months at a time. Maybe a Mac Mini in my carry on bag and thin display in my suitcase?

Then I could justify the MacBook Air...

 

[Beric]

In before a so why don't you buy it comment. Well, looks like I will be. I hope used Mac Pros go down in price.

It appears I may end up getting a PC. That or keep my Macbook and get a used Mac Pro, like you.

I wonder how thin the Mac Mini will be. I work away from home but stay 'in location' for a few months at a time. Maybe a Mac Mini in my carry on bag and thin display in my suitcase?

Then I could justify the MacBook Air...

What about carrying your display? Or would just have to have a different one for each place you work?

 

[chelsel]

can I still upgrade my machine?

Sounds good to me, as long as I'll still be able to get inside the machine and upgrade the RAM and HD.

 

[Bonte]

A non-removable battery in a laptop? This is a terrible idea.

Agreed, hard to believe. '17 laptops in that price range are mainly used by pro's and they won't like it when the battery dies so Apple has to replace it, Apple needs some uber battery technology to push this one. Why on earth only use this technology for the '17 models, maybe so new it wasn't on time for the smaller Macbooks?

I only ask for a bigger iPod Touch, thats all.

 

[150hp]

REgarding the Mini, I say thats great for keeping FW & the more USB ports the better.

For FW, I have an external HD & an iPod 40gig.

For USB, I have a keyboard, mouse, printer, iPod Shuffle, card reader, microscope, & even a CueCat.

 

[lscangus]

Spoken as someone who doesn't live two hours from the nearest "Apple Authorized" anything.

All I have to say is that I fly internationally quite a bit. If that new battery can't survive a twelve-hour international flight in coach (e.g., no AC power) then it's a non-starter for me.

Because right now, I can happily bring along fully-charged spares to swap out as I drain (I've got four spares sitting on a shelf behind me right now). If that's not possible, then that "upgrade" is a boat-anchor as far as my needs are concerned.

I usually use my Macbook pro 17inches during my usual trip to south Africa for 2 months, where no AC power supply, i can happily bring along 360 full-charged spares to swap out as i drained

Apple what are you thinking of? I want to do a trip to the moon, where i want to bring 2million batteries with my MBP!

And i think i need about 50 USB ports in my MBP and a zillion USB and firewire ports on my Mini.

Just for fun.

 

[The Samurai]

So they think 5 USB ports is a good thing to have in a Mini (which I completely agree with), yet on the other hand they have 2 USB ports on their Macbook ranges. Complete utter nonsense.

 

[puffnstuff]

the new mac mini will have firewire because it is only being upgraded and not redesigned

 

[kolax]

Agreed, hard to believe. '17 laptops in that price range are mainly used by pro's and they won't like it when the battery dies so Apple has to replace it, Apple needs some uber battery technology to push this one. Why on earth only use this technology for the '17 models, maybe so new it wasn't on time for the smaller Macbooks?

I only ask for a bigger iPod Touch, thats all.

Folk are flying this all over the place that pro's need replacement batteries in a 17" laptop.

Who are these "pro's" and what are they doing? Seriously, folk I know in the field who use the 17" MBP are either audio engineers who need it for the portability key to position anywhere on set and don't run it off the battery, or are photographers who need a big high-res screen but portability for taking on different sets.

Give me examples of people who need a spare battery that are pro's but lung a big 17" around with them.

 

[Poll Smoker]

There's no way they can pull of a 9 Hour Battery life? The only way is if the battery was twice as thick...Or Twice as LONG..If it was longer it would be slimmer so the NoteBook could keep it size. But when it Says "9 Hour Battery life on a Box or 5 Hour battery life always Minus 2 Hours of what it says the battery life because it depends on what your running/watching...So Maybe if it says 9 hours its probally means your going to get 6 to 7 Hours of Battery life.. HOPE THAT HELPED =)

~iThink (iThinkApple)

~ CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE THE IMAGE =) ~

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Solemony]

Non-removable battery? O.O..What a mistake!

 

[lscangus]

Folk are flying this all over the place that pro's need replacement batteries in a 17" laptop.

Who are these "pro's" and what are they doing? Seriously, folk I know in the field who use the 17" MBP are either audio engineers who need it for the portability key to position anywhere on set and don't run it off the battery, or are photographers who need a big high-res screen but portability for taking on different sets.

Give me examples of people who need a spare battery that are pro's but lung a big 17" around with them.

Most of the people who thinks they are "pro" are not reli "pro" If you are reli a "pro" u use a lot of CPU intensive task, liek editing video, audio recording, 3D modeling. I doubt any battery will do any good. AC is your best freind

 

[iParis]

So they think 5 USB ports is a good thing to have in a Mini (which I completely agree with), yet on the other hand they have 2 USB ports on their Macbook ranges. Complete utter nonsense.

Because the MacBook has a built in keyboard, mouse, and webcam.
That knocks out three USB ports right there.
Now you're left with two. Get it now?

the new mac mini will have firewire because it is only being upgraded and not redesigned

And you know this how?

 

[Poll Smoker]

Most of the people who thinks they are "pro" are not reli "pro" If you are reli a "pro" u use a lot of CPU intensive task, liek editing video, audio recording, 3D modeling. I doubt any battery will do any good. AC is your best freind

Yeah, I'm going to be told whether or not I'm a "pro" by some semi-literate tool on the internet.

 

[dwl017]

Mac Mini here I come!!!
This sounds great.
Now I'll I want to know is the price and spec bump, that is, if there is a spec bump.



I don't believe the iMacs are expected to get a redesign.
Most likely only a spec bump and NVIDIA chip sets.

$699 - $700 for the low end and $899 for the high end Mini. This is just a common sense guess after years of following Apple products there will be no price drops forget it!

If all the people who really claim they cannot live without a Mini rush out and by the new model Apple is about to get paid!

 

[Yvan256]

So they think 5 USB ports is a good thing to have in a Mini (which I completely agree with), yet on the other hand they have 2 USB ports on their Macbook ranges. Complete utter nonsense.

MacBook:
- iSight built-in
- keyboard built-in
- trackpad built-in

Mac mini:
- webcam requires a USB port
- keyboard requires a USB port
- mouse requires a USB port (not all USB keyboards have USB ports on them)

Seems to me they both have two free USB ports in the end. Anyway, it makes more sense to use a USB hub with a laptop anyway. It allows you to connect a lot of things with only one wire. It doesn't matter much for a desktop computer to have dozens of wires, but it's a lot of clutter for a laptop who has its ports on the sides.

edit: iParis beat me to it.

 

[kolax]

Most of the people who thinks they are "pro" are not reli "pro" If you are reli a "pro" u use a lot of CPU intensive task, liek editing video, audio recording, 3D modeling. I doubt any battery will do any good. AC is your best freind

So to be a pro in your book, you need to be doing CPU intensive tasks?

Simply doing audio recording and producing (which isn't CPU intensive) or editing photos and retouching isn't a professional field?

And even video editing isn't CPU intensive. The only CPU intensive thing about these is when you are actually rendering. And if you are rendering on the battery, even with a replacement you'd still not get much time.

 

[Slowstick]

$699 - $700 for the low end and $899 for the high end Mini

Can't apple figure out a way to make an extended life battery removable??

Come on... Apple's engineers are smart.

 

[iParis]

$699 - $700 for the low end and $899 for the high end Mini

How in the world would you know this?
I don't see any reason why or any reason to believe they would raise the price.