MacBook Pro With Retina Display Will Cost 54 Percent More To Replace Battery: Apple's 'Least Repairable' Laptop, Critics Say

Those looking to purchase Apple's MacBook Pro with Retina display will certainly learn to conserve their notebook personal computer's battery power, for one big reason: It will be pretty expensive to replace the glued-down battery in the new notebook PC, reported ComputerWorld.

The battery is literally stuck to the case with adhesive, and it is impossible for an owner to replace it. Instead, an owner will have to either bring the device to an Apple store or send it back to the company. Batteries previously found in MacBook Pro notebooks have been secured not by glue but by screws. This does not mean it was easy to replace the battery in the past, but it is much more difficult at present, with the battery glued right above the trackpad cable.

The fee to replace the Retina-display MacBook Pro's battery will be $199, according to ComputerWorld. This is 54 percent higher than the price for replacing the battery in a MacBook Air.

The lithium-polymer battery in the new MacBook Pro is more powerful than the LiPo battery in the new MacBook Air. The former is rated at 95 watt-hours, which means it produces one watt of power for 95 hours, while the latter is rated at 50 watt-hours.

The battery in the new MacBook Pro is also 23 percent larger than the battery in other 15-inch MacBook Pros, CNet reported.

Apple said the Retina-display MacBook Pro battery can be recharged about 1,000 times before its fully charged capacity falls to 80 percent. ComputerWorld noted that if the device is charged once each day, its capability will have dropped by one-fifth after two years and nine months.

Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixIt, outlined a critical distinction between the MacBook Air and the Retina-display MacBook Pro.

Apple is asking users to define the future of the MacBook Pro, Wiens wrote on his company's blog. Once again ... Apple has presented the market with a choice. They have two professional laptops: once that is serviceable and upgradeable, and one that is not.

This week, the iFixIt team disassembled the MacBook Pro with Retina display to see exactly what type of hardware was enclosed in its thin body. After the teardown, Wiens concluded this is the least reparable Apple laptop yet.

We have consistently voted for hardware that's thinner rather than upgradeable, Wiens blogged, referring to the success of the MacBook Air. But we have to draw the line in the sand somewhere. Our purchasing decisions are telling Apple that we're happy to buy computers and watch them die on schedule.

Apple customers have previously expressed dissatisfaction with the company's battery policies, most notably when the first iPhone was introduced in 2007. In July of that year, New York State officials asked Apple to change its iPhone design to allow users to change their own batteries, ComputerWorld reported. However, Apple did not change the design and even has implemented the same practice in its laptops and tablets.

Every time we buy a locked-down product containing a nonreplaceable battery with a finite cycle count, we're voicing our opinion on how long our things should last, Wiens wrote.