Newertech powerbook battery rocks!

betsbillabong · Sep 19, 2006

I just wanted to let you all know about my experience buying a Newertech high-capacity battery for my 15" aluminum G4 powerbook. It is really great. My apple battery was dead after not much more than a year -- just past the warranty, but they were totally unhelpful. (I've had Apple laptops since 1994 and the batteries never wore out like that before).

Anyhow, I'm over my bitterness with Apple b/c I will never buy one of their batteries again. It took several charges, but the Newertech battery is amazing. According to Coconut Battery it has 5107 mAh, compared to Apple's 4400, and it lasted for more than four hours of regular use yesterday.

I'm posting this for two reasons:

- one, b/c when I was looking I couldn't find anyone confirming that this battery works so well, even though it was generally recommended.

- two, b/c if you've purchased this battery, stick it in and see that it does not live up to spec, you need to calibrate it several times. This is a pain in the neck, but so so worth it to get all the time. I think I had to calibrate it (run from full to sleep on battery alone) five times, and each time it showed more of a capacity, till it stuck at 5107 mAh, which is more than the 5000 promised.

So far I am a happy customer.

bousozoku · Sep 19, 2006

I saw the advertisement of up to 15 % more life. It's about $10 more expensive than the Apple battery but anything that lasts longer is good, right?

I noticed that Newer sell a charger/conditioner so maybe they haven't noticed they have some problems with the Apple charger?

Thanks for mentioning this battery because I've been contemplating it.

qtip919 · Sep 19, 2006

bousozoku said:
I saw the advertisement of up to 15 % more life. It's about $10 more expensive than the Apple battery but anything that lasts longer is good, right?

I noticed that Newer sell a charger/conditioner so maybe they haven't noticed they have some problems with the Apple charger?

Thanks for mentioning this battery because I've been contemplating it.

Thanks for the tip! Im sitting on a battery that gets about 1.2 hours...its enough to drive me to my dell d610 (with 5+ hours of battery time!!!)

bigbummer · Dec 9, 2008

super disappointed with my NewerTech Powerbook battery!

I bought a NewerTech replacement battery for my 12" Powerbook and was completely disappointed. the up to 17% or 18% greater run time is compared to the older batteries for the slower processor and with lower capacity (you have to read the fine print). And despite their claims that their batteries are superior and should run longer and last longer than stock Apple batteries, my Newertech battery lasts only as long as my half-dead original apple battery. I figure it should last at least 4 hours or 4 1/2 like my original battery when it was new. It barely lasts 2 after only a couple of months. And I followed the charging and conditioning instructions to the letter. Not happy. I'm sending the battery in for a warranty replacement, but I had to email 3 or 4 times before they would give me an return authorization number. If they send me a new battery that knocks my socks off, I'll amend my review. But until then, I'm not happy with the product at all or their customer service that sent me the rudest email that if I didn't package it in such a way or if I failed to send back any of the original package or documentation and basically if I didn't do this or that, they wouldn't honor the 1 year warranty. wow. as Steve Martin used to say, well, excuuuuuuuuse me.

kraftzwerg · Dec 9, 2008

I had a similar experience - mine was great until about cycle 10 when its capacity started to deteriorate dramatically. Now it's down to about 50 percent at only 40 cycles or so. I didn't bother arguing with the Customer Support etc - I will simply not buy a product from them again and stick to the Apple original parts which have never been as big of a disappointment so far to me.

bigbummer said:
I bought a NewerTech replacement battery for my 12" Powerbook and was completely disappointed. the up to 17% or 18% greater run time is compared to the older batteries for the slower processor and with lower capacity (you have to read the fine print). And despite their claims that their batteries are superior and should run longer and last longer than stock Apple batteries, my Newertech battery lasts only as long as my half-dead original apple battery. I figure it should last at least 4 hours or 4 1/2 like my original battery when it was new. It barely lasts 2 after only a couple of months. And I followed the charging and conditioning instructions to the letter. Not happy. I'm sending the battery in for a warranty replacement, but I had to email 3 or 4 times before they would give me an return authorization number. If they send me a new battery that knocks my socks off, I'll amend my review. But until then, I'm not happy with the product at all or their customer service that sent me the rudest email that if I didn't package it in such a way or if I failed to send back any of the original package or documentation and basically if I didn't do this or that, they wouldn't honor the 1 year warranty. wow. as Steve Martin used to say, well, excuuuuuuuuse me.

