When is a non-removable battery a good thing? Apparently, when Apple says it is.

How do you make a non-removable laptop battery on a laptop sound like a good thing? Dive deep—way deep—into the manufacturing and the engineering process.

That trick did wonders when Apple marketed the daylights out of its aluminum brick design on the MacBook 13-inch (Aluminum) and the MacBook Pro 15-inch battery (Dual Graphics). Armed with videos and images meant to wow viewers, the company showed how a thick slab of aluminum is molded into thin notebooks.

The battery in the new Apple Macbook Pro 17-inch battery can not be swapped out, at least not by the end user, since it is housed in a unified chassis. Apple talked in depth about how the battery bay was conceived, using terms like “advanced chemistry,” “intelligent monitoring,” and “adaptive charging.” Then a video of how the battery is manufactured was shown to the press, emphasizing the slightest of details.

In many ways, the battery is different from that of the original 17-inch Macbook Pro battery. Other laptops use cylindrical cells in their batteries – Duracell AA batteries, for instance – while Apple customized its own shapes. Instead of using lithium ion cells, as is common in most laptops, the new batteries are made out of lithium polymer, which holds a longer charge but are also more expensive. And what’s another sure-fire way to justify a non-removable battery? Use the buzz-words that every company is using: “green,” “eco-friendly,” and “recyclable”. A permanent battery means that Apple can minimize and monitor the amount of waste that goes into a landfill. Throw in the environmental catchphrases of the day—PVR-free, mercury-free, and arsenic-free—and Apple has you in the palm of its hand.

The company is claiming that the new MacBook offers between seven and eight hours on a single charge, depending on which Nvidia GPU is used, but we all know that these battery figures can’t be trusted. The original MacBook Pro 17-inch reported a score of 2 hours 25 minutes on a benchmark test we ran called MobileMark 2007. And since the original battery is rated at 60WH, a 40 percent larger battery (or so claims Apple laptop battery) should boost the capacity into the 85WH range. Other laptops with 80-85WH batteries and similar specifications usually top out at four hours of battery life. With the new Apple battery and the fancy technology, the battery should approach five hours.

Wait, let me rephrase that: It had better get 5 hours since you’ll probably have to pay Apple A1057 a bundle to replace it (because degradation and self-discharge are inherent bugs associated with batteries).

In three years’ time–and this is a rough estimate–if it does indeed last for more than 5 hours, the laptop battery is right back where it started: 2 hours and 25 minutes. That’s assuming that the other parts won’t die first. So that doesn’t sound too bad.

What’s worrisome is that Apple might do the same thing to the MacBook 13-inch battery and the MacBook Pro 15-inch, and while longer battery life is a plus, a removable battery gives users peace of mind that a replacement part can easily be purchased from eBay. And being able to carry multiple batteries is a plus for constant travelers, so that the laptop can last multiple days without a charge. If the MacBook Air, the iPods, the iPhones, and this new MacBook Pro are any indication, say goodbye to removable batteries.

The news is from : pcmag.com