I was talking about the decision to make the notebook the way it was made, not about releasing another product.

The choice to make or not make an external battery comes down to ROI. While a particular ratio may seem fine for a smaller company, Apple has much loftier requirements. They likely can't justify the costs in designing and marketing such a product. I can imagine the return would be miniscule.

The same exact hypothesis applies to a dock. I could probably use one once in a while, but it's not that big a deal for me. Most people I've worked with in a corporate environment weren't using them for their various Windows machines either. Of course notebook purchases were also far from standardized.

Personally I like not having a ton of trap doors and loose bits on my machine. I'd sooner have a multi-card reader built-in than an external battery designed by Apple, a removable battery or a desktop dock.

I'd also consider it of greater benefit to have a fuel door on each side of the car (than I would two power connectors on something as small as a notebook) rather than just on one side - but no one does that either.

The machines aren't perfect. They're just head and shoulders (and miles) better than anything else. Even the plain MacBook in the plastic casing is better than any notebook produced by any other manufacturer at any price point. Sometimes being the best still means something's the best of what's available, not as good as it can possibly be. IMO, there's no such thing as a "perfect 10" in anything.

I'll complain about something with the MBP17. If you opt for the anti-glare screen, you don't get a black bezel around the display. It's plain aluminum colored, reminiscent of the older PowerBooks and MacBook Pros. I do realize that it's because the glossy screens have a sheet of glass across the whole front of the top lid, covering the screen, but I just wish they'd anodize or paint the bezel black when you're adding $50 for the screen option.