Should an old MBP battery affect the performance, even when it's running on power?

[Peter Franks]

Just wondered why Mac so sluggish if not running off battery? Is that the norm.

I need a new battery for 2011 MBP, as it won't turn on, despite saying fully charged, but only boots with power plugged in.

Curious as to why it's as sluggish as it is and not comparable to the SSD speed before battery died, even when running on power plugged in. Does the battery affect it running on power also?

Also have a replacement battery that I didn't get round to fitting yet, but read about expanding batteries, and this just has a very small part that can pop in and out if I press on it, where the circular mark is on them, if you are familiar with that battery part. Will it be OK, It's not bulging. Thanks for any help

 

[kschendel]

If the battery is dead, it will definitely affect performance. I've been there with my late 2013 rMBP. I had a battery go dead, and performance crashed hard even when on AC power.

I gather that the lack of battery affects the CPU boost algorithms. The CPU will run at minimum clocks, and it's slow slow slow.

A battery doesn't have to be bloated to be dead. I replaced my original battery this summer (2022), and the original was badly swollen, but was still functional. The replacement failed after a couple months, apparently because it wasn't properly glued down and a connector went bust; when that happened, it was like trading a Lamborghini for a tricycle. Direly slow. As soon as I replaced the battery again it was better. (Fingers crossed that I got this one properly seated!)

 

[chrono1081]

Yes bad batteries affect performance. Although not as obvious these days in the past some laptops (Windows anyway, not sure about Mac) wouldn't even run without a battery because even though it's plugged in, the amount of charge straight from the wall wasn't enough for many tasks and the laptop would pull from the battery (similar to how cars will pull from the battery), otherwise they'd just completely shut off.

 

[Peter Franks]

If the battery is dead, it will definitely affect performance. I've been there with my late 2013 rMBP. I had a battery go dead, and performance crashed hard even when on AC power.

I gather that the lack of battery affects the CPU boost algorithms. The CPU will run at minimum clocks, and it's slow slow slow.

A battery doesn't have to be bloated to be dead. I replaced my original battery this summer (2022), and the original was badly swollen, but was still functional. The replacement failed after a couple months, apparently because it wasn't properly glued down and a connector went bust; when that happened, it was like trading a Lamborghini for a tricycle. Direly slow. As soon as I replaced the battery again it was better. (Fingers crossed that I got this one properly seated!)

Thanks. It's confusing that this 'dead' battery is holding a charge, but not working? When I plug power in, it shows the green light on the magsafe, and 94%. Go figure. It's painful to use though. Not sure if this battery is good yet. I've had it sitting around here for over 3 years so will try it in the MBP in next day or so. Out of interest, what make battery did you use. OEM is an impossibility and has been for several years.

Yes bad batteries affect performance. Although not as obvious these days in the past some laptops (Windows anyway, not sure about Mac) wouldn't even run without a battery because even though it's plugged in, the amount of charge straight from the wall wasn't enough for many tasks and the laptop would pull from the battery (similar to how cars will pull from the battery), otherwise they'd just completely shut off.

Thanks for that, I had no idea. I 'wrongly' assumed when it was on power it would be usable. It really isn't.

Thanks again. It's a shame I can't capture the click in and out of this 'new' battery to show what I mean.

 

[kschendel]

Out of interest, what make battery did you use. OEM is an impossibility and has been for several years.

I got the iFixit kit, battery plus some tools to remove the old one. I'll note that I did not follow the extensive iFixit instructions, which have you disassemble all sorts of stuff including the logic board so that you can get at the battery. I was able to remove the old one with minimal disassembly, a very careful application of the included glue dissolver, plus some work with dental floss. Read the ifixit comments before you jump in.

 

[Fishrrman]

I recall reading that older MacBook Pro's (that have an easily removable/replaceable battery) will drop to around 50% of "normal" speeds when booting/running using the power/charging cable WITHOUT the battery.

I could be wrong about this.

I will GUESS that there's something wrong with the OLD battery you have now, that may be causing it not to deliver power to the MBP, regardless of what the state of charge is shown to be.

And... perhaps the MBP (not getting power from the battery, but relying on the charger for operating power) is "slowing down" as a result.

Again, I could be wrong.

If you're going to keep this, replace the battery.
3rd party replacements aren't all that expensive, and it's easy to replace.

