Re: Battery life
Yes, plenty. Google is your friend. IF you'd have treated a Dell unit in the same way it's battery would be a thing of minutes only by now.
If you were in the habit of leaving your macbook open, on and plugged in it probably would have made a difference. If it is, as I suspect, plugged in and closed then it's fine. I clearly was talking about when the thing is IN USE.
But can I be bothered to trawl for links to counter your anecdotal case of one laptop? One that started life as having one of the best battery/hardware combos available? No.
I'm pretty happy that after looking after thousands of laptops of many flavours I know what tends to happen to laptop batteries that are left plugged in while in use every day from 8-6. They don't last as long as they should. Talk to anyone who has actually worked in IT in an organisation that dishes out laptops, ask how long the average 2-3 year old laptop will run when unplugged.
If you wish though you could try re-reading the other comments where you will find, equally anecdotal evidence that contradicts your own.
Intel seem to think it's worth a mention in a post that's only a few paragraphs long on battery management that was the top result in the one, really obvious, google search I tried. I imagine there will be plenty of evidence, what with me being correct and all.
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/tech-tips-and-tricks/laptop-power-management.html