That would be poor planning on your part. I would hop that you would charge your battery fully before the flight. I see people in airports all the time with plugger in computers.
Do you REALLY have to run the machine the entire flight? Other than poking around in work programs which rarely need much power, few people need the computer to use the highest battery draining functions like watching two movies one after the other.
I used to have two spare batteries with me. Charging in the hotel room or airport is always a pain. I carry portable power-strip simply because the outlets are often few and far between, this way I can always get in even if they are filled up, but you still have to remove the battery after each charge to charge the others. It’s a pain in the ass, so having an external battery that also has it’s own charging abilities would allow me to charge both at the same time. It’s much simpler.
As for duration, I’ve often have to wait in areas in terminals that aren’t near outlets, or the potential of being delayed for extended periods on the Tarmac or you are flying for more than 8 hours. Sometimes these are multiple flights but you often don’t have down time to recharge between flights. Having the extra power available in case you need it is a very good thing.
If you are playing video for a flight from Miami to Sao Paulo or to London even the new Mac batteries won’t last a single charge. Then there is a newer option of in-flight WiFi which will draina battery even more if you are connected to you IM client while watching a movie. Eventually power will become commonplace for all seats on most flights, but for now it is not.
IF you are looking at the advertised battery life for laptops dont trust them. The industry base them on MobileMark and BAPCO, who are shills for the industry. Battery life is a big selling point.
What if your battery can't last the whole flight, even if you fully charged it before getting on? Obviously with the latest macs we're now talking international flights unless you're doing CPU-intensive stuff.
Mostly, when on location we would have generators for powering lights, computers and other equipment. At the very least, we would use inverters to power computers off the van battery.
Yeah, jennies on real shoots, and most of the "adventurer" documentary film makers I know have gone to battery packs with solar chargers (at least the pro/hard core ones). But jennies on location... even in the boonies.
"Of that 5%, how many are the pro video and graphics users that spend $2000+ on a laptop, people who need hours of life in places where power may not be readily availible? what about trans contenental flyers who want to work on the flight: with no bothersome co workers or email, air travel is great working time so I hear...
the fact is, Apple spat in the face of the main base of customers who buy hi end 15 and 17 inch MBPs:
That said, I like the battery in the 13, pack more cells in there, that is the one where the users wont swap batteries.
also, load testing by...MUSIC PLAYBACK?????what the hell? who spends $2500 on a MBP to play itunes? try motion, photoshop, hell, I would even be happy with some simple trans coding in handbreak or FFMPEG"
If you were a hi end user, you would know that we use external battery packs. Triple the battery power for $250. Not cheap. But then that's "hi end".
Do you REALLY have to run the machine the entire flight?
A question:
What is the difference between a replacement battery and the external battery packs mentioned above?
Some thoughts
You can't replace the battery, but it lasts a lot longer than batteries used to.
Sometimes changing habits is not so bad, especially when there are positive aspects with the new MBPs. The new crop are so fast, i get more done in a shorter space of time than before.
I fly a lot, for me it's ok to use the battery for a few hours, then switch it off and read/sleep/mentally prepare for next job.
Walt Mossberg video reviews are the most boring thing to watch ever. He's so boring suicide seems sensible. It's not sensible, but my point has been made.
Yeah, jennies on real shoots, and most of the "adventurer" documentary film makers I know have gone to battery packs with solar chargers (at least the pro/hard core ones). But jennies on location... even in the boonies.
Yeah. Why some people seem to think that location work isn't planned out, and has enough equipment to do what's required. The cost of the equipment is just a small part of the cost of a shoot, and no one wants to get caught with their pants down if something fails.
Also, what do they think we're doing out there? Do they think we do all our editing in the field?
What is the difference between a replacement battery and the external battery packs mentioned above?
Some thoughts
You can't replace the battery, but it lasts a lot longer than batteries used to.
Sometimes changing habits is not so bad, especially when there are positive aspects with the new MBPs. The new crop are so fast, i get more done in a shorter space of time than before.
I fly a lot, for me it's ok to use the battery for a few hours, then switch it off and read/sleep/mentally prepare for next job.
