17" Unibody MacBook Pro, New Mac mini in January: Reports

I've written before about clues pointing to new iMacs and Mac Minis coming in January. Two reports on Sunday indicate we might also see a new 17" unibody (aluminum) MacBook Pro, possibly as early as Tuesday, not necessarily introduced at Macworld, however.

Appleinsider's report also states we'll see revamped Mac minis, adopting chipsets from NVIDIA's MCP79 platform, which I've also written about previously. New rumors indicate besides the already rumored Mini DisplayPort and a Mini DVI connector indicate the addition of a FireWire 800 port and a fifth USB port, with the FireWire 400 port dropped.

But the news about the unibody MacBook Pro is both interesting and probably controversial. One thing bound to create controversy is the report that the new model will not have a user-replaceable battery. That's right, a 17" laptop without a battery.

Of course, batteries degrade over time, and besides that, many users of laptops (and other devices, such as iPhones, ahem, Apple?) want to be able to carry a spare battery with them in the event of a power emergency.

On the other hand, I've written about ZPower and its silver-zinc battery technology before. they claim 20 - 40% more time per charge, sans explosiveness. Their FAQ says "ZPower batteries will be available in a leading notebook computer in early 2009."

While I'd love to slap a compatible battery into my Dell XPS M1730, I think the best way to introduce these would not be in the aftermarket, but in a new laptop. Is Apple the "leading notebook?" Could this be the way Apple reduces criticism over yet another laptop without swappable batteries? Macworld is coming soon (sans Jobs, though).