Keep us posted. $35 bucks as well as eBay overall has me skeptical that this is legit. I know how hard it is to find Apple OEM batteries, if I had a bunch I certainly wouldn't sell them for $35 shipped.
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OWC or Apple Replacement Battery?
- Thread starter LarryJoe33
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So after three phone calls to Apple support and two walk ins of both processes telling me I needed an appointment with a genius before they could order me a battery, I went to my appointment today. They ran my serial number and told me my Macbook Pro was vintage and that they don't supply parts or service to vintage machines (> 5 years old).
Great, mind you when I called and gave them my serial number they steered me to the Apple Store. Mind you that on my walk ins, I asked (pleaded) with them to just let me know if this is something that they could perform on my machine. "Sorry, we have to do a diagnostic". "Sorry, we know it is a pain".
Diagnostic? The genius (nice man) attended to me for 3 minutes and let me know I was given bad information and apologized and recommended MacSales.com (NuPower). What a waste of time.
So I ordered the right NuPower battery from B&H (same battery as OWC/MacSales). I went with them because they are in NY and I am in Boston, so I will have it tomorrow and they don't charge tax or shipping.
In terms of iFixit, they received my return and acknowledged it via email but I am still waiting on my credit being processed. Three business days now. I also just shipped my return back to B&H for the Macbook battery I ordered in error. I had to pay return shipping. I am out $300 now but waiting on $200 in return credits.
Fingers crossed on the recent order. Hope I get a good one.
For what it is worth, at least people may find this thread and know that they can't get an Apple battery for the unibody machines.
Great, mind you when I called and gave them my serial number they steered me to the Apple Store. Mind you that on my walk ins, I asked (pleaded) with them to just let me know if this is something that they could perform on my machine. "Sorry, we have to do a diagnostic". "Sorry, we know it is a pain".
Diagnostic? The genius (nice man) attended to me for 3 minutes and let me know I was given bad information and apologized and recommended MacSales.com (NuPower). What a waste of time.
So I ordered the right NuPower battery from B&H (same battery as OWC/MacSales). I went with them because they are in NY and I am in Boston, so I will have it tomorrow and they don't charge tax or shipping.
In terms of iFixit, they received my return and acknowledged it via email but I am still waiting on my credit being processed. Three business days now. I also just shipped my return back to B&H for the Macbook battery I ordered in error. I had to pay return shipping. I am out $300 now but waiting on $200 in return credits.
Fingers crossed on the recent order. Hope I get a good one.
For what it is worth, at least people may find this thread and know that they can't get an Apple battery for the unibody machines.
Thanks for replying back and sorry that you were unable to get a replacement from Apple. Please let us know your experience with the NuPower battery, there seem's to be little concrete evidence surrounding such things. That site quoted by @JPack earlier in the thread did have an OEM battery for your model, but you would be ordering from Hong Kong.
Thanks, yeah, buying from HK has its issue in itself. Then there is the OEM battery found by @hallux which I am curious (but not willing) to see if it is the real deal.
I can happily report, my eBay auction had a spot-on description. It's currently (no pun intended) charging, it arrived with a 67% charge and a single cycle on it. The battery is, in fact, an OEM Apple battery by all appearances. I have pictures for proof if you'd like, including a screenshot showing the cycle count.
That’s great news. I just got my NuPower battery and it’s charging. I’m curious how you know it’s OEM. Did you compare it and markings to the original battery you took out? I’ll take some pictures if you don’t mind. Not doubting, just like to know for future reference. In terms of quality, you really aren’t going to know for a while. If it’s a dud you will know pretty quickly. The proof is I. The length of the charge and how it maintains original design capacity. Get coconut battery.
For what it's worth, I have purchased batteries on ebay that say "used" but are rated A or A+ by the seller. The only thing I look for is that it is shipped from the US, and I avoid any of those Chinese/HK auctions. Usually, the seller says it is out of a broken machine and guarantees that it has less than a certain number of cycles to get it's letter rating. Anyway, I've done that twice for Macbook Airs and it worked out well both times. I got batteries that were obviously OEM due to the markings, the cycle counts were as described in the listing, and the performance met my expectations.
I actually got a little worried as System Information (and Coconut) was showing a lower than expected full capacity but once it fully charged it came up to where it should be and the health is 100%.
How did I know it was an OEM Apple battery? The markings/labels are pretty distinctive, the new one matched the old one perfectly.
Old battery before removal
New battery installed
New battery before install
The battery came with a set of screwdrivers for the install also, though I have all the tools I need.
System info showing battery health before replacement
System information showing new battery health during initial charge
Coconut Battery showing the health during initial charge
System information showing battery info after initial charge, showing updated full capacity
Coconut Battery showing the updated health stats after the full charge.
Oh yeah, I also did SMC and PRAM resets just to be safe...
Well you have me sold. Just bought one as a backup. Hell what’s another $32 bucks at this point . I’ll post my results on the NuPower in a few days after I’m done conditioning it.
On your new battery, curious why it has such a larger design capacity than the original OEM? All good I guess.
