So how bad IS MacBook battery life?

Thurott is unaffected by the reality distortion field. He's put up a very nice table comparing the PowerBook and MacBook. He particularly notes the curious absence of any data on battery life.

Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus: Comparing the MacBook Pro to the PowerBook G4

Balm to the soul of current G4 owners. The G4 was quite power efficient. Heh, heh.

Update 1/11: Looks like 4 hours or less with a fresh battery. Comparable to Dell, worse than current PowerBooks. Speed has a price.