bigbummer · Jan 5, 2009

Update: my fiasco with Newertech and OWC

So, Other World Computing did send me a replacement for my first bad Newertech Battery....they sent it ground instead of priority as they had promised. I barely got it before Christmas. As soon as it came out of the package it fell into two pieces in my hand. Swell. had to wait until after the holiday rush to send it back, so I'm still waiting for a usable battery from these guys after four months of my initial purchase. At least they issued me a call tag at my request to send back the second battery. At this rate I'd go broke paying for shipping every time I have to send their battery back to them.

natebookpro · Jan 5, 2009

Its been about 3 years, but I did buy one for my old ibook. I remember being pleased and I think I was getting about 15 min over when the ibook had the new apple brand battery. I would have no problems recommending them.

semiotics101 · Feb 2, 2009

Figured a "battery" thread is worth digging up again. I'm thinking of buying a NewerTech battery for a PB G4 15" I got recently. Anybody have any NewerTech feedback after about 1-2 years of use? Not sure if I'll go OWC or eBay. Thanks :apple:

gamer2502 · Feb 2, 2009

thanks i'll keep that company in mind if i ever need a new battery for my macbook :apple:

bigbummer · Dec 24, 2009

Update: my fiasco with Newertech and OWC

so, it's been a about a year now using the THIRD battery Newertech sent me, (after the first basically would only work as a well as my half-dead OEM battery and the 2nd battery fell apart in my hands as soon as I took it out of the package.)

the third battery they sent me seemed to be of newer construction (slightly different look and feel). It seemed to perform well for the first few months. Seems to me the first two they sent me could have been old stock, judging by their lack of performace and structural integrity.

But, after all that hassle..a year later, this last battery they sent me lasts only 2 1/2 hours.

I just purchased a new OEM battery from Apple, since I'll never deal with Newertech/Other World computing again. And my new Apple battery lasts 3 1/2 hours after a couple weeks. Far short of the "up to 5 hours" in the product description.

so, pick your poison. Or just make sure you find an outlet wherever you travel or drink your coffee.

bigbummer · Dec 24, 2009

update: oh yeah...rubber foot fell off the Newertech

I forgot to mention....the rubber foot on the battery fell off almost immediately. would not stay on, even with a contact adhesive. I finally had to use a self-adhesive rubber pad meant for a piece of furniture to keep my powerbook from wobbling while I typed.

really, really annoying and a sign of some poor construction and attention to detail.

cutlassvillager · Dec 24, 2009

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience. About a year ago I bought a NewerTech High Capacity battery for my Pismo PowerBook and it lasts a very long time and seems to have good build quality. If I ever have to get one for a G4 it sounds like I should stay away.

J&JPolangin · Dec 25, 2009

...this sounds like a mess that's unfortunately been going on for some time for you...

I've never used OWC but there's a bunch of people here that recommend them highly it seems...

JoeG4 · Dec 25, 2009

I have a Newertech battery on my 15" 1.5ghz aluminum G4 powerbook..

*takes deep breath* long line!

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 2382
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3478
Health Information:
Cycle count: 154
Condition: Good

^ from system profiler. Yes, 154 charges and it's lost about 1600mAh of capacity. OTOH, it's about 2 years old and there are weeks where I leave the battery dead for a while - something you can't do with Apple batteries without killing them. (I've learned this the hard way, twice!)

The quality is terrible. Most generic batteries are rebuilt Apple batteries, not these. Newertech batteries are a sort of ripoff of the Apple design, the sheet of metal isn't aluminum, and the battery level indicator doesn't function the same. For example, when charging it doesn't light up, and when you push the button you have to hold it as the lights go off as soon as you let go. On mine, the LEDs weren't even aligned right so one looks dimmer than the rest.

What's important though is the battery itself - it had exactly 5000mAh when I first tried it, and held up for quite a while. The only complaint I have about the battery itself is the battery meter is terrible. Eg, when you leave the machine sitting for a week, the battery still thinks it's full if that's the level it was at when you last charged it.

So yes, they are good batteries. Would I buy one again? Sure. Apple batteries are ridiculously expensive for what they are. I don't even want one for my MacBook!

macbwizard · Dec 26, 2009

kraftzwerg said:
I had a similar experience - mine was great until about cycle 10 when its capacity started to deteriorate dramatically. Now it's down to about 50 percent at only 40 cycles or so. I didn't bother arguing with the Customer Support etc - I will simply not buy a product from them again and stick to the Apple original parts which have never been as big of a disappointment so far to me.

Same experience. The customer support is awful. I ordered a battery from them a year ago and then when it didn't show up for a month or two (due to apparently being backordered) I called them and asked to cancel my order. They said fine, and cancelled the order. A few weeks later it showed up, with a charge to my credit card. I called them and they wanted me to pay for shipping back... and it was THEIR mistake to begin with. I decided to just keep it as I did kind of need a new battery. Within a year, the back "metal" plate was peeling off the corners and just outside of a year one of the cells was swelling substantially. I just gave up and tossed the battery. Never will I buy a newertech battery again.

