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Reccomendations for MacBook Air replacement battery

CristyBlairBG

CristyBlairBG

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 15, 2018
2
0
The battery on my MacBook Air, model - A1466, is in dire need of replacement. I've been trying to do my research to find an efficient and affordable battery but frankly I'm a bit overwhelmed. Especially since I continue to read that many Amazon reviews are inaccurate.

Can someone please recommend a replacement battery brand for the A1466 model?

Ive looked at these brands: Egoway, GHM, IceTek, dynapak, ans NuPower.

Please help me decide!
 
Last edited:
Check out this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/owc-or-apple-replacement-battery.2108502/

It talks about batteries for MacBook Pro, but I think a lot is applicable to the Air.

What I take from it:
1) People have mixed reviews about EBay batteries.
2) Apple won't do anything with your machine if it's "vintage" (more than 5 years old). Otherwise, I'd probably try them at $129.
3) The thread starter had decent success with a NuPower battery.

And I agree about Amazon. The reviews are sketchy. One of the batteries on there had a bunch of positive reviews, all dated 12/4. And one (maybe the same one?) supposedly was thicker than the OEM battery and causes the touch pad to be hard to press, etc.

I too have a MacBook Air A1466 (mid 2012), that I purchased in March 2013. And my battery needs replacement.

Based on that thread above, today I ordered the NuPower battery at B&H (it's also available at OWC):

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=invoice&A=details&Q=&sku=1219802&is=REG

It has good reviews. It's a little pricier than the ones on Amazon, but I guess we'll see. B&H and OWC are supposedly pretty respectable.

BTW, I also ordered a new power cable on OWC the other day. It's supposedly an OEM part, and it's cheaper than buying from Apple. My cable has split several times, and I keep taping it up. I wish they were more durable, but Apple cables are notorious for this.

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/MD592LLA/
 
Thank you so much for your reply! This is all very helpful. I think I will be ordering the NuPower battery as well. Stay tuned lol

yngwietiger said:
Check out this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/owc-or-apple-replacement-battery.2108502/

It talks about batteries for MacBook Pro, but I think a lot is applicable to the Air.

What I take from it:
1) People have mixed reviews about EBay batteries.
2) Apple won't do anything with your machine if it's "vintage" (more than 5 years old). Otherwise, I'd probably try them at $129.
3) The thread starter had decent success with a NuPower battery.

And I agree about Amazon. The reviews are sketchy. One of the batteries on there had a bunch of positive reviews, all dated 12/4. And one (maybe the same one?) supposedly was thicker than the OEM battery and causes the touch pad to be hard to press, etc.

I too have a MacBook Air A1466 (mid 2012), that I purchased in March 2013. And my battery needs replacement.

Based on that thread above, today I ordered the NuPower battery at B&H (it's also available at OWC):

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=invoice&A=details&Q=&sku=1219802&is=REG

It has good reviews. It's a little pricier than the ones on Amazon, but I guess we'll see. B&H and OWC are supposedly pretty respectable.

BTW, I also ordered a new power cable on OWC the other day. It's supposedly an OEM part, and it's cheaper than buying from Apple. My cable has split several times, and I keep taping it up. I wish they were more durable, but Apple cables are notorious for this.

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/MD592LLA/
Click to expand...
Thank
yngwietiger said:
Check out this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/owc-or-apple-replacement-battery.2108502/

It talks about batteries for MacBook Pro, but I think a lot is applicable to the Air.

What I take from it:
1) People have mixed reviews about EBay batteries.
2) Apple won't do anything with your machine if it's "vintage" (more than 5 years old). Otherwise, I'd probably try them at $129.
3) The thread starter had decent success with a NuPower battery.

And I agree about Amazon. The reviews are sketchy. One of the batteries on there had a bunch of positive reviews, all dated 12/4. And one (maybe the same one?) supposedly was thicker than the OEM battery and causes the touch pad to be hard to press, etc.

