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Battery replacement question

Munkypoo7

Munkypoo7

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 24, 2011
449
71
Hanover, MD
Hey guys,

Just curious and really picking your collective brains.

I'm in need of a new battery, and right now I'm looking at two alternatives:
Anker @ Amazon: $59.99
NuPower @ OWC: $85.00

I'd really rather not have to spend then $130 from Apple but I may have too. That being said bother of the above seem to have decent reputations, so just curious if either one would be a good alternative :\

This is for a Late 2008 Unibody Macbook. I want to breath new life into it. Current battery has 806 cycles, "82%" capacity but every time I hit about 60% it suddenly drops to 10% so I'm assuming a few cells are beyond repair. I've recalibrated a few times and reset the SMC just because. The battery is just finally quitting life. Had it since day 1... has had a great run :)

Thanks! :)
 
GGJstudios

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
I wouldn't trust or recommend any non-Apple battery or charger, due to the number of problems reported with "knockoffs". Also, there is no assurance that non-Apple components will have the same charging technology that Apple uses, involving the battery, the MagSafe adapter and the Mac's logic board. Apple has not licensed its MagSafe adapter technology to any 3rd party. It's not worth risking your Mac to save a small amount of money.
​
The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.
 
HIMAN1998

HIMAN1998

macrumors 6502
Jan 24, 2013
338
0
Richmond, VA
GGJstudios said:
I wouldn't trust or recommend any non-Apple battery or charger, due to the number of problems reported with "knockoffs". Also, there is no assurance that non-Apple components will have the same charging technology that Apple uses, involving the battery, the MagSafe adapter and the Mac's logic board. Apple has not licensed its MagSafe adapter technology to any 3rd party. It's not worth risking your Mac to save a small amount of money.
​
The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.
Click to expand...

This is not true, Anker and OWC are the two companies you can trust for aftermarket batteries. They make high quality products and have high reviews. I would go for the OWC one, since it's from a more known company, even though both are known. The Anker one made me rethink my decision, though, since budget is a big deciding factor for me as an unemployed high school student.

----------

Actually, the Anker one has a longer warranty, so if you need to replace it from a defect it has a longer time you could do that in.
 
HIMAN1998

HIMAN1998

macrumors 6502
Jan 24, 2013
338
0
Richmond, VA
I'm going by reviews by people who have bought the items, the Apple one has crappy reviews compared to those two aftermarket batteries.
 
Munkypoo7

Munkypoo7

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 24, 2011
449
71
Hanover, MD
HIMAN1998 said:
I'm going by reviews by people who have bought the items, the Apple one has crappy reviews compared to those two aftermarket batteries.
Click to expand...

And that's exactly why I made this thread lol.

I'm still on the fence too, I'll just keep chewing it over and see what I eventually end up on, thanks HIMAN1998 and GGJstudios :)
 
Zotaccian

Zotaccian

macrumors 6502a
Apr 25, 2012
645
7
Yeah it's always kinda funny that these cheaper alternatives are bashed when Apple's own products enjoy similarly bad reviews.

Apple has the ability to produce crap also, White Macbooks and their accessories are prime example of that: swollen batteries, cracking top cases, Magsafe on the whole seems not to be that durable (cables breaking, chargers popping...), failing bluetooth wakes computer from sleep etc...

That said I have original Macbook 2006 battery with 1732 charge cycles, condition is Normal, it has not swollen and holds charge for couple hours. I'm not the first owner so I don't know how she did use this computer, maybe she rarely drained the battery and those load cycles consisted of charging from like 96% to 100% or something similar... or maybe this battery just has good cells.

EDIT: Manufacturer is DP, model ASMB013.
 
T

trevm999

macrumors member
Nov 5, 2013
61
0
Munkypoo7 said:
And that's exactly why I made this thread lol.

I'm still on the fence too, I'll just keep chewing it over and see what I eventually end up on, thanks HIMAN1998 and GGJstudios :)
Click to expand...

I can vouch for anker batteries. They are very reliable and good quality.
 
dawgfan

dawgfan

macrumors 6502
Jul 30, 2009
298
5
Rocket City, USA
I have an older black MacBook and the battery has started to swell. Did you decide on a replacement? I need to get one too now. Anker gets great Amazon reviews. Anyone have anything negative to say about it?
 
Last edited:
Munkypoo7

Munkypoo7

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 24, 2011
449
71
Hanover, MD
dawgfan said:
I have an older black MacBook and the battery has started to swell. Did you decide on a replacement? I need to get one too now. Anker gets great Amazon reviews. Anyone have anything negative to say about it?
Click to expand...

Oh, sorry I never replied back.

I ended up just going the safe route and getting a fresh battery from Apple. They charged me $99 + tax and took my old battery for recycling (or whatever they do).

Nov 26th my my birthday so my gma offered me a $100 giftcard, so I burned that off for the Apple replacement, all I had to cover was tax basically. I honestly, after thinking it through, didn't want to take any risk at all since my Macbook is my school workhorse and I simply cannot afford another Macbook at this time :\.
 
dawgfan

dawgfan

macrumors 6502
Jul 30, 2009
298
5
Rocket City, USA
Munkypoo7 said:
Oh, sorry I never replied back.

I ended up just going the safe route and getting a fresh battery from Apple. They charged me $99 + tax and took my old battery for recycling (or whatever they do).

Nov 26th my my birthday so my gma offered me a $100 giftcard, so I burned that off for the Apple replacement, all I had to cover was tax basically. I honestly, after thinking it through, didn't want to take any risk at all since my Macbook is my school workhorse and I simply cannot afford another Macbook at this time :\.
Click to expand...


Waiting for my Apple store to open; however, it is good to hear they may have dropped the price to $99 down from $129. Thanks!
 
AppleFanatic10

AppleFanatic10

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2010
2,802
295
Hawthorne, CA
Zotaccian said:
Yeah it's always kinda funny that these cheaper alternatives are bashed when Apple's own products enjoy similarly bad reviews.

Apple has the ability to produce crap also, White Macbooks and their accessories are prime example of that: swollen batteries, cracking top cases, Magsafe on the whole seems not to be that durable (cables breaking, chargers popping...), failing bluetooth wakes computer from sleep etc...

That said I have original Macbook 2006 battery with 1732 charge cycles, condition is Normal, it has not swollen and holds charge for couple hours. I'm not the first owner so I don't know how she did use this computer, maybe she rarely drained the battery and those load cycles consisted of charging from like 96% to 100% or something similar... or maybe this battery just has good cells.

EDIT: Manufacturer is DP, model ASMB013.
Click to expand...

I mean to be honest, the White MacBooks aren't crap. I mean my White MacBook is awesome. Yes, it cracked once in a few spots but luckily Apple decided that it was faulty and they replaced it. The battery still works great, since I got the MB in 2010 and it still has 85.9% battery life.
 
dawgfan

dawgfan

macrumors 6502
Jul 30, 2009
298
5
Rocket City, USA
My MacBook2,1 had 651 cycles when checked before replaced today. The Apple chart said it should do 300. Guess I got more than it was designed to do.
 
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