TR Editors' blog

Apple Ensures Laptop Obsolescence

A bigger, better battery means consumers must toss their laptop when the battery wears out.

Kate Greene 01/06/2009

  • 13 Comments
The new 17-inch MacBook Pro. Credit: Apple

Apple announced a handful of somewhat interesting features and products at Macworld in San Francisco today, including new features in iLife '09, the ability to wirelessly download songs on the iPhone, iTunes music without digital rights management restrictions, and a new MacBook Pro. But the announcement that caught my eye was a new battery design for the MacBook Pro: it essentially limits the lifetime of the new laptop, ensuring its worthlessness after the battery dies.

Apple's team of dedicated engineers specializes in making batteries that fit into the sleek cases that houses its laptops. And in the new MacBook Pro, the engineers aimed for a battery that was thin and holds more energy than ever. At the keynote, Phil Schiller, vice president of products at Apple, claimed that the battery lasts eight hours, depending the use, and can be recharged 1000 times, giving it an effective lifetime of about five years.

The trick to improving the battery charge, however, was increasing its size by about 40 percent. And the limited volume within a laptop case meant that the engineers had to take something out. The component that got the boot is the housing that allows the battery to be removed and replaced when it wears out. (A great explanatory video is here.)

This means that the lifetime of the laptop itself is directly tied to the lifetime of the battery, ensuring its uselessness and disposability in five years. While Apple touts itself as a company concerned with the environment, limiting the reuse of its technology seems to blatantly ignore environmental concerns.

Apple surely anticipated this criticism. At the keynote, Schiller displayed a slide that flaunted the MacBook Pro's "environmental checklist": it's arsenic-free, BFR-free, mercury-free, has a PVC-free system, is highly recyclable, 34% smaller packaging, and a 1000-recharge battery.

Still, when those 1000 charges are up, the laptop doesn't get another life. It heads to the shredder.*

*Apple confirmed late Tuesday that the MacBook Pro 17'' batteries can be replaced professionally for an additional cost of $179.

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Viv

61 Comments

  • 1127 Days Ago
  • 01/07/2009

Cut and past journalism?

Not the best article I have read in this magazine and one that really does require a negative comment on its sensationalist conclusion.

try harder next time, maybe for more than five minutes, maybe research the after market replacement battery industry or the new businesses offering battery installation services.

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bj

50 Comments

  • 1127 Days Ago
  • 01/07/2009

Re: Cut and past journalism?

Though there wasn't a lot of meat here, the article's point is still very valid and relevant within our current environmental context. But Apple's rabid fans will come up with a way to make this irresponsibility on Apple's part a positive, I suppose. Maybe by slamming the journalist who had the chutzpah to point up the worm in the Apple?

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davidconnell

1 Comment

  • 1127 Days Ago
  • 01/07/2009

Apple Fanboy NOT a Fan of this

I'm an Apple fanboy through and through -- I've used an Apple my entire computing life (except for my beloved Commodore 64) have an iPod, iPhone the whole bit. But I also work for an environmental non-profit and this is very, very troubling.

Apple should very seriously re-consider this new "feature" as it will not produce fewer batteries in the waste stream as the company claims. It will result in more laptops in the waste steam. This is a bad day for Apple.

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bravid

6 Comments

  • 1127 Days Ago
  • 01/07/2009

Re: Apple Fanboy NOT a Fan of this

> It will result in more laptops in the waste steam. This is a bad day for Apple.

So you honestly think that people will simply throw away a 2000 laptop in favour of paying 175 having the battery replaced?  You really should make yourself aware of the facts.  Apple have stated that they will be happy to replace the batteries.

Maybe the person that wrote this blog should have looked up a few facts before writing it.

Reply

Kate Greene

17 Comments

  • 1127 Days Ago
  • 01/07/2009

Re: Apple Fanboy NOT a Fan of this

I've updated the post to reflect Apple's confirmation of a $179 fee to replace the 17'' MacBook Pro battery.

To be clear, I too use and enjoy Apple products. But I also maintain perspective on their effects environmentally, despite the company's marketing.

For most consumers, a dead laptop battery signals the end of a laptop's life. Motivated individuals replace the battery, if possible. But if the battery replacement requires a technician and a fee, fewer people still make the effort to revive the laptop.

There's a significant need for used computers in the U.S. and abroad. Reuse is generally considered a "greener" alternative to recycling, which can be a polluting process itself. But if a non-profit organization or school were given a used 17'' MacBook Pro (or a MacBook Air, which also has a built-in battery) it would incur the inflated cost and hassle of professional battery replacement. When the battery can be swapped out by the user the costs are dramatically lower, which greatly extends the machine's usable life.

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rbeyer

2 Comments

  • 1126 Days Ago
  • 01/08/2009

Re: Apple Fanboy NOT a Fan of this

I don't mean to 'beat a dead horse' but, come on! Who do you know that throws away a notebook computer simply because the battery has failed?

