Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple to Charge $199 for Battery Replacement on MacBook Pro with Retina Display
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
You're right. It's essentially $200 - it isn't $200. It wouldn't be accurate reporting if they didn't - wait for it - accurately report.
On an actually relevant note, I'm not entirely surprised by this. I'm not happy about it, but it seems that if the new battery allows for a higher cycle count before needing to be replaced, the price difference is almost moot.
$200 is too much for a battery, even given that an ultrathin machine will always have its challenges. (A removable battery would also be a smaller one.)
But I don’t care.
I’ve used laptops as my primary machines for very heavy use for about 15 years, and I have never bought a new battery for any of them. Some I have kept for years.
Years ago, my first two Apple laptops eventually—after a LONG time—dropped to a point where they were mainly good when plugged in. My more recent laptops have never had that problem: they started with SO much battery life (way more time than I need to be away from an outlet) that even when their life eventually dropped in half I didn’t need a new battery.
When the new retina MBP’s life drops from 7 hours to 3.5 hours, that will still meet the needs of most people. Most of the rest would be getting a new machine anyway by that far-off day. Yes, there’s a niche of people who will actually end up paying that $200, but it’s a lot smaller than the number of people who THINK they will
Not to mention, I’m sure some of the people who will gripe about a machine dropping from 7 to 3.5 hours after 2-3 years are the people who seem to somehow be OK with a PC laptop that drops from 4 hours to 2 hours in a single year.
But I don’t care.
I’ve used laptops as my primary machines for very heavy use for about 15 years, and I have never bought a new battery for any of them. Some I have kept for years.
Years ago, my first two Apple laptops eventually—after a LONG time—dropped to a point where they were mainly good when plugged in. My more recent laptops have never had that problem: they started with SO much battery life (way more time than I need to be away from an outlet) that even when their life eventually dropped in half I didn’t need a new battery.
When the new retina MBP’s life drops from 7 hours to 3.5 hours, that will still meet the needs of most people. Most of the rest would be getting a new machine anyway by that far-off day. Yes, there’s a niche of people who will actually end up paying that $200, but it’s a lot smaller than the number of people who THINK they will
Not to mention, I’m sure some of the people who will gripe about a machine dropping from 7 to 3.5 hours after 2-3 years are the people who seem to somehow be OK with a PC laptop that drops from 4 hours to 2 hours in a single year.
I can buy a car battery from Walmart for $90. This price is ridiculous. Hopefully it will be cheaper by the time I need a replacement though.
50 Years?
So, does the trend continue? Will the batteries take 50 years to get down to under one hour of usage time?
% hrs Year
100% 7 5
80% 5.6 10
80% 4.48 15
80% 3.584 20
80% 2.8672 25
80% 2.29376 30
80% 1.835008 35
80% 1.4680064 40
80% 1.17440512 45
80% 0.939524096 50
So, does the trend continue? Will the batteries take 50 years to get down to under one hour of usage time?
% hrs Year
100% 7 5
80% 5.6 10
80% 4.48 15
80% 3.584 20
80% 2.8672 25
80% 2.29376 30
80% 1.835008 35
80% 1.4680064 40
80% 1.17440512 45
80% 0.939524096 50
If there were any sort of parallels between car batteries and laptop batteries this would possibly mean something.
This is a bummer but it'll be a huge improvement over my 15" Powerbook G4 which lasts twenty minutes on battery.
I would hope it takes a while... but Ive always been distant with apple's portable devices after being really badly burned by their 2nd gen ipod. The battery at first lasted 8 hours and in only 8-10 months of usage i got no more than 30 minutes per charge until eventually the hard drive died on top.
thank god for warranty, but i never bought an ipod or the likes since that time.
No, the battery is glued not fused... They can just peel it off and then glue a new one on. The reason ifixit can't do that is cause they'd risk damaging the battery. But if Apple is changing your battery, it's because the battery is already deemed defective or in need of replacement, so damaging it further isn't a concern anymore.
Nope. The top case w/ battery would be replaced.
They can just peel it off and then glue a new one on.
No. See above comment.
Why would they give you a new motherboard if your battery is damaged? What kind of nonsense is that. Changing the motherboard wouldn't even solve the battery issue. Apple will just swap out the battery and put a new one in. It's only glue people. My gosh...
$200 sounds fair, but really irrelevant to me. I like my computers to run up to date stuff, which becomes very hard after 3 hears, so on average, every 3 years I get a new machine. I have had to buy a few replacement batteries to get me to the 3 years in the past, but not recently. 10 years ago I might have a battery last me 10 mins after 2.5 years, but my current 3.5 year old machine just had the battery fatten up and I retired it (still worked for an hour +, just getting too fat) I'm past the point of needing an upgrade and pissed I'm still using this old pos. Plugged in only because i'm not about to put money towards repair vs upgrade to one of these guys
Basically I'll get the computer with what I need-ram, ssd, etc, use it for 2-3 years, and maybe upgrade the hard drive capacity in the meantime, but nothing else. I'll sell it on ebay for someone else to send to the grave at that point...
