2011 MBP - Is iFixit the best source for batteries?

[eicca]

The iFixit battery for my iPhone 6S worked perfectly or quite some time (before I got my 12 Mini) so I chose them for my replacement battery in my 2011 MacBook Pro 13".

First battery toasted a cell just a few months outside of the warranty period. Suddenly said only ~80% health with only ~70 cycles and would instantly drop from ~40% to single digits, and would get rather hot while charging.

They offered me an out-of-warranty discount on a replacement. The replacement battery made it 4 months and about 30 cycles before also losing a cell and dropping to around 80% health, saying it was fully charged and then suddenly saying zero charge, and also heating up.

Interestingly, the failed batteries also cause the computer to run laggy. When the batteries are brand new it's noticeably smoother.

Luckily they replaced the second one under warranty at no cost. So here I am typing on the laptop with the third iFixit battery installed just minutes ago. New battery reads 2 cycles right out of the box and 6090/6080mAh capacity, manufactured last April.

This computer runs perfectly despite its age and is currently the only machine I can use Photoshop Elements on because my license didn't transfer when I migrated to my Mac Pro and I can't find the key code. I really just need it to keep going.

If this one craps out too, is there a better place to get batteries?

 

[bingow]

No complaints here on OWC's NuPower 74 watt battery, after 11 months, 148 cycles, and 96% health. It's for my 2012 MBP non-Retina.

 

[eicca]

No complaints here on OWC's NuPower 74 watt battery, after 11 months, 148 cycles, and 96% health. It's for my 2012 MBP non-Retina.

Found it! Looks like it’s a Li-Ion battery. The iFixit ones are lithium-polymer. Is that significant?

 

[DeltaMac]

I often hear (and repeat) the saying

a cheap laptop battery is not always a bargain

However, I needed a battery for a 2012 13-inch MBPro, and did not want to spend a lot of money to keep it going - so purchased this one for less than $30 - https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EF068S8 (same battery works for your 2011 MBPro)
Works well for what I need. More battery capacity than the original Apple battery, no charging issues, and holds a charge as I would expect. And, is now a bit cheaper than when I bought last year.

 

[eicca]

Yeah, the iFixit ones aren’t exactly cheap…

 

[DeltaMac]

Just to re-state what I said - cheap batteries can be a crapshoot. I found one that suits my needs, but a cheap battery source might change suppliers in a heartbeat, and quickly change from a good deal, to a POS. You may hope to have luck from one purchase to the next. In my experience (as a part-time Mac tech), luck is part of the deal when searching out low-cost batteries.

 

[ctjack]

So far my experience. iFixit is a famous company that started as a website/show to tear down your expensive/desired items.
The beginning was no profit, then they made profits by ads/views and then they moved to selling the actual stuff. Think of your youtube blogers: free video, free video with ads(money), free video with ads and merch sell.

So in fact, iFixit is just a regular place to buy your parts. I do like their tools nevertheless. However, battery parts are not OEM nor OEM quality. They are selling the same stuff that people sell on Amazon, Aliexpress, alibaba, banggood, ebay. The only place where their brand name come into play is maybe warranty and battery selection(they will be better than utter crap). So you've already experienced that.

I wouldn't go to far as replacing my batteries if they came to that point of needing one. Because the only battery I would trust is if it was extracted from OEM Mac computer that was never used or barely used. Well it is less likely to happen, so we had to tuck in 1 brand new in box unopened at the time of purchase. So 10 years later, we could unpack that one and transplant the battery from it. Wait... We could as well keep using the newly unboxed one right?! But probably we value our memories with the specific laptop we used, so probably transplanting the battery could make sense.

 

[bingow]

Found it! Looks like it’s a Li-Ion battery. The iFixit ones are lithium-polymer. Is that significant?

Googling Li-Ion v Li-Po will give you pages of links, and likely without getting you a definitive answer. But going for one of those bottom dollar online choices seems like the "Box of Chocolates" dilemma to me.

 

[TheRdungeon]

Imo it's better to find someone selling an OEM one on ebay with low cycles from another macbook. I did that for my 2011 and it gets a good 3-4 hours and operates just like normal. The third party ones are universally terrible I've found, they either die completely out of nowhere or at bare minimum straight turn off when running low, instead of giving you the warning and then saving what you were doing.

 

[eicca]

Imo it's better to find someone selling an OEM one on ebay with low cycles from another macbook. I did that for my 2011 and it gets a good 3-4 hours and operates just like normal. The third party ones are universally terrible I've found, they either die completely out of nowhere or at bare minimum straight turn off when running low, instead of giving you the warning and then saving what you were doing.