There are certain things I don't understand. If someone spends $1500 to $2500 for a laptop for business, why would they complain about spending another $250 for an external battery that doubles or triples their usage time?
So an internal battery can cost another $125 to $175. That's not much less, and it's more likely to get damaged than the external one, which is much better. Since the person is sitting, the fact that it's got to plug in isn't a real issue.
Changing ones habits can be difficult for some people, but really, if one is using a computer in the first place, it should be understood that sometimes things are required to be dome.
Walt Mossberg video reviews are the most boring thing to watch ever. He's so boring suicide seems sensible. It's not sensible, but my point has been made.
What point was that?
Most reviews are boring. We don't watch or read them for the excitement, but for the information being given.
If having power on a flight is important enough to you, you'll either a) get on a flight that has AC jacks or b) upgrade to business class to access those AC jacks.
But for most people, the estimated 6-7 hours of battery life is MORE than enough to last a long haul trip.
Though I do hope Apple finds a solution for that other 5%. Perhaps something like an extra battery pack that can be hooked up via MagSafe + USB (USB to control the battery, most people wouldn't want their Mac using one battery to charge another, as that has some efficiency loss).
We'll see what they come up with to address that crowd.
Yeah I don't see why that sort of external battery pack doesn't solve the problem for 90% of that remaining 5%. Third parties make them already, don't they?
Most reviews are boring. We don't watch or read them for the excitement, but for the information being given.
I guess that's why most news is reported with eye candy in mind? To carry my attention until the next segment of interest.
Let's be honest. Ease of creating and posting video has downgraded the median quality of journalism and eye candy.
Walt should stick to print.
As for the rest of this posting, use external battery packs, end of discussion.
If you really get to 5 years on your MBP, and really are a power user, you've saved your money already in batteries, and it will warn when a change is due...so no problem. Pony up the dough! You should still be ahead, even with the external battery.
Dell kinda got this right, they sell auxiliary "wedges" that add 4-6 cells under the entire bottom surface of the laptop that just clips on and makes the laptop go for like 4 more hours. Really elegant. It makes the computer a fraciton of an inch thicker, but it is swappable without shutting down like the main battery...so double win
Double win?! No, more like they don't have a choice! Their computers don't last 7 hours! If you need it you can get an external battery pack for an extra 6 hours. If you're a pro they have ones up to 20 hours!
Why is it that none of these "gotta have replaceable batteries, Macs suck!" people have never heard of external battery packs?...
My (now) replaceable batteries on a 4+ year-old Powerbook provide 1.5 hours of juice, max; anything beyond 3-4 hours would tickle me.
It's easy to forget?-because we as a species thrive on whining--how far we've come in such little time; Apple rightly deserves the credit for thinking outside of the box. They showed the industry where to put the keyboard on laptops (rear deck); how to keep laptops from being yanked to the ground (magsafe); how to see a keyboard in low lighting; that less is more (unibody), that we didn't need floppy (3.5") disk drives; firewire ports (stay tuned for USB 3), and now, replaceable batteries
I only bought extra batteries for my dinosaur because I had to. 5 hours is fine. 10 hours may not be far away with OLED screens, SSD drives, chipsets that consume even less power and other goodies on the horizon; get a life, y'all; there are bigger fish to fry
Of that 5%, how many are the pro video and graphics users that spend $2000+ on a laptop, people who need hours of life in places where power may not be readily availible? what about trans contenental flyers who want to work on the flight: with no bothersome co workers or email, air travel is great working time so I hear...
the fact is, Apple spat in the face of the main base of customers who buy hi end 15 and 17 inch MBPs:
Oh get over yourself. You know damn well that there are external battery packs that work with Apple laptops, and you don't even need to shutdown-replace-reboot with these.
Instead Apple has made the product vastly better for 95% of users, but using a battery that has a 3x longer life and very long lifetimes per charge.
Indeed how many of that 5% who do buy a new battery buy it to replace an old battery that has effectively died anyway, rather than to swap out on the go?
I was going to upgrade soon until Apple decided to force me to an internal battery & glossy screen.