I too have a MacBook Air A1466 (mid 2012), that I purchased in March 2013. And my battery needs replacement.

Based on that thread above, today I ordered the NuPower battery at B&H (it's also available at OWC):

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=invoice&A=details&Q=&sku=1219802&is=REG

It has good reviews. It's a little pricier than the ones on Amazon, but I guess we'll see. B&H and OWC are supposedly pretty respectable.

BTW, I also ordered a new power cable on OWC the other day. It's supposedly an OEM part, and it's cheaper than buying from Apple. My cable has split several times, and I keep taping it up. I wish they were more durable, but Apple cables are notorious for this.

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/MD592LLA/
Click to expand...
t
 
yngwietiger said:
Check out this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/owc-or-apple-replacement-battery.2108502/

It talks about batteries for MacBook Pro, but I think a lot is applicable to the Air.

What I take from it:
1) People have mixed reviews about EBay batteries.
2) Apple won't do anything with your machine if it's "vintage" (more than 5 years old). Otherwise, I'd probably try them at $129.
3) The thread starter had decent success with a NuPower battery.

And I agree about Amazon. The reviews are sketchy. One of the batteries on there had a bunch of positive reviews, all dated 12/4. And one (maybe the same one?) supposedly was thicker than the OEM battery and causes the touch pad to be hard to press, etc.

I too have a MacBook Air A1466 (mid 2012), that I purchased in March 2013. And my battery needs replacement.

Based on that thread above, today I ordered the NuPower battery at B&H (it's also available at OWC):

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=invoice&A=details&Q=&sku=1219802&is=REG

It has good reviews. It's a little pricier than the ones on Amazon, but I guess we'll see. B&H and OWC are supposedly pretty respectable.

BTW, I also ordered a new power cable on OWC the other day. It's supposedly an OEM part, and it's cheaper than buying from Apple. My cable has split several times, and I keep taping it up. I wish they were more durable, but Apple cables are notorious for this.

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/MD592LLA/
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply/posts. I too ordered a 45w adapter, I noticed that this weekend and pulled the trigger tonight.

Just to park these here, I did notice links to NuPower's guidance to properly calibrate a new battery:

Also I found this curious: NewerTech's battery charger/reconditioner, seemingly for only 15" unibody MacBooks. Since MacBook batteries are, as far as I know, a PITA to remove/install, I don't get the usefulness of this tool, if I'm understanding its intent correctly. Why is this device needed? I could see its usefulness if MB batteries were easy to hot-swap. Someone please solve the mystery? Perhaps for large companies using MB's where batteries are replaced often, I could see the point. Just curious...
 
I went with a nupower one.

I honestly can’t see a significant increase over my five-year-old OEM original battery. And this one has more capacity. The main thing I notice is that I can use my trackpad again, it clicks again instead of bottoming out on the battery like started to happen around 6 months ago. I definitely don’t sense an overwhelming increase, but that is just my sense of things and nothing scientific.
 
Thanks for the answer. Hm, maybe I should just go with the original one from Apple, although its a bit more expensive... I only get 2-3 hours out of the current one and this morning it died at 18%. CoconutBattery says the capacity is still at 80% though.
 
yansun said:
Thanks for the answer. Hm, maybe I should just go with the original one from Apple, although its a bit more expensive... I only get 2-3 hours out of the current one and this morning it died at 18%. CoconutBattery says the capacity is still at 80% though.
Click to expand...

I would. I'm very disappointed with my Nupower "higher capacity" battery for my MBA. I swear the battery life is even less than the replaced original battery, which I'm glad I kept because I'm going to put it back in and check if my impressions are real.
 
If you can, always go with Apple’s battery. If apple cant help you out due to “vintage” status then an Apple reseller may be able to.
 
I'm also looking to replace an MBA battery. Out of curiosity – did you follow the OWC battery calibration instructions?
 
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