<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>Yeah right. This coming from someone who builds PCs. LOL! Are you even listening to yourself?<p><hr></blockquote><p><br>Let's see, if I need to replace a component in my PC I simply pop the side off and replace the part. I don't even need a screwdriver because the case is tooless. <br><br>Exactly what does that have to do with replacing a battery in a notebook?<br><br>Yes, I am listening to myself. I must hold Apple to a higher standard than you do, apparently. What's wrong with wanting an easily replaceable battery? There's zero reason for it to not have one. Mike is in complete agreement with me!<br><br><br><br>Hey I'm an F'n Jerk!®

MHO, it's overpriced anyway...<br><br>It matters not. Apple will sell enough to recoup its investment even if it isn't even close to perfection. <br><br>Now that Apple's engineers have finally delivered this pet project, not to mention they actually got Intel to rework their pride & joy chip to make it even smaller, proving Apple has muscle and integrity to reinvent what was once perceived as near-perfect, they can begin to focus on the next big thing. <br><br>Apple can afford to take risks, even in this economy, because they have R&D money to burn. Meanwhile, before the year is over we are going to see a parade of wannabe look-a-likes from Sony, Dell, Toshiba, and HP all claiming to have more features and are more affordable but we're not going to see thinner or lighter notebooks. No one can compromise with as much finesse and style as Apple. <br><br>Hell Apple probably did this just to prove you can have a full-sized, back-lit keyboard in a notebook-style computer instead of the toy-like keyboards in the PC world.<br><br>Replaceable... mmmh. Where else can we apply that same logic to products we buy that have no user serviceable parts installed?<br><br><br>M i c h a e l (OFI)

Mike is in complete agreement with me!<br><br>Oh well then hell, I'll just STFU then and leave it at that. Shoot with mike in complete agreement with you I guess that makes my argument look really foolish, as now it's two to one.<br><br>You two are right and Apple should just recall them all and make a public apology to the consumers, the board, and its shareholders for shipping these things with batteries that are not replaceable.<br><br>I guess in some respects it's a good thing these batteries are rechargeable, huh? So at least those first few suckers who get stuck with them will be able to extend the life of these batteries.<br><br><br><br><br>M i c h a e l (OFI)

This is a totally inane thread and SgtBaxter is a F'n Jerk!<br><br>Apple made this thing as slim as can be and squished in a floppy battery into the slimmest case possible. Any addition to stiffen it as a real replaceable battery would have added thickness and weight.<br><br>So Apple thinks, how do we sell this?<br><br>1) non replaceable because because if we allow someone to replace this under warranty people are going to be screwing their computers up. It is a 67watt charged battery which would torch someone who isn't payng attention. 1.5 % would screw it up.<br><br>2) They know that by 9 months in when someone might actually want a fresh battery a 3rd party will have made one. Cool. Apple makes it with only 9 screws then 10 more and you replace it for an 89 buck 3rd party.<br><br>How exactly is Apple screwing anyone? They have to say it is nonuser replaceable because of that 1.5% which can't handle counting screws with a 00 driver. But if you have two brain cells you can replace it. If you are brain dead someone can do it for what looks to be a 12 minute swap at an Apple Computer store.<br><br>Your subject line means you are officially a F'n Jerk! Especially since I already bought one. This is the computer I have been waiting for. It has one flaw. It is too tall. If the fat as[i][/i]s in front of me in coach rocks all the way back this won't fit on the tray. I want the battery to be harder to extract. Not easier.<br><br>

The G4 Cube? <br>Anybody else remember that? It, too, sacrificed functionality and expandability for the sake of style. And it ended up being discontinued after about 12 months due to poor sales, whereupon it immediately became a collector's item.<br> I think the same fate is in store for the Air.<br>This thing is a 'dud'!<br><br>[color:blue][/b]Hodie mihi. Cras tibi.</font color=blue>[/b]