My iphone gets upgraded more on the 1-2 year cycle and I defiantly don't care that I can't upgrade it's ram and drive space. It's just a device with a short useful lifespan before it gets recycled. so is my laptop now.
People want them to be like their cars, a once in a decade expense that has yearly maintenance costs to keep it working.
Basically I'll get the computer with what I need-ram, ssd, etc, use it for 2-3 years, and maybe upgrade the hard drive capacity in the meantime, but nothing else. I'll sell it on ebay for someone else to send to the grave at that point...
My iphone gets upgraded more on the 1-2 year cycle and I defiantly don't care that I can't upgrade it's ram and drive space. It's just a device with a short useful lifespan before it gets recycled. so is my laptop now.
People want them to be like their cars, a once in a decade expense that has yearly maintenance costs to keep it working.
Maybe design a handy carrying handle for that car battery and a connector for the laptop and save yourself some money then.
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
The thing about the battery reaching 1,000 charges before getting to 80% capacity was not true for my 2010 13" MBP. Mine stayed close to 90% at 1,300 cycles, and then it just stopped working one day. It went from 90% to 0%. Apple wouldn't replace it under warranty, and my repair cost $179 because of not having an Apple Store nearby and going through an AASP. I understand their policy and I did put the computer through its paces, but I'm not sure they're right with their estimate that it should still be at 80% after a 1,000 cycles.
From the perspective of someone who's batteries cost 100$ each and last 3 hours, and for about 300 cycles, it seems like your circumstances are pretty decent.
I'm at 652 cycles at 91% health on my Mid-09 15" MBP. I can see myself going with this battery for another 3-4 years easily if it keeps degrading at this slow rate. 1200-1300 cycles at 75% health is good enough for me for a 6-7 year old MBP.
Probably use a heated wire. Or there is a wire under the battery that can be heated up. Some car windshields have that arrangement.
am I missing something? you got > 80% after 1,000 cycles, you still had 90%, and even got 300 more cycles. after 1000 your battery is out of warranty. They say nothing of % after 1,000 cycles, just that if you have less than 80% below 1000 cycles they'll fix it. Doesn't matter if it slowly fades after that or drops dead on cycle 1001, you got what you were supposed to out of the battery. From what I heard your battery had a 30% bonus lifespan.
lol that you average around 3 cycles per day. wtf, do you charge up your computer every night before you go to bed then play videos as you sleep until the battery dies? I mean if you bought a new computer, and charged and drained the battery as fast as you could, how long would it take you to get 1300 cycles? seems like almost full time from when the released the 2010 mbp's. A number of days you have owned that machine would help with the lol calculations...
wtf are you going to do in 2016 with a 2009 mbp? Imagine trying to use one from 2005 now? My last one before this was a 2005 model, so I know it would suck balls. it can't even play 720p video smoothly. The web of today would crush it. Maybe it would be a stand alone word processor or music player or email only something. I get pissed doing normal web stuff on laptops between 3-4 years from purchase (about where you're at right now). sell it on ebay and upgrade. Life is too short to use slow computers.
I'm on a 2008 MBP right now and it's on it's way out this year for sure. I maxed the ram when I got it, have done fresh hard drive os installations periodically, and it still chokes up a little on the web, and dealing with hd video is painful.
wow. i guess i'm glad i'm holding off on a retina macbook for now. but hopefully there's not a lot of problems with them
I don't know what you are doing with your 2008 MBP, but my 2007 MBP does everything you described here without a hitch and is still very fast. It runs ML with a breeze, and that's only on a 2.2 ghz Intel core 2 duo with 4gb of RAM and a 7200rpm HDD. Sounds like you are exaggerating it's performance to justify a new purchase. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I'm just pointing out that there are some 5 year old machines out there that don't drop a beat for 1080p videos and anything the web throws at them.
The battery is glued to the top case, NOT the logic board.
The battery and top case are to be replaced together. Logic board is completely separate.
For those saying the just peel off the battery.. Thats incorrect. I imagine that Apple would require them to be replaced together. Apple authorized technician (Geniuses included) would replace the battery with the top case. Apple's support site states that the battery should not attempt to be removed (separated) from the top case. Safety concerns as you can imagine. The batteries can spark and catch fire if bent. The defective part (top case/battery) is then returned, and they probably have a fancy machine that separates them w/o causing damage. Also, its not glued it, but held in with double sided 3M sticky tape.
Last edited: