New 17-inch MacBook Pro has 8-hour battery

Apple's new MacBook Pro with eight-hour battery life
Apple unveils new MacBook Pro with eight-hour battery life

Apple has lit up Macworld 2009 with the announcement of a 17-inch MacBook Pro that comes with a whopping eight-hour battery life.

But there's a catch. Apple's battery might deliver three times the lifespan of a typical laptop battery, but the new lithium polymer cell, which is 40% larger, is non-removable. So the eight hours of battery life requires a trade-off in terms of flexibility.

"We've developed new battery technology that is better for the user and better for the environment," said Steve Jobs. "Apple's advanced chemistry and innovative technology deliver up to eight hours of use on a full charge cycle and up to 1,000 recharges."

The new 17-inch MacBook will be available in late January and only comes in one configuration costing $2799. See the specification below:

  • 17-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1920 x 1200, glossy display;
  • 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
  • 1066 MHz front-side bus;
  • 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3 video memory;
  • 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
  • a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
  • Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
  • built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
  • Gigabit Ethernet port;
  • built-in iSight video camera;
  • three USB 2.0 ports;
  • one FireWire® 800 port (FireWire 400 compatible);
  • ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
  • one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
  • glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
  • built-in, 95WHr lithium polymer battery; and
  • 85 Watt MagSafe® Power Adapter.