BE AWARE that you won't see performance from a replacement battery that will equal that of a new Apple-labeled factory-installed battery. Buying batteries for old MBP's today is pretty much a crapshoot -- you roll the dice and hope something good comes up. But... you never know.

My advice really is:
At 11 years old, it's time to be looking for a replacement.
I'd take a REALLY good look at the current MBP 14". Even the base model is well-equipped.

 

[Peter Franks]

You are of course 100% correct. And about replacing it. Good advice, and pretty close to it, but I've just opened it up and it doesn't look great, to be honest. What's really annoying more than anything, is this little bag of uselessness doesn't have the tri-wing driver and I can't remove this knackered old battery to see if or even how much longer it's got. I assumed with the spudger it would have the tri, but it has the flat top, phillips to get back off, and these two heads that don't go anywhere near the tri wing fitting?

The £1000 ish lack ports don't they. And I'm not sure if I can get away with the 'Air'. I've just ordered the tri wing on Amazon and I'll see what occurs tomorrow. But as it stands, it's pretty unusable on power. But let's be honest, it owes me nothing. I've never had a laptop this long.

@kschendel Really?? The logic board?? Never heard that before, just for battery, even on your model[/B][/HEADING]
How is the charge for you with their battery, as @Fishrrman says, there are so many stories, you have to get lucky on these batteries.

 

[kschendel]

I have no complaints with this battery. I don't often run on just battery, and I'm not sure how this one compares to the original as far as uptime. It can't be all that far off, if it's different at all.

Both the ifixit batteries seemed to work just fine. My first replacement failed because the adhesive didn't stick 100% and the constant small motion broke a connector. When I installed the second, I used a few strategically placed bits of foam to make sure that the battery adhesive would keep solid contact.

And as for the procedure, yes, it's 35+ steps if you follow the full iFixit instructions for a late 2013 15 inch retina macbook pro. I skipped from step 4 to step 30-something. Very careful application of just a few drops of adhesive solvent and some slow and patient work with dental floss did it for me. Of course my original battery had already largely unmounted itself because all the cells were badly swollen. (The case was under so much stress from the original battery, that the first couple of screws I removed from the back cover went off like rockets.)

Your MBP is an older model, I'd look up the ifixit instructions for your specific model before going by anything I've said.

 

[MBAir2010]

I have a MacBook Air 2010 2GB with no display no battery that runs great with Mountain Lion and Snow leopard.
been using this since 2014

i can't speak for other OSX's and MacBook series.

 

[Peter Franks]

I have no complaints with this battery. I don't often run on just battery, and I'm not sure how this one compares to the original as far as uptime. It can't be all that far off, if it's different at all.

Both the ifixit batteries seemed to work just fine. My first replacement failed because the adhesive didn't stick 100% and the constant small motion broke a connector. When I installed the second, I used a few strategically placed bits of foam to make sure that the battery adhesive would keep solid contact.

And as for the procedure, yes, it's 35+ steps if you follow the full iFixit instructions for a late 2013 15 inch retina macbook pro. I skipped from step 4 to step 30-something. Very careful application of just a few drops of adhesive solvent and some slow and patient work with dental floss did it for me. Of course my original battery had already largely unmounted itself because all the cells were badly swollen. (The case was under so much stress from the original battery, that the first couple of screws I removed from the back cover went off like rockets.)

Your MBP is an older model, I'd look up the ifixit instructions for your specific model before going by anything I've said.

Yes, your procedure sounds like a lot more of a pain than this one, aside from them providing every screwdriver but the one to remove the battery. Boy, was I thrilled this afternoon. I looked at the ifixit video, the least detailed one of the lot, but should be pretty straight forward. The calibration looks like a pain, and a whole day's worth of messing about, but I see plenty don't bother with it. Same as setting the PRAM/SMC, but that's not mentioned as much as calibrating.

I have a MacBook Air 2010 2GB with no display no battery that runs great with Mountain Lion and Snow leopard.
been using this since 2014

i can't speak for other OSX's and MacBook series.

Oh, I loved Snow Leopard, I clung on to that one for ages, and got a lot of stick for it on these forums. I stuck with Sierra which is what I'm on now, High Sierra made a lot of software redundant, so went back to Sierra. Snow Leopard stopped me from doing a fair bit from what I remember, or I'd have stayed on it, Must have been iTunes back ups for iPhone, browsers, photoshop etc... Speaking of which, I get messages now that browsers are out of date, but can't update anymore on this.