Can’t believe I didn’t think of that. I use that trick for car parts all the time.

 

[eicca]

Well surprise... my latest iFixit warranty battery barely made it 3 weeks before shutting off at 82%. I'll be sending them an email.

So I'm looking on eBay for used genuine Apple batteries, and I see a bunch of listings claiming to be new genuine Apple batteries. Any chance those are legit?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Well surprise... my latest iFixit warranty battery barely made it 3 weeks before shutting off at 82%. I'll be sending them an email.

So I'm looking on eBay for used genuine Apple batteries, and I see a bunch of listings claiming to be new genuine Apple batteries. Any chance those are legit?

I am not aware of Apple selling batteries to third parties for resale.

 

[arobert3434]

I replaced a battery in a 13" 2013 with an iFixit battery a while back and it died after a week. They gave me a refund after I sent it back, but that was a lot of labor to go around the block. Picked up an equally cheap battery from a local shop and never looked back. I've also had success with OWC batteries in the past.

 

[TheRdungeon]

Well surprise... my latest iFixit warranty battery barely made it 3 weeks before shutting off at 82%. I'll be sending them an email.

So I'm looking on eBay for used genuine Apple batteries, and I see a bunch of listings claiming to be new genuine Apple batteries. Any chance those are legit?

Absolutely not, they're all lying and it's strange how they get away with it

 

[ctjack]

Absolutely not, they're all lying and it's strange how they get away with it

That is the game of the words. Here is the listing: Product Type: Original / Genuine Battery(NON-OEM)
In fact, the words like original, genuine are a marketing gimmick, which won many many courts. Are they are original? Yes, but what is original?
But they are clearly stating that it is NON-OEM which means not from Apple or not the one that Apple uses.

 

[eicca]

Well iFixit refunded my battery, so I put in a used OEM eBay battery. Came at 87% capacity with 41 charge cycles. For $30 and being nearly ten years old, I guess I can't complain.

But I've been using it regularly for a few weeks now and it's been gradually increasing in full charge capacity. It's up to 90% as of today.

I guess that's good? It also doesn't randomly plummet to single digit percentages like those iFixit ones. So it looks like I bought a little more life with this old machine.

The computer keeps running perfectly so I just can't justify getting a new one...

 

[ctjack]

I guess that's good? It also doesn't randomly plummet to single digit percentages like those iFixit ones. So it looks like I bought a little more life with this old machine.

You did a great job by scoring the nice deal. Of course your battery will go up - battery loses its' memory because of sitting on the shelf, once trained it will actually get better with that much cycles.
My Air battery went from 86 to 95%, because of the charge optimization it "forgot" how full it can be.
I admire you for not adding to e-waste - I would actually still use my 10 year old computers, but the hinge broke so had to buy one. Of course I have investigated a lot, and couple shops were tinkering it and refused to fix in the end.

 

[GlynJones]

This computer runs perfectly despite its age and is currently the only machine I can use Photoshop Elements on because my license didn't transfer when I migrated to my Mac Pro and I can't find the key code. I really just need it to keep going.

If you registered your copy of Photoshop Elements with Adobe they will have your product key on your account on the website.

 

[eicca]

If you registered your copy of Photoshop Elements with Adobe they will have your product key on your account on the website.

It’s an older version from way before that system. Elements 12.

 

[Silencio]

I've been buying the NewerTech batteries from OWC for many years. Aside from one 15" Retina MacBook Pro battery I received recently that was DOA, all of their power products have worked out well for me in the long term. For that DOA battery, they sent a replacement that's been working perfectly for the past couple of months.

 

[eicca]

I've been buying the NewerTech batteries from OWC for many years. Aside from one 15" Retina MacBook Pro battery I received recently that was DOA, all of their power products have worked out well for me in the long term. For that DOA battery, they sent a replacement that's been working perfectly for the past couple of months.

I’d have gone with them from the beginning if I’d known.

 

[TheRdungeon]

Well iFixit refunded my battery, so I put in a used OEM eBay battery. Came at 87% capacity with 41 charge cycles. For $30 and being nearly ten years old, I guess I can't complain.

But I've been using it regularly for a few weeks now and it's been gradually increasing in full charge capacity. It's up to 90% as of today.

I guess that's good? It also doesn't randomly plummet to single digit percentages like those iFixit ones. So it looks like I bought a little more life with this old machine.

The computer keeps running perfectly so I just can't justify getting a new one...

Nice, the used OEM one I put in my 2012 last year still goes extremely well