Replacement Battery Thread for Early Intel laptops, 2006–2012 (and select 2013s)
WikiPost struck: 21 August 2024
Last updated: never
OVERVIEW
As with some of the other WikiPosts in the Early Intel Macs forum, this one is beginning life as many other have: as a stub.
What the EIM community do, time and again, is to do all sorts of things to eke the most performance from our gear. We may use one of the many patched versions of Apple-supported macOS builds or a lightweight, modern Linux distro because we know our laptops well and we know, when cared for and maintained, are incredibly durable, robust, and even lithe.
An EIM MacBook battery thread is for this distinguished community to collect together — and update, on an ongoing basis — our knowledge of quality for known, available batteries; manufacturers of the cells within; and reported quality issues with the abundance of second-tier, third-party batteries for MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, and MacBooks (generally, prior to the Retina era).
Every one of these models, from 2006 to early 2013, are obsolete worldwide. Consequently, vendors Apple worked with to supply their A-grade batteries as OEM, or original-equipment replacements are no longer being sold by Apple. It’s less clear whether any of those vendors — Simplo, Dynapack, DP, Sony, and so on — have conracted with third-party suppliers to sell those A-grade batteries since Apple discontinued them.
At best, battery searching and shopping is a wild west, a dog’s breakfast. It’s generally the big sticking point for maintaining our gear, since without a working battery, these systems will downclock to near-unusuable speeds.
This WikiPost is striving to de-clutter what’s out there — to help us, this community, to find and support current manufacturers, vendors, and suppliers known to still make and/or sell high-quality batteries (and unwilling to sell what is, basically, D- and F-grade junk).
Sub-standard or junk batteries, rampant throughout the merchandising stream:
As expressed on other EIM forum WikiPosts, this WikiPost means to facilitate reducing the number of Macs to end up in e-waste streams, one’s basement, a garage, storage locker, or closet shelf. That’s not where they shine. What we in the Early Intel Macs community do is all of the things to help them shine! ☀️
Initially, this WikiPost will be mostly left blank. Over time, with your help, the contours of sections should come together. Initially, a section on currently sold, third-party batteries, as reported by users, might begin the first section. Creating a grading scale and reporting the grade of third-party batteries might be a part of this.
Another section, stemming from the first, could carry forward the highest-graded examples from the first section, with further detail on where those batteries are available regionally. (Good examples of one region having access to a known, higher-quality series of batteries might be confined to the EU, or Asia, or the U.S.)
For now, your data and your contributions are what will bring this WikiPost to life.
WHO MAY EDIT THIS?
As with all WikiPosts on the MR forums, any MR forum member may update the WikiPost.
But if you’re not up for messing with that, that’s OK. Just post in a reply below with your known upgrades info (and related links), and one of the regulars can add them to this WikiPost.
BATTERIES BY MODEL SERIES
charter examples: none of these A1286 examples are actual, but are meant to deliver an example (can be removed later)
WikiPost struck: 21 August 2024
Last updated: never
OVERVIEW
As with some of the other WikiPosts in the Early Intel Macs forum, this one is beginning life as many other have: as a stub.
What the EIM community do, time and again, is to do all sorts of things to eke the most performance from our gear. We may use one of the many patched versions of Apple-supported macOS builds or a lightweight, modern Linux distro because we know our laptops well and we know, when cared for and maintained, are incredibly durable, robust, and even lithe.
An EIM MacBook battery thread is for this distinguished community to collect together — and update, on an ongoing basis — our knowledge of quality for known, available batteries; manufacturers of the cells within; and reported quality issues with the abundance of second-tier, third-party batteries for MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, and MacBooks (generally, prior to the Retina era).
Every one of these models, from 2006 to early 2013, are obsolete worldwide. Consequently, vendors Apple worked with to supply their A-grade batteries as OEM, or original-equipment replacements are no longer being sold by Apple. It’s less clear whether any of those vendors — Simplo, Dynapack, DP, Sony, and so on — have conracted with third-party suppliers to sell those A-grade batteries since Apple discontinued them.
At best, battery searching and shopping is a wild west, a dog’s breakfast. It’s generally the big sticking point for maintaining our gear, since without a working battery, these systems will downclock to near-unusuable speeds.
This WikiPost is striving to de-clutter what’s out there — to help us, this community, to find and support current manufacturers, vendors, and suppliers known to still make and/or sell high-quality batteries (and unwilling to sell what is, basically, D- and F-grade junk).
Sub-standard or junk batteries, rampant throughout the merchandising stream:
- adds needlessly to waste streams;
- leaves buyers highly disappointed, having bought the product in good faith that it may last nearly as long and well as the OEM original);
- perpetuates sellers intent on selling defective, potentially dangerous batteries (D.O.A., quick to lose entire cells, and/or prone to have cells to bloat soon as buying) for a quick, but largely unaccountable revenue stream; and
- will continue to be an under-regulated sticking point without consumer knowledge coming together to single out the
As expressed on other EIM forum WikiPosts, this WikiPost means to facilitate reducing the number of Macs to end up in e-waste streams, one’s basement, a garage, storage locker, or closet shelf. That’s not where they shine. What we in the Early Intel Macs community do is all of the things to help them shine! ☀️
Initially, this WikiPost will be mostly left blank. Over time, with your help, the contours of sections should come together. Initially, a section on currently sold, third-party batteries, as reported by users, might begin the first section. Creating a grading scale and reporting the grade of third-party batteries might be a part of this.
Another section, stemming from the first, could carry forward the highest-graded examples from the first section, with further detail on where those batteries are available regionally. (Good examples of one region having access to a known, higher-quality series of batteries might be confined to the EU, or Asia, or the U.S.)
For now, your data and your contributions are what will bring this WikiPost to life.
WHO MAY EDIT THIS?
As with all WikiPosts on the MR forums, any MR forum member may update the WikiPost.
But if you’re not up for messing with that, that’s OK. Just post in a reply below with your known upgrades info (and related links), and one of the regulars can add them to this WikiPost.
BATTERIES BY MODEL SERIES
charter examples: none of these A1286 examples are actual, but are meant to deliver an example (can be removed later)
| SERIES | MODEL NUMBER (A1xxx) | YEAR(S) | APPLE BATTERY PART (A1xxx) | VENDOR (brand/seller name) | LI-ION CELL MAKER (as reported in coconutBattery) | SUBJECTIVE QUALITY (A-F) | REMARKS | SUBMITTED BY | WHERE PURCHASED / RECEIVED |
| MBP 15-inch unibody 5,1 | A1286 | late 2008–early 2009 | A1281 | FLIBYKNITE | ??? | F (note: example) | this battery broke my Mac, the one I used for banking | @macbookprobro | bought: idk delivered: my house |
| MBP 15-inch unibody 5,4 & 6,2 | A1286 | mid-2009-mid-2010 | A1321 | Inetykop | 000000000000 | D+ (note: example) | from eBay; lower-priced — showed full capacity, then below 45% dropped to 0% and shut off; battery began swelling at 3 months | @B S Magnet | bought: PRC delivered: Canada |
| MBP 15-inch unibody 8,2 & 9,2 | A1286 | early 2011–mid 2012 | A1382 | NewerTech | NuTech | B (note: example) | held up for about 2yrs before losing capacity quickly | @arrn | bought: U.S. delivered: U.S. |
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