Air battery swap called 'trivial'
January 18th 2008
On Wednesday, Apple published its MacBook Air battery replacement policy, eliciting a chorus of complaints from the faithful and unwashed alike. Whereas the mothership wants $150 and five days to accomplish the task, it appears the physical reality of swapping a power cell is very, very different.
AppleInsider reports that changing the MacBook Air's battery actually requires only a philips screwdriver and a few minutes.
Once flipped upside down, the MacBook Air's bottom cover is easily unscrewed and removed, providing immediate access to the battery cavity. From there, the battery can be unscrewed from the chassis with the same screwdriver and unplugged from the circuit board with a simple tug--it's not soldered to the board.
Thereupon, a person would only need about three minutes door-to-door.
Editor's note: Of course, the user will need a 37-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery, but I imagine our friends at Other World Computing are already hard-at-work remedying that problem likely for a lot less than Apple's wants...
What's your take?
