Looks like MBA won't be hard to upgrade

[chp5592]

at least the hard drive and battery looks user replaceable. Take four screws off the bottom, at it looks like this is what you find... (captured from keynote address video)




see the battery looks like it pops off the posts with connector at bottom right. probably a non-soldered connector. that is why the battery is replaceable at the apple store.

see the ata 1.8 inch hard drive in upper left probably has a mini ata connector. probably could exchange for same form factor hard drive.

probably could exchange the ata hard drive for SSD when they are cheaper in the future. you can now buy a 32gb SSD 1.8 inch drive made by samsung at Newgg.com for about $400.... This could be enough to run Lepard and business stuff.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147021

what do you think???

just my thoughts. certainly lot easier looking than getting at the MBP hard drive!!! i am waiting eagerly for my MBA (ordered on announce date) and probably will upgrade to SSD when they are much cheaper in six to nine month.

 

[clayj]

If the battery is that easily replaceable, that's great. You should be able to get your battery replaced at an Apple Store within a single visit so that you don't have to be without the MBA for any length of time... drop it off, go get lunch or do some shopping, come back and pay $129 and you're good to go.

If this is correct, then Apple did a good thing. The MacBook is a good example of an easily upgradeable machine; the MacBook Pro is a nightmare if you want to replace the hard drive. It'll be interesting to see if people really do hack their MBAs to install higher-capacity HDs or SSDs, or if we can replace our own batteries with third-party batteries.

 

[ashjamben]

abit off topic, but you say 'pay $129' for a new battery. i got told when i bought my macbook that if the batteries life decreases it can be replaced for free under applecare. is that right?

 

[Mal]

abit off topic, but you say 'pay $129' for a new battery. i got told when i bought my macbook that if the batteries life decreases it can be replaced for free under applecare. is that right?

If it's an abnormal decrease during the time span you're covered under AppleCare, yes. However, many people either don't purchase AppleCare, have to replace the battery after it runs out, decide to replace it for a non-covered reason, etc. In that case, the batteries for most Apple computers have always been $129, and have of course been user-replaceable. This one only differs on the second point.

jW

 

[killmoms]

If it's an abnormal decrease during the time span you're covered under AppleCare, yes. However, many people either don't purchase AppleCare, have to replace the battery after it runs out, decide to replace it for a non-covered reason, etc. In that case, the batteries for most Apple computers have always been $129, and have of course been user-replaceable. This one only differs on the second point.

jW

Not that there's any official ruling from Apple yet (so this is purely speculation), but I'd imagine you'd have to degrade your battery to 50% of its original capacity or less during the time you're covered by AppleCare in order to qualify for a free battery replacement. Otherwise, you'd have to pony up $129.

And, considering that's the rule for iPods, which are only covered (by default) for the first year, I'm really not sure how it'd shake out.

 

[ashjamben]

ye, i just remember the sales guy telling me at the apple shop. something along the lines of 'applecare is only £50 with student discount, and after 3 years your battery will probably need replacing which would more than £50, so for that reason alone it's worth it.'. i was going to buy applecare anyway, but its just something i remember. when i first thought about getting a laptop i thought i'd be best off trying to conserve the amount of times i actually run it off the battery, but after he said that i changed my mind and run it from the battery the most of the time, unless im sat at my desk.

 

[torpy]

abit off topic, but you say 'pay $129' for a new battery. i got told when i bought my macbook that if the batteries life decreases it can be replaced for free under applecare. is that right?

Well, I don't have applecare and just got my battery replaced for free under the 1yr limited warranty. 'Twas a 6month-old battery with only ~40 cycles and ~67% health..

 

[mrJnC]

FWIW, even with AppleCare, if the battery has more than 300 cycles they won't offer to replace it.

 

[apachie2k]

kinda off topic, but i think its ridiculous that apple doesn't sell HD's that you can replace yourself, on computers that have easy HD swapping like the mb, or the mac pro...