Apple’s vice president spills the secret of MacBook Pro’s Battery

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 5:48
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Phil Schiller, Apple’s vice president, recently introduced Apple’s 17-inch MacBook Pro notebook at Macworld Expo. The laptop boasts of an eight hour battery backup. Phil spent a good deal of time in bragging about the laptop’s battery. He stated that Apple MacBook Pro’s battery will deliver their longest battery life ever. The MacBook Pro’s Lithium-Polymer battery comprises sheets of polymer plastic. As its reviews, these sheets of polymer plastic are capable of being molded into any shape.

They acquire far less space than the conventional Lithium-Ion batteries with cylindrical cells. The polymer plastic battery accounts for a flatter, thinner shape. Apple claims that their latest battery offers up to eight hours of run time. The battery has a life span of five years. These features have been welcomed by technology insiders. Gene Munster, a senior research analyst at investment bank Piper Jaffray said “From a business standpoint, it’s the best thing because you do pick up some design improvements”.

The life of battery cells is extended through the use of an innovative technology. The battery houses a chip on each battery cell. When the battery is put on charge, instead of the battery being charged at a consistent voltage, the chips on each of the battery cells get charged with appropriate voltage. This increases the overall life of the battery.

Apple’s 17-inch MacBook Pro’s battery is not easily removable or user-replaceable. Replacement of the battery will cost the user US$179 at an Apple Store. Gene Munster says about the idea of a non removable battery, “When the iPod came out, people thought it was a crazy idea. Now it’s the standard. This is the direction and it makes sense.”

Kyle Wiens, CEO of Mac and iPod upgrade instruction site iFixit is not in favor of the non removable battery. He says “Whenever you build a device and you have something that’s a diminishable resource and Apple says it’s not consumable by the user, that doesn’t sit well with me. It’s your device; you should be able to do what you want with it.” But as far as overall performance of the battery is concerned, he is pretty impressed.