MacBook Pros Sealed Batteries Perform Well

The new MacBook Pros now all come with sealed batteries. This was just once the territory of the mighty 17 inch model. Not anymore. The recent refresh brought that technology to its smaller siblings, the 15 inch and the recent addition to the MacBook Pro line-up the 13 inch.

MacBook Pro Family, Image courtesy of Apple Inc.

According to Walt Mossberg who had the chance to test both the 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pro and put it through the paces of his own battery test, both laptops performed well. The 13 inch lasted a slighty below the 5 hour mark while the 15 inch was 21 minutes above the 5 hour marker. This says well considering no power saving feature was turned on and the screen brightness was cranked up. In normal usage, expect battery life to be even slightly higher.

I for one was at first skeptical of the notion that I can’t replace the battery of my laptop. However looking back, ever since I’ve owned a laptop, I’ve never bought a spare battery. Hmmm… I guess I just like the thought that I could replace it if I wanted to. Mossberg cites in his article that only less than 5% of consumers actually buy spare batteries. This figure was from NPD, a research firm. I would believe that this figure is close to the truth.

I guess we just need to let go of our need to control things and trust that technology works. Apple was able to increase battery size and life in its MacBook Pro line of computers without adding weight or heft. I guess its a decent trade-off to the fact that you can’t replace it yourself. Apple also claims that their batteries will last up to 5 years. So by the time it’s time to change batteries it’s also time to change computers.

So we’ll see in the days to come if indeed sealed batteries are the way to go.