4 days of battery downtime for replacement is inexcusable. There is no way I can take that time off from being productive. Whereas I can carry a machine that's literally 3 millimiters thicker.
> There is no way I can take that time off from being productive.
But surely you (or your workplace) have a backup plan if your laptop needs service that takes a few days. What would you do if you need a new screen, or a new hard drive, or a new fan... It's not like a laptop repair that takes a few days should be a big shock to anyone who's owned a few laptops (Apple or otherwise).
By the way, one of the things that the $500 Joint Venture program gets you at Apple is a loaner computer while your machine is out for service. So that's one option.
The other option, which we use at my work, is we have a spare laptop. It gets used for a number of purposes, one of which is a loaner for repairs.
And, more importantly, you only need to pay for Joint Venture once per organization up to a certain number of computers. The article quickly shoots past the fact that their organization (that they admit has 5 laptops) could have easily justified that cost if it was so important for them to avoid downtime of more than 1 day.
Four days is a long weekend. I personally would welcome a forced vacation.
But if 1 piece of machinery really is that critical to your business, you'll have an identical standby ready to go when your primary one eventually craps out.
I've decided to let Apple handle inventorying my standby machine. I can walk into an Apple store and 5 minutes later be ready to go again. Then the high resale value of my old machine makes it easy to sell on craigslist.
The article says you can continue using the computer without harm if you keep it plugged in. Surely you can work on your computer while it's plugged in while you look for a spare laptop?