Say what you may but I'm not going to pay extra to upgrade to business class when I travel just to have a/c power for my mbp, pay extra to have a freaking internal battery replaced, be forced to live even a few days without my notebook while it's being serviced or deal with the worse idea in the history of apple ever, the Glossy Screen..!!! Apple sure has forgotten who got them here & if their next release doesn't address these issues I'm going "hackintosh", & so are a lot of other long time apple users I know.!! We have waited forever for apple to listen to its users & release a netbook & mid-size tower, but instead they shove these supposed hardware upgrades down our throat. No wonder more & more people are looking for alternative hardware on which to run OS-X.
Seriously, the only disadvantage with an external battery pack compared to an additional one of the replaceable kind is that you have to work with an external box connected to your laptop. But it does not require to put to sleep (or shutdown) to switch to the new battery and more importantly in most situations you either do not have to carry any second battery or switch to a second battery at all since the built-in one last noticeably longer.
On balance, even for those needing a second battery (or third battery) occasionally it is probably a slight win or at worst an about even. For everybody else, it is a clear win.
If having power on a flight is important enough to you, you'll either a) get on a flight that has AC jacks or b) upgrade to business class to access those AC jacks.
But for most people, the estimated 6-7 hours of battery life is MORE than enough to last a long haul trip.
Though I do hope Apple finds a solution for that other 5%. Perhaps something like an extra battery pack that can be hooked up via MagSafe + USB (USB to control the battery, most people wouldn't want their Mac using one battery to charge another, as that has some efficiency loss).
We'll see what they come up with to address that crowd.
Totally agree with you on all points. (the upgrade to business class might not go down too well lol, but airlines will add power to most seats soon I am sure).
The same sort of arguments crop up every time Apple break with convention ... "How can pros live without floppies?" ... and so on throughout history. Just watch all the other manufacturers slowly copy Apple as always. I have been a pro user since Macs began and have always embraced the forward moves even if there has been a few short term issues. In the long run Apple are usually right on the money.
Comments
That would be poor planning on your part. I would hop that you would charge your battery fully before the flight. I see people in airports all the time with plugger in computers.
Do you REALLY have to run the machine the entire flight? Other than poking around in work programs which rarely need much power, few people need the computer to use the highest battery draining functions like watching two movies one after the other.
I used to have two spare batteries with me. Charging in the hotel room or airport is always a pain. I carry portable power-strip simply because the outlets are often few and far between, this way I can always get in even if they are filled up, but you still have to remove the battery after each charge to charge the others. It’s a pain in the ass, so having an external battery that also has it’s own charging abilities would allow me to charge both at the same time. It’s much simpler.
As for duration, I’ve often have to wait in areas in terminals that aren’t near outlets, or the potential of being delayed for extended periods on the Tarmac or you are flying for more than 8 hours. Sometimes these are multiple flights but you often don’t have down time to recharge between flights. Having the extra power available in case you need it is a very good thing.
If you are playing video for a flight from Miami to Sao Paulo or to London even the new Mac batteries won’t last a single charge. Then there is a newer option of in-flight WiFi which will draina battery even more if you are connected to you IM client while watching a movie. Eventually power will become commonplace for all seats on most flights, but for now it is not.
That would be poor planning on your part.
What if your battery can't last the whole flight, even if you fully charged it before getting on? Obviously with the latest macs we're now talking international flights unless you're doing CPU-intensive stuff.
Mostly, when on location we would have generators for powering lights, computers and other equipment. At the very least, we would use inverters to power computers off the van battery.
Yeah, jennies on real shoots, and most of the "adventurer" documentary film makers I know have gone to battery packs with solar chargers (at least the pro/hard core ones). But jennies on location... even in the boonies.
the fact is, Apple spat in the face of the main base of customers who buy hi end 15 and 17 inch MBPs:
That said, I like the battery in the 13, pack more cells in there, that is the one where the users wont swap batteries.
also, load testing by...MUSIC PLAYBACK?????what the hell? who spends $2500 on a MBP to play itunes? try motion, photoshop, hell, I would even be happy with some simple trans coding in handbreak or FFMPEG"
If you were a hi end user, you would know that we use external battery packs. Triple the battery power for $250. Not cheap. But then that's "hi end".
