Confirmation of Fixed 17" MacBook Pro Battery, Mac Mini with Firewire

AppleInsider confirms yesterday's report that the new 17" unibody MacBook Pro will arrive with a fixed non-removable internal battery.

In what's sure to be a controversial move on the part of the Mac maker, those familiar with the new unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro confirm that it will not share the same panel-covered battery layout as its 13- and 15-inch cousins. Instead, the notebook's battery will be fixed in place and not easily removable by users, similar to the MacBook Air's.

The rumor site also believes the Mac mini is also due with the NVIDIA chipset and will include a FireWire 800 port and an additional USB port.

In addition to sporting both a Mini DisplayPort and a Mini DVI connector, it's now also rumored that the new Mac mini will see the addition of a FireWire 800 port and a fifth USB port, with the legacy FireWire 400 port going away. The Mini DVI connector will allow the mini to continue to cater to users who already own a display, while the Mini DisplayPort will offer support for customers of Apple's latest LED-backlit Cinema Display.

MacRumors had also heard that the 17" MacBook Pro will contain a non-removable battery, so we feel this information is well corroborated. In exchange for this, the new MacBook Pro's battery is said to be longer lasting. 9to5mac's Seth Weintraub says the new battery will last up to 50% longer and speculates Apple could be exploring the use of Silver-Zinc which we previously covered.

MacRumors will post a Macworld San Francisco rumor roundup shortly.