J&JPolangin · Dec 27, 2009

macbwizard said:
...They said fine, and cancelled the order. A few weeks later it showed up, with a charge to my credit card. I called them and they wanted me to pay for shipping back...

...at that point you were under no obligation to pay for that battery and your credit card company should have removed the charge.

If they wanted it back, they should have sent you a prepaid shipping label so you could return it...

TheGink · Jan 2, 2010

I've had mixed results with Otherworld and their Newertech batteries. A few years ago I picked up a higher capacity battery for my old Titanium G4 867 powerbook, conditioned it, no problem, it worked great and still does to this day.

So when I needed a new battery for my 1.25GHz Aluminum Powerbook, I didn't hesitate to pick up a Newertech battery, paid extra, got the highest capacity available. Received it, tried to condition it, but lo and behold, my laptop would no longer go to sleep when the battery ran down, it just shuts off. Went through a variety of steps to try and remedy, resetting PMU, PRAM, NVRAM, etc. Nothing worked, and every time the battery ran all the way down and shut down it would knock at least 5% off the battery health. This seemed to stabilize at around 85%, but what's the point of a higher capacity battery that only gives you 85% of it's high capacity? It also was counting charge cycles about twice as fast as it should have been.

I emailed their tech support to ask if there was something else I should be trying, if it was an issue with my laptop, etc. All I received in response was an RMA. Went ahead and shipped the battery back. It took about three weeks to receive a replacement battery. With the RMA they give you a deadline to get the battery back to the them or they'll charge you, but they don't send a new one out until a while after the returned one gets to them.

The new battery doesn't work much better, still no sleep when it runs down. I keep trying to let it run down to right before it will shut off, then put it to sleep, then plug it back in. Maybe this is working somewhat, as the battery quickly dropped to 82% capacity, but has gone back up to 91%.

Still, pretty unhappy with the results this time, and will think twice in the future before going with newertech again. For past systems they worked, but not so much for newer ones it seems.

elmogs · Jan 21, 2010

I purchased a Newer Tech battery for my Powerbook 12 1.5 a year ago. When it was installed I conditioned it and it said under the profile that I was getting a 4.5 hour charge. That was great! However after only 4 months the profiler said the capacity was 2325! Less than half what it used to be.
I called Newertech to ask them why this was and they said it must be defective. I received a replacement and the original 4.5 hour battery life returned. A month later while removing the battery to swap it out I dropped the battery on the carpet and noticed that one of the little tabs that holds the battery in the laptop had broken off. I looked at the original battery and noticed the OEM one had stronger tabs. The tabs from NewerTech were very small and flimsy. I called to complain and they sent another battery. It has now been only 27 cycles and the battery life is once again around 2200. Now Im getting 2 1/2 hours out of it.
I stumbled upon this thread when I searched and its good to know that my computer is not faulty. Would I get another Newer Tech battery? I don't think so. The OEM Apple Battery is manufactured better (Also it fits perfectly. The Newertech batteries all seemed a little off and would never sit flush they way the Apple ones did) and in the end the battery life really seems about the same.

Habitus · Jan 22, 2010

betsbillabong said:
I just wanted to let you all know about my experience buying a Newertech high-capacity battery for my 15" aluminum G4 powerbook. It is really great. My apple battery was dead after not much more than a year -- just past the warranty, but they were totally unhelpful. (I've had Apple laptops since 1994 and the batteries never wore out like that before).

Anyhow, I'm over my bitterness with Apple b/c I will never buy one of their batteries again. It took several charges, but the Newertech battery is amazing. According to Coconut Battery it has 5107 mAh, compared to Apple's 4400, and it lasted for more than four hours of regular use yesterday.

I'm posting this for two reasons:

- one, b/c when I was looking I couldn't find anyone confirming that this battery works so well, even though it was generally recommended.

- two, b/c if you've purchased this battery, stick it in and see that it does not live up to spec, you need to calibrate it several times. This is a pain in the neck, but so so worth it to get all the time. I think I had to calibrate it (run from full to sleep on battery alone) five times, and each time it showed more of a capacity, till it stuck at 5107 mAh, which is more than the 5000 promised.

So far I am a happy customer.

Do they make batteries for the 13" MBP?

Habitus :apple:

 · May 14, 2010

Newer Tech Battery Won't support safe sleep when discharged

TheGink said:
I've had mixed results with Otherworld and their Newertech batteries. A few years ago I picked up a higher capacity battery for my old Titanium G4 867 powerbook, conditioned it, no problem, it worked great and still does to this day.