If you wish to argue that at the end of three to five years, the technology the notebook is composed of is a little 'long in the tooth', then fine.  But to say that a failed battery "...signals the end of a laptop's life" let alone claiming this is true "For most consumers..." is a stretch of logic that goes to death defying heights.  If that was remotely plausible, I doubt that you would see the large number of aftermarket notebook battery vendors.

Also, the statement that "When the battery can be swapped out by the user the costs are dramatically lower..." fails to take into account that this battery is expected to last at least two times longer than a traditional battery (Apple claims three times, but let's be conservative here).  I recently purchased a replacement 17" PowerBook G4 battery for about $150.  Considering that the new internal battery is expected to last two to three times longer, I can't see where the cost of $179 is "dramatically" higher.  The Apple statement regarding this cost adds that the price includes installation.

It's time to admit that you jumped the gun and made a statement that needs to be retracted.  It happens to everyone.  Now is the time to be a responsible journalist and just retract the headline that has no basis in fact.

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mhutchin

2 Comments

  • 1126 Days Ago
  • 01/08/2009

Re: Apple Fanboy NOT a Fan of this

The majority of consumers toss removable rechargeable batteries once they have reached end of life, so you're argument that a non-consumer-removable battery is worse for the environment is rubbish. As others have pointed out this battery will also have a lower total cost of ownership as well.

Why don't you simply admit you made a mistake and retract the post, instead of allowing this sensationalistic, inaccurate, and irresponsible post to remain, spreading FUD?

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rbeyer

2 Comments

  • 1127 Days Ago
  • 01/07/2009

Please...just the facts!

The headline may be attention getting, but it is woefully inaccurate.  The battery is not "user" removable in the traditional sense but it can be replaced by an Apple Service Center.

Having personally replaced my "non-user replaceable" battery in a third generation iPod, I'm sure there will be opportunity for an aftermarket battery in a few years if there are no patent protected necessities in the battery itself.

Everybody...chill and find out the facts before before looking for a "worm in the Apple".

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phaseshift

1 Comment

  • 1127 Days Ago
  • 01/07/2009

Not True!!!

The battery can be replaced for $175. It should last 3 times longer than conventional batteries. This story is simply a lie.

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mhutchin

2 Comments

  • 1127 Days Ago
  • 01/07/2009

Irresponsible

This article is simply false and way below your standards. I'm extremely disappointed.

Reply

wbdeville

18 Comments

  • 1125 Days Ago
  • 01/09/2009

Re: Irresponsible

I've got to say that this is perhaps the silliest article I've seen in Technology Review.

It seems pretty obvious to me that the engineering decision to expand the battery volume and capacity to fit available space within the enclosure, together with improvements in battery lifetime, rather than to take the conventional approach of a smaller removable battery, is a step forward.

1) The user has increased operating time before needing to recharge the battery. The vast majority of laptop users do not carry around a second battery.
2) The user will save money for battery replacements over the projected life of the new battery. The cost of replacement of the interior battery is actually a saving to the customer.
3) Replacement of and disposal of batteries by a service center will drastically reduce improper disposal of old batteries.

Result: Benefits to the customer, and to the environment.

Some might object that they need extra batteries to handle circumstances such as use in the field, requiring extended operation under battery power. But there are external power pack alternatives; in fact, the longer the duration needed for extended battery operation, the cheaper, lower-weight and more efficient such an external power pack seems in comparison to a stack of replaceable batteries.

Whatever made the writer assume that the laptop would no longer be usable after 5 years? That 5-year "life" of the battery is projected because by the time the battery has been subjected to 1,000 charge cycles, it will have only about 80% or less of the original charge capacity, and so discharge/recharge cycles will allow increasingly shorter periods of operation under battery power. But it will remain usable, especially when the charger is plugged in. It's not "junk" at the end of 5 years, even if the user waits another year or so to replace the battery.

I've got an 11-year old PowerBook 2400c that still has the original battery. It won't run very long on battery power. But it runs as well as ever when plugged in. I keep it for access to some of my old records and Classic applications, especially some databases I had created. It's not junk, for pity's sake. Obsolete? Certainly, and for a long time. I haven't used it as my laptop computer for more than 8 years, so the current short operating time on that old battery isn't relevant. Perhaps someday it will end up in a museum.

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cowsandmilk

5 Comments

  • 1127 Days Ago
  • 01/07/2009

Reuse

The article should also look into the routes most apple computers go through for reuse.  Surely places like powermax.com will know how to replace dead batteries in old laptops, giving them an extended life.  They'll probably even pull batteries out of laptops where something else died (similar to what they now do with old powerbook hard drives, which were not user-replaceable).

Claiming the life of any product is tied to a single component because it is not user-replaceable is just plain silly.

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Cryoruggie

3 Comments

  • 1121 Days Ago
  • 01/13/2009

Simple Solution

   The solution is really very simple - have a switch to select battery or plug-in operation.    
   Many of us use our laptops docked or plugged in 80% of the time, thus giving the Mac a 9 year life.
   Though I must say that most of us Windows types try to switch out our laptops every 3 or 4 years anyway...

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