lithium-polymer

• So we all know a good amount of the green moves big companies make are just to shush the public’s concerns and to appease stockholders, however, it appears that Apple, with their new macbook pro release, is actually making a legitimate effort with this one.
• Apple’s new 17″ unibody MacBook Pro boasts a non-removable battery, similar to the design of the iPhone, iPod, and the MacBook Air.
• The 13″ and 15″ models both have removable battery and are significantly thicker, as you can see in the above picture.
• But here’s the big different; the lithium-ion batteries included in the 13″ and the 15″ are said to retain at least 80% of their capacity for a total of 300 charges.  The new, thinner lithium-polymer cell kicks that number up big time to 80% retention for 1,000 charges with up to 8 hours of battery life off a single charge.  That’s nearly three times the length of the other notebooks….impressive.  Sounds like the company producing these cells is in for a bright future, but does anyone know who that company is?
• Why this move is green comes down to future production.  Not only will the laptops last longer, less replacement batteries will have to be produced in the future.  Not to mention, you have gaps and spaces internally to make up for the size of the removeable, thicker lithium-ion cells.  With the polymer cell being thinner and non-removable, less materials all together are used to produce the new laptop.
• All and all, I’ll tip my hat off to Apple for this effort; it’s a good move over the long run.  Only problem I can possibly forsee is that people who will buy the 17″ MacBook Pro (especially during a recession) might be the same ones that are prone to trash it once the next generation model drops.  Your thoughts….

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