MacBook's "Unremovable" Battery Easy To Remove

Slatterz writes "Going just a bit further than your average unboxing, someone has stripped a new 17-inch Apple Macbook Pro to its component parts revealing one or two little surprises. The biggest of which is that the built-in battery is easily accessible, requiring the tinkerer to remove just the 13 Philips screws which hold the bottom cover in place, and the three tri-wing security screws which hold the battery in place."

Comments

/sarcasm

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone for forgot the <sarcasm> tag in the article summary.

Re:/sarcasm

[DrLang21]

16 screws is a hell of a lot easier than it was for me to replace my old iBook hard drive! 54 screws! I only had one left over when I was done.

Re:/sarcasm

[MightyYar]

I got about halfway into it after a couple of beers and in the end decided to just live with the 40GB that it came with :)

Re:/sarcasm

[telchine]

I never have problems removing components from Macs. I take great pleasure it taking a sledgehammer to them after they die 2 days after the warranty expires!

Re:/sarcasm

[quenda]

alright: famous quote #17:

4 hrs ought to be enough for anybody.

-- Steve Jobs

Re:/sarcasm

[Col Bat Guano]

Someone posted a story about them using tape to secure the screws of his Apple laptop, only to have his cat walk across him, collecting the tape, getting frantic and running around the house.

When he first noticed he did the big leap (in slow motion of course) yelling "Nooooooooo!!!!!!!"

WOW

[timeOday]

Just 16 screws? How does Jobs do it? That shouldn't take more than 20 minutes or so during my flight to Australia.

Re:WOW

[essinger]

Just 16 screws? How does Jobs do it?

You know some people don't realize how easy it can be to change to a generic power adapter by just soldering a new power connector attachment to the motherboard. Ahh, convenience!

Re:WOW

[Laser_iCE]

Just 16 screws? And it should only take you 20 minutes? I wish I was lucky enough to join the Mile High Club in such style!

Re:WOW

[nmosfet]

And I thought it was hard to use a two button mouse.

Re:WOW

[wjh31]

you think you can take a screwdriver on a plane?

Re:WOW

[binarybum]

whoops, my very clever tags didn't show up.

Re:WOW

[markov_chain]

Do what I do. Forget about changing the internal battery. Instead, take a deep-cycle lead-acid unit with desired capacity, put in a voltage regulator, and solder on a black and red pigtail with a DC plug matching your laptop on the other side. Secure everything with lots of duct tape, leaving a bit of the pigtail to stick out. Make as many of these as you need.

p.s. these are a real hit on airplanes!

Re:WOW

[PopeRatzo]

Well if the company ain't paying for you to fly business they can't expect you to do business on the plane.

Here's someone who doesn't work for a software company.

Re:WOW

[Lars T.]

isn't it possible to run a MBP off the power socket in the seat?

Yes, but only if you pay extra for a seat with a power socket at the correct voltage.

Yeah, you could be in big trouble if they put you on a 390V socket.

Re:WOW

[Bobartig]

Except to "fix your car analogy, "tires" are a commodity that will be replaces at most once or less in 95% of cases over the useful expected life of the car, and that 50% increase in mileage lowers the expected replacement rate to zero.

Here's a thought, how about comparing it to a car's BATTERY?

Re:"Easy"?

[djupedal]

> What does that make them?

Over designed...?

Re:"Easy"?

[corychristison]

My laptops require zero screws to remove. What does that make them?

Idiot^WZombie-proof.

Re:"Easy"?

[Erikderzweite]

No, that's different. Think different, remember?

Scotty Need more power

[ireallylovelinux]

Scotty I need more power to the aft engines. I am working on it captain but I am having trouble getting the 13 screws removed from the dilithium battery.

If only....

[zach_the_lizard]

Now if only someone could design a laptop battery that is removable without opening the case. I know, I know, this is WAY too futuristic in this day and age, even for a company like Apple with the appropriate vision.

I've been up all night trying to find a way to design such a battery, but so far all I've been able to do is marvel at the shear ease of the Apple battery removal. My designs required 20 screws be removed!

Huh?

[Falconhell]

Ah, this is obviously some strange new meaning of the phrase easy to replace.

Oh, so it's easy!

[Bandman]

Cross the chasm of doom, fight the dragon, and then just pick up the crystal of enchantment.

Simple.

Excellent

[RMH101]

Things I Have Done To My 2000UKP MacBook Pro Computer That I Couldn't Afford To Replace Anymore Whilst Drunk:
Replaced the stock hard disk with a larger one
Taken the screen apart and fitted a sheet of overhead transparency paper with the old Apple rainbow colours to make the Apple logo light up like an old Powerbook's

I'm also a big fan of flashing the firmware of anything you can get your hands on whilst under the influence of a 4 pack of beer. Nothing beats the buzz of half-assed hardware hacking!