apple powerbook battery hell

What kind of battery life do you expect from a laptop? By life I mean, functional life without considering charge capacity diminishing over time. In other words, do you expect the battery to function, as a battery, for over 2 years? Well according to apple support, thats wishfull thinking. I am currently experiencing some serious battery/pmu issues. After resetting the pmu I the battery will charge until it displays full capacity. After a sleep, the laptop will no longer "detect" the battery. The fun little no battery icon appears, and the information it provides is "No Battery Availible". Personally I would think that this would not indicate diminished charge due to usage, but some other rather serious issue. Apparently apple disagrees, though I have yet to find a mention of the mean time to failure for their batteries. The site apple website has this usefull snippet regarding battery life:

Battery Lifespan
A properly maintained PowerBook or iBook battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity after 300 full charge and discharge cycles. You may choose to replace your battery when it no longer holds sufficient charge to meet your needs.

So I guess the worst they expect is deminished battery capacity/life, not failure. The real kicker hear is that AppleCare does not cover batteries, as they are "expendable" items, unless their is some sort of manufacturing issue. Bullshit. Even more frustrating were the "troubleshooting" steps provided me.

me: Hi I've been experiencing some annoying battery troubles, I've spoken to a tech previously about my problem and he suggested resetting the pmu. I've done that and it only temporarily relieves the symptoms. I've also tried resetting the pram.
tech: Ok, I'd like you to switch batteries with someone around you.
me: uhm, no one around me has a mac.
tech: <silence>
tech: Ok, I'd like you to switch batteries with anyone you know that has a powerbook.
me: I don't know anyone in this area with a powerbook.
tech: Ok, I believe the problem is your battery. You will need to go to an apple store, and they will have batteries to test with. If it is your battery you will need to purchase a new one.
me: Purchase? Even if I have applecare? What the heck does the 350$ cover if not a battery dying within 2-3 years.
tech: Sir, batteries can do that with usage over 1-2 years.
me: Are you serious? 1-2 years? 2500$ and I get a battery that will last 1-2 years AT BEST? That's not even long enough for applecare to expire? Don't those batteries cost 100$. What if it isn't the battery?
tech: Sir, that is the policy it is stated in the applecare agreement. If it isn't the battery you'll have to call us back.
me: Excellent.

In addition to that lovely exchange, I've left my power adapter at work and I've only got one little flashy light of power left (according to the battery, as the OS has no clue). Even though I have on light flashy light left, the laptop has run for ~40 minutes (6:05-6:43). Yup definetly the battery, it must be dead and not capable of powering my laptop. My ass.

<update> So after hours on hold and multiple explanations of my problem to people (at apple), I got through to someone who seemed to have a pretty good handle on the problem and actually had reasonable troubleshooting suggestions. Basically I was told to wipe my install. To which I inquired regarding alternative solutions (re-installing everything is quite the pain in the ass, and not something I really want to do before travelling). So I was told to delete /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration, which seemed to "fix" the problem. The computer was no longer ignoring the batteries existance. Gee am I glad that I didn't go out and buy a new battery or waste my time going to an apple store. Anyway the battery life seems to be back to normal, on the flights out to Madison (Wisconsin) it ran for ~3 hours on energy saver mode with the brightness turned down almost all of the way. Thanks to everyone that offered their assistance.</update>