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For those of us who like to keep a product for many years, this is an incentive to look elsewhere. I refuse to buy any electronic product in which I cannot replace the battery myself.

Apple decives aren't designed for repair.

That would actually make our lives easy.

As a tinkerer that still has multiple G5s and a Macbook with parts spanning 3 generations and multiple case colours, I understand the issue with closed-case design. HOWEVER- I'd like to challenge any naysayers to design a system wherein these technologies and a 7+ hour battery fit inside 1/2" worth of vertical space with extreme modularity and serviceability. People keep asking for these thin, super-rigid, extremely high-spec'd notebooks... well, this is how you make such a laptop. Now you want thin, rigid, well-spec'd, AND user servicable? This laptop is so thin that having a removeable battery would compromise the structure of the case and having a RAM upgrade DIMM slot would cause the board to be too tall to fit the backlit keyboard on top. Yes, the HD is currently un-upgradeable, but it is removeable meaning eventually 3rd parties will be selling solid state drives for this unit just like every other. Sure, my white/black Macbook can be torn apart with a Torx and a mini phillips, but every place on the laptop where one frame piece connects to a case piece has cracked or bent or warped at some point. My unibody Macbook Pro? still gorgeous and amazingly rigid compared to any previous Mac and any PC. I pick up my laptop by the palm rest all the time, this is an important devolopment. So all in all, if you want to pull your laptop apart so you can buy an $89 battery for it rather than pay $129 for an Apple-installed battery, I guess you should just buy the still-awesome non-retina 15" MBP.

Well then we are both happy, you with whatever you like, and me with my new Retina Display Macbook Pro soon to be delivered. I already have laptops and other computers that I can fix myself. I am honestly looking forward to having this particular machine. If it ever needs to be repaired, fine! I agree with the comment made by KearyOrtiz.

This is a incredibly expensive throw away notebook. Apple has finally made a locked piece of hardware that forces you to configure and pay Apple for additional upgrades and improvements upfront when you buy. Apple is trying very hard to make you replace not repair or upgrade their products. I would have to drink a lot of Apple juice to want to buy one of these.

DlBetty, on 13 June 2012 - 11:09 AM, said:

You are obviously one of those people who don't think practically about a product. You prefer to buy something that shows your one of the elite one percent who
want's to show how you don't care about the substance. Good for you, if you can afford one of these and not be concerned about its limitations. Then you truly
are not worried about the price or its value.

jscott418, on 17 June 2012 - 04:31 AM, said:

Or maybe you are one of those elitests whos views you feel the need to shove down others throats.
Not everyone cares about upgrades. My wife, for example, has never upgraded a laptop to date. So why should she care? She doesn't. Nor do most other people. So how about getting off your high horse, and consider other peoples needs for a change?

But since it's all solid state the need to repair is nearly zero... It will give 6-10 years of useful life, then give it to a kid...

oldnuke69, on 13 June 2012 - 07:41 AM, said:

Not sure what you mean? This machine will last longer than you need (6-10 years), so you seemed to be confused. And yes, the battery is easily replaceable just like with all Apple products...

waldojim, on 17 June 2012 - 09:12 AM, said:

You are buying this thing and you want to talk about "needs"? You don't need a 2880 by 1800 resolution and some shiny metal unibody case any more than you need a BMW to get to work. This is a frivolous luxury item that fanboys and computer illiterates can by and go "nanana we're better" like they always do.

We care about upgrades because we care about who the future of technology belongs to, the user or the manufacturer? Apple clearly wants to take as much from the user as they can and strictly control everything behind this cutesy face like some kind of totalitarian Disneyland. Your wife probably has never touched a heavily resource intensive program in her life, of modified any product to make it better suit her needs, so what relevance is this? Why would I care about what your wife does? She doesn't represent our demographic and neither do "most people" who are completely clueless when it comes to tech. Some of us have scenes to render, go back to Facebook.

OS11, on 18 June 2012 - 09:48 AM, said:

I've never seen any li-ion polymer battery last more than 3 or 4 years. After that, one could always keep the laptop permanently plugged in? Or send it away for repairs... What a hassle. Oh don't forget to make an appointment with the Genius Bar, first.

~~~~~~~~~~
Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American Poet and Essayist

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
~ Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi, 1893-1986, American Biochemist

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
~ Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, 16th President of the United States

JordanBurke, on 12 July 2012 - 09:24 PM, said:

Some people do NEED high resolution displays to work on. Who are YOU to claim otherwise? Eh? The "shiny metal unibody" case leads to a LONG LIFE machine. Something I know I want. Why pay twice for what a Mac will do once? The case is as functional as it is pleasing. Higher quality products cost more. End of story. If YOU want to justify cheapo products that fall apart in weeks, go for it. But get off other peoples backs for wanting quality. My wife also happens to fit into about 90% of the buying market right now. People who need a machine to fill a role, not to tinker with, toy with, other other wise [censored] with. People buy a machine for a purpose, and roll with it. TECHIES, people who want to tinker with [censored], buy Sagger, Clevo, Asus, MSI, etc when they want to play around with a machine. The average person just doesn't care. Get over yourself.

WinTard, on 12 July 2012 - 09:50 PM, said:

For what it is worth, I haven't either, yet companies like Mitsubishi are promising their Li-poly batteries will last for EIGHT years. Take it for what it is worth...
http://www.mitsubish...oom/overview.do
Battery technology is evolving. Maybe our expectations should too?

waldojim, on 12 July 2012 - 11:37 PM, said:

You're right. Mitsubishi were also promising beamed energy from space. Comparing research batteries that are still coming "sometime" in future to justify an incorrect argument is disingenious.

iFan back there said li-ion batteries lasted 6 to 10 years (which is complete rubbish, even in idle laptops) in an attempt to justify single component laptops. Even Apple give them an average life span of 2.5 years, or 1000 charges.

I agree with posters saying it's ridiculous to pay that much for a laptop, then $200+ dollars for a replacement that can only be done at a proper replacement store. And where I live in Australia, it will be double that cost.

Apple can get away with single, fixed component phones, but they will be pushing it on high end laptops.

LeathMuller, on 14 July 2012 - 06:46 PM, said:

That would be an intelligent statement if you knew what you were talking about.

Research batteries? I think not. CHECK THE DAMNED LINK I PROVIDED YOU. These are being sold RIGHT NOW. You can buy cars with these batteries with EIGHT YEAR WARRANTIES.

Quote

Except that it isn't complete rubbish if you take care of your batteries. Many will last for 4 years as it is. You have to take care of them though. Most people won't as they don't care.

Unfortunately mine had to go back. There appears to be no insulation for the ports. Plugging in a USB3 device unconnected to the mains STILL cause the screen to dim and sparking at the point of connection. THe design is dreadful in that the ports out through the metal chassis directly. Connecting anything can cause its supply and the laptops battery to short out, as you are linking the battery with the chassis and any power supply your external drive may have. I tried plugging in and then turning on the external drives power afterward but this had exactly the same effect.

Then an electrical firestorm broke out on the monitor attached. All hell broke loose as though a maniac playing with fractals had commandeered the special effects department of a Batman movie, so I had to unplug the monitor from the now aptly named thunderbolt port (should it be Thunderbox?) only to discover that all my thumbnails in Aperture were now overlaid by a large magenta square . I though it was only the monitor, but the Retina screen had the same magenta square. Since when the screen had an uncorrectable green cast, so I went, pleaded my case and got my money returned (from a store, not Apple-who do not give a 2 year EU warranty). This being the FOURTH attempt to buy a Mac should I stop?