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NT1440

macrumors Pentium
May 18, 2008
15,093
22,159
Perhaps you missed where I said it used to last for over six hours on battery & now only lasts for two. That's not me "worrying about the numbers". That's me seriously pissed off that Apple won't honour their advertised price for replacing a battery that now lasts one third of the time that it used to.
Their terms are very clear and have been since you bought that machine. 80%, it’s right there and has been since you purchased that machine.

I have the same one, currently at 87%.

Have you looked at just going the iFixit route? I think that’s your only option, aside from figuring out what’s chewing through your battery life. Anything unusually high in the energy category in activity monitor?
 

FreakinEurekan

macrumors 604
Sep 8, 2011
6,572
3,452
Perhaps you missed where I said it used to last for over six hours on battery & now only lasts for two. That's not me "worrying about the numbers". That's me seriously pissed off that Apple won't honour their advertised price for replacing a battery that now lasts one third of the time that it used to.
A replacement isn’t going to give you what you want. If you’re getting 2 hours out of an 86% battery, you’ll get 2.5 hours with a 100% battery. Figure out what SOFTWARE issues are causing your battery to have a short runtime.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,256
13,331
OP wrote:
"I am going to take it to the Apple Store in Cambridge as I can't bear to see this particular Genius again"

Good strategy.
Let us know if it works out for you.
 
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nigelbb

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 22, 2012
1,150
273
Their terms are very clear and have been since you bought that machine. 80%, it’s right there and has been since you purchased that machine.

I have the same one, currently at 87%.

Have you looked at just going the iFixit route? I think that’s your only option, aside from figuring out what’s chewing through your battery life. Anything unusually high in the energy category in activity monitor?
You are wrong. The Apple website makes no mention that the battery needs to show less than 80% capacity on their diagnostics before being eligible for a £199 replacement. It does say that they will replace for free under AppleCare+ if it's less than 80%.

 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,256
13,331
OP:

Were you able to get the battery replaced at the Cambridge Apple Store?
 

NT1440

macrumors Pentium
May 18, 2008
15,093
22,159
Apple’s battery page:
1672160360663.png
 

okkibs

macrumors 65816
Sep 17, 2022
1,070
1,006
You are wrong. The Apple website makes no mention that the battery needs to show less than 80% capacity on their diagnostics before being eligible for a £199 replacement. It does say that they will replace for free under AppleCare+ if it's less than 80%.
They will refuse the replacement above 80% even if you want to pay for it. The reason for this is that they don't actually swap the battery, they swap the entire Watch. And they only do that below 80%. Please try and get your Watch battery replaced above 80%, you can make the appointment but the Apple Store employees will not be able to proceed with it.
 

nigelbb

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 22, 2012
1,150
273
They will refuse the replacement above 80% even if you want to pay for it. The reason for this is that they don't actually swap the battery, they swap the entire Watch. And they only do that below 80%. Please try and get your Watch battery replaced above 80%, you can make the appointment but the Apple Store employees will not be able to proceed with it.
WTF are these replies about Apple Watch batteries? This is the MacBook Pro forum & we are discussing MBP batteries.
 
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nigelbb

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 22, 2012
1,150
273
OP:

Were you able to get the battery replaced at the Cambridge Apple Store?
Yes. Thankfully the Apple hardware diagnostics this time showed 79% battery capacity. I left the MBP at the store & I had a phone call a few days later telling me that it was fixed & ready for collection. I'm on Xmas holiday in France at present so won't be able to collect it until next week.
 
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okkibs

macrumors 65816
Sep 17, 2022
1,070
1,006
WTF are these replies about Apple Watch batteries? This is the MacBook Pro forum & we are discussing MBP batteries.
I am pretty sure this applies to OPs Macbook as well: There is no battery replacement part for this model available at all. The part is actually the topcase including a new battery, since Apple in their infinite wisdom decided to glue to two together and make stores swap the entire customer's Macbook over to a new housing for a simple battery replacement.
 

bmcgrath

macrumors 65816
Oct 5, 2006
1,077
40
London, United Kingdom
86% is still good. I think what you'll find is that age + performance is using more power these days due to software changes and more demands from website/apps which is draining the battery faster. I think even if Apple replaced it, you're not going to get the original hours quoted due to age of the hardware and the extra work it has to do now.
 

nigelbb

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 22, 2012
1,150
273
I picked up the fixed MBP with a new battery from the Apple Store a couple of days ago. It's fantastic with the new top case, keyboard & touchpad. The old top case was damaged with a big chunk of aluminium bent in the top right hand corner & the touchpad had got a bit 'sticky' & 'click'.

I put my 2TB Polaris SSD in & also the brand new bottom case that I bought off eBay a while ago for £25. It all looks like new now apart from the screen which suffers a little from 'staingate'.

I have calibrated the battery by charging to 100% then running down to 0% a couple of times. I'm now getting about 4-5 hours from the battery which is a significant boost compared to the failing battery.
 
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