Will new batteries be made available for older Mac Books?

Question

I have a Late 2008 Mac Book Pro 15" model. The battery life ***** on this thing. With the announcement of the new models and the new batteries, is Apple going to make the new battery technology available for the older models?
I'm guessing they will not given Apple's history, but I thought I would ask anyway. It sure would be nice to be able to get some decent battery life out of my laptop.
Thanks.

Answer 1

carl wolf wrote:
The newer higher capacity batteries use a different chemistry than the older batteries. There is no real reason that Apple couldn't replace the current battery chemistry with the newer one. However, I wouldn't expect it to happen for another year.
Not quite true. The OP's issue is with battery life, not battery lifespan. The slightly modified chemistry (they are still lithium polymer batteries, so the basic chemistry is the same) and the adaptive charging on the new batteries account for the lifespan of 1000 charge cycles vs. 300-400 charge cycles.
However, the increased battery life (i.e. run time on a full charge) is higher with the new batteries simply because they are physically bigger - 40% bigger, according to Apple. The newer, internal batteries are larger due, in part, to the fact that they are non-removable, meaning space formerly taken up by the battery case and latching mechanism can now be used for the battery itself.
So, although Apple might implement the modified chemistry and the adaptive charging controller in replacement batteries (although I think this is pretty unlikely), there's no way they can make them larger due to the constraints of the machines they are designed for. Therefore, there's no way for Apple to increase the battery life on the older machines.