Ah, that one goes in my favorites and we bring it back up in six months. You compare it to the Cube. The cube didn't have a niche to fit in. The MBA has a niche. A very powerful one. A very lightweight computer one will take to the meeting, on the plane. I've been dying for one. No one was dying for the cube.<br><br>I am not certain since it will be a week before I have one in my hand but I think I can bet you that your post will be posted right up there with the "iPods are so dumb, there are plenty of MP3 players out there" posts.<br><br>I predict it will be very successful. So successful they they diverge two ways. They make it cheaper. Same sort of thing as the intro but 1,200 bucks but not until the first wave. They also come out with the fully loaded. Oh wait, they already did. Well fully loaded but the SSD disk becomes much cheaper as it will. Apple has thought ahead. Removing the optical is as crazy as when the removed the floppy. Insane. That high end MBA will be the killer computer next year when a computer with no moving parts and 120GB drive is not cost prohibitive. Meanwhile the low end one cleans up.<br><br>

I agree with you Sarge, but I think "ripping you off" might be a bit off-target. I mean, no one is going to be forced to buy one of these things. And the people who do buy it will know about the battery issue well ahead of the purchase and be willing to live with it. But I agree that any battery-powered product should be user friendly in regards to something as basic as changing the battery. That's actually my biggest complaint about the iPhone. And yes, there have been a billion iPhones sold and maybe as many of the Air eventually also, but like you said - how difficult could it really be to make the battery on these products (including the iPod) accessible to the user? I wonder how many cordless power tools Black & Decker would sell if you had to ship your drill off every time it needed a new battery, for example?<br><br>Anyway, my 2¢ worth. Flame on!<br><br>

I still have my Cube. Still think it's a work of art. I acknowedge its pitfalls and having owned one I can honestly say that I don't think this is a revisitation of Apple's Cube experience. <br><br>It will do anyting you want it to do provided you don't want to stash 30 gigs of music on it or crunch video.<br><br>But what kind of moron would buy it for that anyway? Seriously? And anyone that got one of these unfreakingbelievably sexy machines with the intention of doing so would deserve to be screwed by the experience.<br><br>People are gonna see this thing in airports and internet cafes. People are gonna talk. In the automotive industry, we see a phenomenon where a car is designed to bolster the marque-- and more often than not-- that car actually looses money itself but winds up being good for the company. Acura never made a lot of money on the NSX or the S2000, but they sold a lot of Civics and RSXs because of them. I think that this perfectly wonderful (for what it is) notebook is perfectly analogous to that. People are gonna see it and they are going to go to the website out of curiosity. They're going to buy MBs and MBPs if they don't buy MBAs.<br><br>

Well the drill is a bad analogy, simply the drill is designed to replace the battery from the get go.<br><br>Walt Mossberg said it the best in his review<br><br>1 - He does NOT nor does he knows anyone who carries an extra battery in the first place - nor do I for that matter. Plus there is always somewhere to plug the MBA in at an airport and even airliners today have power ports to plug in,, not to mention hotels and Inns also have somewhere to plug in.<br><br>2 - If you are the "niche" market that really NEEDs to carry an extra battery - Simply the MBA is NOT for you - do not buy the dang thing and stop the crying about it.<br><br>Bottom Line;<br>If the MBA had a replaceable battery, more standard ports and a DVD drive - It would not be thin nor would it weigh 3 pounds - buy a MB or a MBP for heavens sake.<br><br>

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>1 - He does NOT nor does he knows anyone who carries an extra battery in the first place - nor do I for that matter. Plus there is always somewhere to plug the MBA in at an airport and even airliners today have power ports to plug in,, not to mention hotels and Inns also have somewhere to plug in.<br><br>2 - If you are the "niche" market that really NEEDs to carry an extra battery - Simply the MBA is NOT for you - do not buy the dang thing and stop the crying about it.<p><hr></blockquote><p>Exactly, I know of no one with an extra laptop battery.<br><br>------> JD's Trivia game<br><br>------> MCF-MM Trivia game