Point of reference here - I plugged in an old 2008 Macbook Pro with no battery (it had expanded, so I took it back to Apple for recycling), and it booted up fine from a Magsafe 1 charger. So I don't know if that's the case.
Personally, I don't remember owning a battery removable Mac notebook between the PowerBook G4 to the MacBook Pro that couldn't function without a battery while plugged in.
Never seen significant puffage in the used/broken Li-Ion battery packs I've rebuilt either, so presumably that is moderately unique to Apple?
So, that's drivers, batteries, and keyboard-coatings; what's next?
Never said that battery failure was something that only occurred with Apple, just the way they fail (puffing up) was something that has happened to myself and two of my friends, meanwhile these 5+ year old battery packs from HPs and Dells that I've been pulling apart had a cell or two fail to retain a charge, but they don't significantly expand in size usually.
sudo nvram -d fmm-mobileme-token-FMM