So when I needed a new battery for my 1.25GHz Aluminum Powerbook, I didn't hesitate to pick up a Newertech battery, paid extra, got the highest capacity available. Received it, tried to condition it, but lo and behold, my laptop would no longer go to sleep when the battery ran down, it just shuts off. Went through a variety of steps to try and remedy, resetting PMU, PRAM, NVRAM, etc. Nothing worked, and every time the battery ran all the way down and shut down it would knock at least 5% off the battery health. This seemed to stabilize at around 85%, but what's the point of a higher capacity battery that only gives you 85% of it's high capacity? It also was counting charge cycles about twice as fast as it should have been.

I emailed their tech support to ask if there was something else I should be trying, if it was an issue with my laptop, etc. All I received in response was an RMA. Went ahead and shipped the battery back. It took about three weeks to receive a replacement battery. With the RMA they give you a deadline to get the battery back to the them or they'll charge you, but they don't send a new one out until a while after the returned one gets to them.

The new battery doesn't work much better, still no sleep when it runs down. I keep trying to let it run down to right before it will shut off, then put it to sleep, then plug it back in. Maybe this is working somewhat, as the battery quickly dropped to 82% capacity, but has gone back up to 91%.

Still, pretty unhappy with the results this time, and will think twice in the future before going with newertech again. For past systems they worked, but not so much for newer ones it seems.

I have bought two NewerTech batteries from OWC for Powerbook 15" 887MHz (DVI) and had zero probs with the one bought maybe 3 or 4 years ago - but the latest has been a real fartbag.

I experienced no sleep function with the new one, it would go from the "low battery" screen to dead, no sleep. When I called the Newer Tech tech service guy, he said that the batteries no longer support Apple sleep mode... so I'm stuck. Would've been honest for the OWC people to tell us that the new batteries wouldn't let you sleep in safe mode when the charge ran out... but NO.
Also, even though conditioning it a few times, it doesn't give me more than 1.8 hours. Reset the PMU/MMU, still no joy.
Stay away!

iThinkergoiMac · May 14, 2010

Man... I got one of those NewerTech batteries about 9 months ago and it's been nothing but joyous (no sarcasm). Battery life is great, lost about 800 mAh after almost a year, which is acceptable. Sleep function works just fine (and I was used to my PC laptop, which doesn't have the auto sleep at low battery function so if it didn't work, no big deal).

Sorry to hear about everyone's problems, but apart from how the LEDs don't work quite the same (big deal... who honestly flips their computer over to see how much charge the battery has when it's charging, especially since the ring on the Apple adaptor gives a decent guess as to where it's at) I've had zero problems.

Also, I have the NewerTech power adaptor (after my original started sparking and smoking) and it works quite well, though the casing for the brick has a slight pink tint...

mrsir2009 · May 19, 2010

Thats a pretty good life. My 13" MacBook Pro lasts about 5 hours, when browsing the web.

Torell · Jun 30, 2010

Weird, only stumbled upon this thread AFTER I purchased one. It was hard to find user experiences with these batteries. I started a blog and my first article is about my experience with the NewerTech Macbook Pro 15" battery. Haven't had to really deal with customer support, but I'm really hoping it's not as bad as you guys say it is.

Plymouthbreezer · Jul 1, 2010

I've purchased two batteries from Newertech, one for my old 400MHz TiBook, and one for my current 15" 2.2GHz MBP.

The TiBook battery was amazing; held a longer charger and held its capacity for roughly two years of heavy use. Very impressive. The person I sold that computer to also got another two years out of that battery.

My MBP battery is coming up on a month, and I'm pleased with the cycle life, which has been pushing 4 hours under normal use conditions (Airport on, full screen brightness, on YouTube, etc.). Despite this decent cycle life, it drains to 0% if left sleeping for more than a day, which is not fun at all. I'm only at 13 cycles though, so maybe it will improve.

drewdle · Jul 1, 2010

This thread has one hell of a history. Seems like there's been some good and some bad things about these batteries. Which leads me to chiming in, actually. I'm going to need a battery for the Clamshell when I start taking it on the road this September, and I have the option of either the 63 watt hour or the 75 through OWC. I'm not willing to spend almost as much on a battery from Ebay with questionable origins, nor anything with the actual cells made in China, so I figure the outlay pays for itself with awesomeness.

Anyone have experience with the Clamshell and the NewerTech batteries? What kind of battery life are you going to get out of the big one? They say 66% more, but more than what? Apple claimed 6 hour battery life when they released the machine, but somehow I'm guessing that's a wee bit optimistic.

Newertech powerbook battery rocks!

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