Do you REALLY have to run the machine the entire flight?
A question:
What is the difference between a replacement battery and the external battery packs mentioned above?
Some thoughts
You can't replace the battery, but it lasts a lot longer than batteries used to.
Sometimes changing habits is not so bad, especially when there are positive aspects with the new MBPs. The new crop are so fast, i get more done in a shorter space of time than before.
I fly a lot, for me it's ok to use the battery for a few hours, then switch it off and read/sleep/mentally prepare for next job.
Yeah, jennies on real shoots, and most of the "adventurer" documentary film makers I know have gone to battery packs with solar chargers (at least the pro/hard core ones). But jennies on location... even in the boonies.
Yeah. Why some people seem to think that location work isn't planned out, and has enough equipment to do what's required. The cost of the equipment is just a small part of the cost of a shoot, and no one wants to get caught with their pants down if something fails.
Also, what do they think we're doing out there? Do they think we do all our editing in the field?
A question:
What is the difference between a replacement battery and the external battery packs mentioned above?
Some thoughts
You can't replace the battery, but it lasts a lot longer than batteries used to.
Sometimes changing habits is not so bad, especially when there are positive aspects with the new MBPs. The new crop are so fast, i get more done in a shorter space of time than before.
I fly a lot, for me it's ok to use the battery for a few hours, then switch it off and read/sleep/mentally prepare for next job.
There are certain things I don't understand. If someone spends $1500 to $2500 for a laptop for business, why would they complain about spending another $250 for an external battery that doubles or triples their usage time?
So an internal battery can cost another $125 to $175. That's not much less, and it's more likely to get damaged than the external one, which is much better. Since the person is sitting, the fact that it's got to plug in isn't a real issue.
Changing ones habits can be difficult for some people, but really, if one is using a computer in the first place, it should be understood that sometimes things are required to be dome.
Walt Mossberg video reviews are the most boring thing to watch ever. He's so boring suicide seems sensible. It's not sensible, but my point has been made.
What point was that?
Most reviews are boring. We don't watch or read them for the excitement, but for the information being given.
If having power on a flight is important enough to you, you'll either a) get on a flight that has AC jacks or b) upgrade to business class to access those AC jacks.
But for most people, the estimated 6-7 hours of battery life is MORE than enough to last a long haul trip.
Though I do hope Apple finds a solution for that other 5%. Perhaps something like an extra battery pack that can be hooked up via MagSafe + USB (USB to control the battery, most people wouldn't want their Mac using one battery to charge another, as that has some efficiency loss).
We'll see what they come up with to address that crowd.
Yeah I don't see why that sort of external battery pack doesn't solve the problem for 90% of that remaining 5%. Third parties make them already, don't they?
What point was that?
Most reviews are boring. We don't watch or read them for the excitement, but for the information being given.
I guess that's why most news is reported with eye candy in mind? To carry my attention until the next segment of interest.
Let's be honest. Ease of creating and posting video has downgraded the median quality of journalism and eye candy.
Walt should stick to print.
As for the rest of this posting, use external battery packs, end of discussion.
If you really get to 5 years on your MBP, and really are a power user, you've saved your money already in batteries, and it will warn when a change is due...so no problem. Pony up the dough! You should still be ahead, even with the external battery.
Walt, fix your facts.
Dell kinda got this right, they sell auxiliary "wedges" that add 4-6 cells under the entire bottom surface of the laptop that just clips on and makes the laptop go for like 4 more hours. Really elegant. It makes the computer a fraciton of an inch thicker, but it is swappable without shutting down like the main battery...so double win
Double win?! No, more like they don't have a choice! Their computers don't last 7 hours! If you need it you can get an external battery pack for an extra 6 hours. If you're a pro they have ones up to 20 hours!
Why is it that none of these "gotta have replaceable batteries, Macs suck!" people have never heard of external battery packs?...
