I'd like to first congratulate Apple on the MacBook Pro 17", it's Apple's best product and it's very impressive.

As for the battery, $179 is a steal, this battery handles 1,000 cycles which is twice as much as any other Lithium battery I've heard of.
So in comparison to traditional laptop batteries this one actually costs $80 to replace!! Also having a battery that lasts twice as long cuts your worrying, and frustrations in half ;)

Love the fact that 17" Antiglare has an aluminum frame instead of the black. I just wish they didn't charge the extra $50

The price doesn't sound unreasonable and with Apple's expansion in the retail market there are more and more places to bring it for walk in service. The non-removable battery is a controversial move, but Apple is no stranger to controversy. My guess is that most professionals won't really miss the removable battery given the extended run-time. Though I'm sure there are several who actually buy a couple of backups, but even then they'd have to have 3 or 4 to equal the single charge of this battery if it is indeed up to 8 hours of life in real world operation. Only time will tell.

And as long as they keep them in stock at the Store (especially in case of defective ones) it shouldn't take much more than 15 minutes for them to replace for you.

Whether it "shouldn't take more than 15 minutes" means nothing. Its whether it will take 15 minutes, or is it a trip to the store to drop off, and another a day or two later to pick up.

"...This should cover the cost of installation, the new battery, and safe disposal of the old battery..." If this fee includes a charge for the recycling, in the EU they will be violating the free take-back obligations of manufacturers. Does this exist in the U.S.A. ?

I know Apple got in trouble for the whole iPod thing a while ago and thier charges for changing the battery... (not sure what became of it tho...) but what legal issues can arise from this? not allowing one to remove the battery and "forcing" one to pay an extreme amount to exchange it? i know that the battery on my powerbook g3 only lasted for like 2 years and they wanted 175 for a new one back in 2000...

This laptop, though is very cool in some ways, is a step backwards. The great part of the new 15" MBPs is that you can finally replace the HARD DRIVE AND MEMORY without voiding the warranty. As someone that needs larger drive space as it becomes available this is very important. With the 17" we are back to the user not only not being able to upgrade the hard drive.. but memory too. I would love to be wrong on this but from what I've seen this seems to be the case.

what is the part cost alone? $60?

change a battery in an iPod. Opening the case without scratching it is the most difficult part.

All of my Macs lasted longer than five years, so $179 divided over the cost of five years is rather insignificant. I'd rather get twice the battery life even if it means having to get it replaced by Apple. I'd just rather not wait two days or more for the replacement.