 

[MBAir2010]

Im using El Capitan on the MacBook Air 2010 which is fast enough but internet slow
while Mojave's really showing it's age on the MacBook Pro 2012 recently.
I use CS4 on both these which is why I still need these MacBooks.

 

[Peter Franks]

Im using El Capitan on the MacBook Air 2010 which is fast enough but internet slow
while Mojave's really showing it's age on the MacBook Pro 2012 recently.
I use CS4 on both these which is why I still need these MacBooks.

Only ever known Snow Leopard and Sierra, Used both of them for far too long....
The only drawback really is the browsers, if you are using an older OS. Every chrome browser will come up with
'To get future chrome updates you'll need to update to Mac OS 10,13 or later' and I am on 10.12, Plus you also get this annoying pop up in the Safari browser, which I can't use these days anyway, about something, I don't remember, but is a pain and I've never understood what it meant

 

[avz]

Thanks for that, I had no idea. I 'wrongly' assumed when it was on power it would be usable. It really isn't.

A charger and a power supply are different things. Battery on the other hand can be seen as a "temporary" power supply as it is capable of supplying sufficient amount of power for any workload. I am not sure if it is done by design to have a clear distinction in a product line between the MacBook and an iMac.

 

[Peter Franks]

A charger and a power supply are different things. Battery on the other hand can be seen as a "temporary" power supply as it is capable of supplying sufficient amount of power for any workload. I am not sure if it is done by design to have a clear distinction in a product line between the MacBook and an iMac.

Even the old original HD pre SSD, if I can remember that far back, wasn't this slow, so it's deffo not a 'mains power adapter' only machine.

 

[Peter Franks]

Update for anyone interested.

Have put new battery in. No charge on it obviously. I’ve had it in a box for 3 years so it’s completely depleted and it’s saying ‘Over 10 hours to charge’ which is bizarre to me as it used to be a couple of hours. It does that thing that the old one used to do, on occasion, when you plug in the charger it boots up on its own with lid closed. Anyway, it does nothing at 1 and 2% so can’t tell yet. The dock icons just bounce and bounce, unopened. so it’s not working yet. Ironically the last battery worked at 1 and 2%. I’ll update when working and see what the battery is like. I am thinking about upgrading the machine but am curious to see how this performs when charged.

Merry Xmas

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I am thinking about upgrading the machine but am curious to see how this performs when charged."

Questions about the 2011 MBP:
- is it the 13" or 15" model?
- has the internal drive ever been changed?

15" 2011 MacBook Pros are notorius for "RadeonGate" -- failure of the internal GPU. Causes crashes and other bad behavior. There's no practical "fix" for it, other than to replace the unit.

If the internal drive is original (platter-based HDD), THAT could be the "source of the slowdown".
You could change it for a 2.5 SATA SSD. Any one would do.

At 11 years old, before I'd put money into this, I'd get a replacement.
If you want something that looks like it will last a while, get a MBP 14" or 16".
(maybe I said that before above)

 

[Peter Franks]

OP wrote:
"I am thinking about upgrading the machine but am curious to see how this performs when charged."

Questions about the 2011 MBP:
- is it the 13" or 15" model?
- has the internal drive ever been changed?

15" 2011 MacBook Pros are notorius for "RadeonGate" -- failure of the internal GPU. Causes crashes and other bad behavior. There's no practical "fix" for it, other than to replace the unit.

If the internal drive is original (platter-based HDD), THAT could be the "source of the slowdown".
You could change it for a 2.5 SATA SSD. Any one would do.

At 11 years old, before I'd put money into this, I'd get a replacement.
If you want something that looks like it will last a while, get a MBP 14" or 16".
(maybe I said that before above)

Thanks @Fishrrman - 13 inch. Upgraded to a SSD and doubled RAM quite a few years ago, and best thing I could've done. The SSD/RAM/Battery is my lot now though. Next thing, and I wouldn't have a clue, but those 3 are relatively easy to do. You mention the new MBP 14 as opposed to the 13, Do they have bad rep?

 

[Peter Franks]

EDIT