Apple will (seemingly) allow users to replace more than just the laptop's battery, without voiding warranty

Jul 10, 2008 07:06 GMT  ·  By

Images of a new MacBook Pro casing have surfaced last week. However, it was only yesterday that AppleInsider was able to post some of those leaked photos which, according to the publication, show a case design akin to that of Apple's MacBook Air.

"...a trademark aluminum Apple notebook enclosure that appears slightly thinner than the one employed by the current MacBook Pro" is what the people at the Mac-based website saw in the leaked photos. "The edges of the casing are also more tapered," AppleInsider points out, referring to the similarities with the super slim MacBook Air.

A small rectangular recess is also visible on the bottom casing. It is situated "about three quarters of the way up on the right hand side," the source says, also citing people familiar with the design that say this recess will be fitted with a "latch" that will release the notebook's battery cover, when the shipping model is ready for sale. The cover is apparently so large that, once removed, it will provide access to both the MacBook Pro's battery and its hard drive.

Whether owners will be able to replace the hard drive on their own, without voiding the warranty, is yet unclear, the source notes, but it does point out that users will be able to replace a hard disk drive with a new solid-state drive (SSD) when they become more affordable.

As for the Apple logo on the back of the case, which looks a bit like something out of Star Trek now, the source asserts it will be "hollowed out so that light from the notebook's LED-backlit display can shine through and illuminate the same kind of a semi-transparent white Apple logo seen on today's models."

It is also suggested that Apple may have even more surprises for MacBook Pro fans in the following months, so, hopefully, we'll soon have some hardware details to digest.