MWSF, The Keynote by Phil Schiller, Part 006 Moving on to hardware: The 17" MacBook Pro. Features the same 1920x1200 pixel display at 700:1 contrast and 60% greater colour gamut. It has a 50 USD anti-glare option!!! Like rumours mentioned, the battery is not user-replaceable. But it lasts 8 hours (!!!) and should be rechargeable a thousand times. The notebook has a 2.66 GHz processor (plus CTO options), up to 8 GB of memory (4 GB standard), same graphics as the MBP 15", 320 GB HD standard, 256 GB SSD option, 3 USB ports, FireWire 800 (1 port), ExpressCard 34 slot, Ethernet, Mini DisplayPort, basically what we're used to. Same glass trackpad as MB/MBP.
The battery is talked about rather longishly in a tech demo video. Apparently, it's Lithium Polymer, takes on strange forms and has on-battery chips that adjusts currents, so the battery life (over its lifetime) can be as healthy as it can. (Instead of failing just as the warranty runs out.) I guess we're seeing the future of MacBook/MacBook Pro batteries here, so expect the next iteration of 15" and 13" models to also not have user-replaceable batteries. The RDF is in place, I'd say. Looking at it as they're putting it, it makes sense. It'll get slammed on forums and in the press, though, I guess, if the RDF ain't good enough... Shipments start at the end of January '09. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 19:15 [article link]