It's easy to forget?-because we as a species thrive on whining--how far we've come in such little time; Apple rightly deserves the credit for thinking outside of the box. They showed the industry where to put the keyboard on laptops (rear deck); how to keep laptops from being yanked to the ground (magsafe); how to see a keyboard in low lighting; that less is more (unibody), that we didn't need floppy (3.5") disk drives; firewire ports (stay tuned for USB 3), and now, replaceable batteries
I only bought extra batteries for my dinosaur because I had to. 5 hours is fine. 10 hours may not be far away with OLED screens, SSD drives, chipsets that consume even less power and other goodies on the horizon; get a life, y'all; there are bigger fish to fry
Also, what are the consequences of the new design? Will the MBpro be more shock resistant? Is it a better seal for dust?
? when are we going to see pictures of the Macbook Pro's bottem? I'm curious to find out how it looks like: how many screws are visible etc.
iFixit has a comparison and teardown of the 13? MBP clearly showing the underbelly.
Also, what are the consequences of the new design?
Mossberg?s article mentions the prosequences and consequences of the new direction.
Will the MBpro be more shock resistant? Is it a better seal for dust?
I don?t think either of these will be any more or less than before.
Of that 5%, how many are the pro video and graphics users that spend $2000+ on a laptop, people who need hours of life in places where power may not be readily availible? what about trans contenental flyers who want to work on the flight: with no bothersome co workers or email, air travel is great working time so I hear...
the fact is, Apple spat in the face of the main base of customers who buy hi end 15 and 17 inch MBPs:
Oh get over yourself. You know damn well that there are external battery packs that work with Apple laptops, and you don't even need to shutdown-replace-reboot with these.
Instead Apple has made the product vastly better for 95% of users, but using a battery that has a 3x longer life and very long lifetimes per charge.
Indeed how many of that 5% who do buy a new battery buy it to replace an old battery that has effectively died anyway, rather than to swap out on the go?
Say what you may but I'm not going to pay extra to upgrade to business class when I travel just to have a/c power for my mbp, pay extra to have a freaking internal battery replaced, be forced to live even a few days without my notebook while it's being serviced or deal with the worse idea in the history of apple ever, the Glossy Screen..!!! Apple sure has forgotten who got them here & if their next release doesn't address these issues I'm going "hackintosh", & so are a lot of other long time apple users I know.!! We have waited forever for apple to listen to its users & release a netbook & mid-size tower, but instead they shove these supposed hardware upgrades down our throat. No wonder more & more people are looking for alternative hardware on which to run OS-X.
Maybe it's a good idea, but you can't help thinking one day it will bite you when you really need it.
And for those who want to be prepared just get an external battery pack:
http://www.hyperdrive.com/HyperMac-E...Power-s/91.htm
Seriously, the only disadvantage with an external battery pack compared to an additional one of the replaceable kind is that you have to work with an external box connected to your laptop. But it does not require to put to sleep (or shutdown) to switch to the new battery and more importantly in most situations you either do not have to carry any second battery or switch to a second battery at all since the built-in one last noticeably longer.
On balance, even for those needing a second battery (or third battery) occasionally it is probably a slight win or at worst an about even. For everybody else, it is a clear win.
If having power on a flight is important enough to you, you'll either a) get on a flight that has AC jacks or b) upgrade to business class to access those AC jacks.
But for most people, the estimated 6-7 hours of battery life is MORE than enough to last a long haul trip.
Though I do hope Apple finds a solution for that other 5%. Perhaps something like an extra battery pack that can be hooked up via MagSafe + USB (USB to control the battery, most people wouldn't want their Mac using one battery to charge another, as that has some efficiency loss).
We'll see what they come up with to address that crowd.
Totally agree with you on all points. (the upgrade to business class might not go down too well lol, but airlines will add power to most seats soon I am sure).
The same sort of arguments crop up every time Apple break with convention ... "How can pros live without floppies?" ... and so on throughout history. Just watch all the other manufacturers slowly copy Apple as always. I have been a pro user since Macs began and have always embraced the forward moves even if there has been a few short term issues. In the long run Apple are usually right on the money.