Why we are deluding ourselves about the need for replaceable batteries
Apple has repeatedly acted as a magnet for criticism with its trend towards offering hardware with non-user replaceable batteries. First with the iPod range, then the iPhone, and more recently with two of its MacBook laptops.
Rechargeable batteries do wear out. Each recharge has less capacity than previously. Typically, after 18 months of mobile phone use the battery will last for 70-80% of its original life. Hence the flak Apple has attracted.
But I’ve been pondering whether I’ve ever bought a replacement battery for any device I’ve owned: mobile phone, laptop, camera, mp3 player, games console or anything else. Or, if I’ve ever been issued with one by my employer for any of the various work laptops I’ve used.
I can think of only one instance, and it wasn’t for the Nokia mobile phone I used for four years, or for the two work laptops that managed under an hour of battery life by the time I gave them up.
Ironically, it was for my first generation iPod, which was shipped with a supposedly sealed in battery. Regardless, I bought a third party replacement, prised open the case, and fitted it.
Additional batteries are typically very expensive, hard to source, and the new batteries only become useful when most gadgets have been superseded by cheaper newer models of the gadget. Very few devices have a usable life of more than two to three years.
I really wonder if this is a case of most people’s perceptions being different from reality. Apple may be right here. But if our perception is at odds then Apple will still suffer reduced sales because of a perceived problem that doesn’t exist for most.
Postscript – Despite the above, I bet my iPhone will be the next device that needs a new battery mid life!
I don’t usually personally, but I’ve known some people use gadgets well beyond the 2-3 year deadline you mention.
For example I know someone who uses laptops basically until they fail and would probably consider 5+ years a desirable lifetime.
I bought an extra battery for my Thinkpad,. but this was because the standard battery has a fairly short life and I wanted to switch to the extended life model which was an option.
And again I’ll probably continue using that machine until it dies.
Michael Stevens
January 29, 2009 at 10:00 am
I’m rather in Michael’s camp; I upgrade when the old device stops working, not when something newer and shinier comes out. (Current battery-type gadgets: Nokia 7110, Palm T3, iAudio X5, EeePC. Two of those have easily user-replaceable batteries, one can be done with difficulty, one can’t.)
Anyone who’s blowing money on an iPhone at current prices is probably the sort of person who’ll blow money on next year’s cool toy too. Smart move for Apple, who are generally overpriced and rely on selling to suckers anyway.
RogerBW
January 29, 2009 at 11:56 am
Well I’m actually pretty inconsistent. Some things I’ll upgrade quickly.
At the moment I’m veering towards long product lives due to a mix of the economic situation and a decision a year or two ago to focus on linux (which seems to get much more life out of hardware. I was upgrading much more frequently during my flirtation with apple).
Michael Stevens
January 29, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Re Upgrade when the old device stops working:
In my experience with mobile devices, other things break long before the battery dies….
Ian Fogg
February 6, 2009 at 12:04 am
Here’s a scenario for you, suggested by a recent RISKS-Digest: your MacBook Air gets rooted, and your confidential data are being used for all sorts of dubious things (not least making a VPN connection into your office servers). How do you stop it?
You can’t unplug the network cable, because it’s all going over 802.11; you can’t turn it off, because all of that’s under software control, and you no longer have control of the software; you can’t pull out the battery.
About all you can do is hope you brought a tin box with you and wait for the battery to run down…
RogerBW
February 13, 2009 at 9:31 pm
On the MBA, plug in external USB DVD or USB drive, boot and press the magic button to boot external. That’s controlled by the EFI BIOS before anything on the internal drive comes into effect…
To force reboot, again there’s the magic key combo that is managed by BIOS and not MacOS.
Real issue here is not pro/con unremoveable hard drive, but that there needs to be *some* hardware way to override software. Could be a switch to control WiFi, could be something else…
Ian Fogg
February 21, 2009 at 2:34 pm