Be aware that OEM batteries coming from third party sources may not always be your best bet. Even though they're OEM, we have no idea what they've been through and the conditions that they were stored in. Someone can sell you a brand new never opened or used OEM battery and be entirely truthful, but still ship you a battery that has a good chance of being garbage. Old stock, even when brand new, has a greater tendency to have problems.
I just don’t get the $32 for a new OEM battery. You usually get what you pay for.
Maybe it’s a rare find and the seller doesn’t know he could be selling for 4x???
@hallux keep us posted. I’m sure it’s real but is it sustainable. The real test is time as I said. I’ll keep my $32 OEM battery on the shelf if I’m happy with the NuPower one.
Maybe it’s a rare find and the seller doesn’t know he could be selling for 4x???
@hallux keep us posted. I’m sure it’s real but is it sustainable. The real test is time as I said. I’ll keep my $32 OEM battery on the shelf if I’m happy with the NuPower one.
Doubtful, unless you're talking about a small time seller just selling a handful of batteries that happened to be in their possession, they know what they can sell their goods for. You can sometimes find sellers offering the exact same item at different price points. They're probably doing that because there are buyers out there who feel that anything below a certain price point is just too good to be true.
My guess is that OEM batteries are not as hard to find as you think they are. You're not going to walk down to the local computer store and find dozens of a 2011 battery in stock, but there probably are warehouses in China that have buckets of them lying around from battery manufacturers when they ended production years ago.
You very well could end up getting what you paid for. It's quite possible that the battery has a high failure rate after one year and as long as you're ok with that possibility, go for it. It's also quite possible that they're top quality and some people are just selling them at a lower price to move their stock and some are hoping to cash in. There's no way to tell.
I do trust that the nuPower batteries have a better track record than old OEM stock picked up through back channels off eBay. Nothing's a given, but they're probably newer and have been stored in better conditions than stuff leftover from a 2012 factory run. I've picked up several nuPower branded batteries over the years and all have worked as advertised.
I'd be willing to take a chance on a old junker that I'm keeping around. I'm actually thinking of getting a new battery for an old 2009 MBP right now. I'm perfectly willing to roll the dice on a $30 replacement battery for that, but there's no way I'm going to take a chance on my main machine... that is, if it were still possible to replace the battery in the 2016 MBP that I have.
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This thought did cross my mind, no doubt. I'm definitely going to "exercise" it more than I have in the past (my brother has the same Mac I do but uses it on battery MUCH more than I have and hasn't complained to me about the battery life). In all honesty, if this one only lasts half as long as the original did (nearly six years, better than most PC batteries do) I'll be happy as this Mac will likely have been retired by then.
I am in the process of conditioning. I did a full charge + 2 additonal hours and am in the process of draining it. Removed all energy settings and letting it run down at full brightness and no sleep. Started this at 4:40AM at 100% and it's now 8:23 and it is at 38%. Almost 4 hours to a 60% drain, encouraging.
Awesome. I'd follow your lead and get a battery from that same seller for my Mid 2009, but their deals for my model aren't anywhere near what you found. It's about $50 in their store for the battery I need.
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So the $32 battery for my 2011 won’t fit yours?
I have a 15" mid 2009. For those the eBay trend appears to be around $30 for the generics and $45+ for the OEMs.
I have a MBA 2012 13". It's been really slow when I wake it from sleep. I have to wait a minute or two before I can enter my log in password. And once I log in, i gotta wait another minute or so before I can go web browsing. The battery only lasts maybe 2 to 2.5 hours now, and discharges quickly when unplugged. I've had the service battery indicator for a while now, like 3 years. Will replacing the battery help?
Are you using it plugged in and is it the same if you're plugged in or not?
I've never owned a MBA, but I've owned plenty of MacBook Pros with dead batteries and have never had the issues that you're describing. When my batteries die, I have power issues, not performance ones.
Seems to be good. I've had 2 instances of shutdowns while it was sleeping in my backpack (between work and home). It's possible I just didn't seat the connection well and the travel jarred it enough to cause the system to lose power but I haven't opened it up to verify. I've been trying to run it on battery to see how it goes and it's been lasting fine.
Thanks. So far so good here. The ebay/Apple battery comes Monday, but I will probably keep it on the shelf. I am anticipating it's going to be 3 years old like yours.
The only issue I have and it has nothing to do with the battery is that my MBP drain 1-2% per hour while sleeping. I am not the only one though and I hope I can find a solution (other than powering down) to slow it down overnight. It's frustrating no one can.
LarryJoe wrote:
"The only issue I have and it has nothing to do with the battery is that my MBP drain 1-2% per hour while sleeping. I am not the only one though and I hope I can find a solution (other than powering down) to slow it down overnight. It's frustrating no one can."
I'd just power it off at night and be done with it.
How long does it take to reboot the next day?
Also, in all my years of using Macs, I've found there's something in that saying, "there's nothing like a fresh start to clean things out..."
"The only issue I have and it has nothing to do with the battery is that my MBP drain 1-2% per hour while sleeping. I am not the only one though and I hope I can find a solution (other than powering down) to slow it down overnight. It's frustrating no one can."
I'd just power it off at night and be done with it.
How long does it take to reboot the next day?
Also, in all my years of using Macs, I've found there's something in that saying, "there's nothing like a fresh start to clean things out..."