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MacBook's "Unremovable" Battery Easy To Remove

Posted by timothy on from the just-unscrew-16-handy-screws dept.

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."

6 of 476 comments (clear)

  1. "Easy"? by MrEricSir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A total of sixteen screws. To change the battery. And that's "easy"?

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

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    1. Re:"Easy"? by Anti_Climax · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My laptop [batteries?] require zero screws to remove. What does that make them?

      Removeable

      --
      Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
    2. Re:"Easy"? by vux984 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A total of sixteen screws. To change the battery. And that's "easy"?

      To change a battery that is not designed to be removed by the end user? Yes. That's easy. Especially compared to the effort required to change the hard drive in an original clamshell ibook, for example.

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

      It makes them laptops designed to have the battery removed by the user.

      Hint: Glibly comparing the difficulty of removing parts 'designed for end user removal' and removing parts 'not designed for end user removal' leads to a FAIL. What do they teach kids in school these days?

  2. non-removable batteries by OrangeTide · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the mounting hardware for clip-in hardware uses up a fair amount of space that you could use for a larger battery. While Apple's decision is inconvenient for travelers that like to switch to spare batteries. It is probably a useful change for most customers who would rather have 10% more battery capacity, and to Apple who probably saves a little money on build costs. The third party battery market probably won't even hiccup at the difference, eventually providing users the ability to buy a battery (and throw in a couple of screw drivers as a "kit"). How often do you replace a weak/broken battery? Once every couple of years and hopefully not more often than that.

    Given that Apple assumes you need to take it to a certified apple tech to replace the battery, they will either have to eat the cost of replacement or bundle the price in with the battery part cost. But overall it is probably a net savings for Apple.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  3. Re:Non Removable Again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What lesson would that be? The one where they corner the portable music market and become a pop culture icon? Oh...

  4. Re:WOW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, obviously, but I think it's still a valid design criticism given that battery swapping was trivially easy before - all you needed was a coin or a strong fingernail - and now you need to do all this.