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2013 MBA Battery in 2012 MBA

S

sjackson

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 23, 2014
37
2
I have a mid-2012 13" MBA (1466) and I'm at the stage where I either pump some money into upgrades (battery & 480GB SSD for approx €400) or look at getting a new MBA (€1600) or MBP (€1600+). I try to replace machines after 3 years but it doesn't look like I'll have the funds this year to replace.

Currently my MBA battery is running at around 65% capacity and I seem to be only getting a couple of hours at a time. For instance yesterday I lost around 50% of my battery while watching less than half an hour of video. I could drive two hours to my nearest Apple Store and have them replace it or buy a genuine battery online and do it myself (which I'm very happy to do). The question I have..... Will a 2013 MBA battery work in a 2012 MBA? Looking at the specs they seem to be very small with the only worry being a 0.3v increase in the newer battery.
  • 2012: 7.3v, 50.0Wh, 6700mAh
  • 2013: 7.6v, 54.5Wh, 7150mAh

I know it's only a 7% increase in capacity but it all helps. And if the 0.3v doesn't make a difference then it would make sense to go with the bigger battery.
 
sjackson said:
I have a mid-2012 13" MBA (1466) and I'm at the stage where I either pump some money into upgrades (battery & 480GB SSD for approx €400) or look at getting a new MBA (€1600) or MBP (€1600+). I try to replace machines after 3 years but it doesn't look like I'll have the funds this year to replace.

Currently my MBA battery is running at around 65% capacity and I seem to be only getting a couple of hours at a time. For instance yesterday I lost around 50% of my battery while watching less than half an hour of video. I could drive two hours to my nearest Apple Store and have them replace it or buy a genuine battery online and do it myself (which I'm very happy to do). The question I have..... Will a 2013 MBA battery work in a 2012 MBA? Looking at the specs they seem to be very small with the only worry being a 0.3v increase in the newer battery.
  • 2012: 7.3v, 50.0Wh, 6700mAh
  • 2013: 7.6v, 54.5Wh, 7150mAh

I know it's only a 7% increase in capacity but it all helps. And if the 0.3v doesn't make a difference then it would make sense to go with the bigger battery.
Click to expand...

I'd just let Apple do it rather than start peeling out lithium cells and swapping voltages. What does your battery health indicator tell you? I've put in a Transcend 480SSD into my late 2010 MBA and am quite happy with continuing to use it as my travel companion.
 
FuNGi said:
I'd just let Apple do it rather than start peeling out lithium cells and swapping voltages. What does your battery health indicator tell you? I've put in a Transcend 480SSD into my late 2010 MBA and am quite happy with continuing to use it as my travel companion.
Click to expand...

I'm less than 500 cycles and my full charge capacity is down to 4300mAh. The health indicator is telling me to "Service Battery".
 
FuNGi said:
I'd just let Apple do it rather than start peeling out lithium cells and swapping voltages. What does your battery health indicator tell you? I've put in a Transcend 480SSD into my late 2010 MBA and am quite happy with continuing to use it as my travel companion.
Click to expand...

And yes, it's the Transcend SSD upgrade I'm looking to purchase (on amazon.co.uk).

In relation to the batteries I can get genuine batteries and there's around €3 in the difference with the 2013 model costing €68 and the 2012 costing €65. To have my nearest Apple store fit it will cost €150 + travel expenses. I have a local Apple authorised service centre around 30 minutes away but they charge €280 to fit a new battery.

----------
FuNGi said:
Well Apple might give you a new one for free as it failed so early.
Click to expand...

I'd be surprised as the MBA is well outside the 1 year warranty. They do state that the batteries should hold 80% capacity for 1000 cycles.
 
Spoke to Apple support and although they recognise the battery is defective, it is still outside warranty so a paid repair.
 
We should try harder. I too have problems with 2012 MBA losing the battery capacity faster than normally ( i am at 300 cycles )
 
Andrei221 said:
We should try harder. I too have problems with 2012 MBA losing the battery capacity faster than normally ( i am at 300 cycles )
Click to expand...

Yes it's quite funny if you do the maths. They guarantee 80% capacity for up to 1000 cycles within 1 year. So on average you need to fully charge your MBA 2.74 times a day.

I think if you need to charge a notebook this often you need a desktop!

----------
dyt1983 said:
According to iFixit and users reporting, the battery does work, but due to architecture provides a really small increase. If newer is cheaper or same price, then go for it; for more money, it might not be worth it. (iFixit charges about 10% more for the newer battery, to be in line with its perceived benefits. Apple charge the same.)
Click to expand...

Appreciate that thanks. Do you have a link to this info?

Edit: see it here: https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/MacBook-Air-13-Inch-Mid-2013-Early-2014-Battery/IF188-086-1
 
On the apple discussions forum nobody really gave me an answer. is there any apple email? i do not have an official apple store in my country.
 
Andrei221 said:
On the apple discussions forum nobody really gave me an answer. is there any apple email? i do not have an official apple store in my country.
Click to expand...

We don't have an official Apple Store here in Ireland either so I went onto the support section of the apple website and started a "chat". The representative said the battery was out of warranty so I had to purchase a new on.
 
dyt1983 said:
Check in the questions/comments areas of the 2013 MBA 13 hardware, and teardown pages, and the same for the 2012 MBA 13 for actual user questions, answers, and reports. That should give you an idea what to expect!
Click to expand...

Did that thanks. Looks like it works fine and for the extra few Euro it might be worth purchasing.

----------
dyt1983 said:
Oh and the iFixit guide for the battery makes it pretty simple for anyone who is even slightly mechanically inclined. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I've built many PC's in my day and replaced parts in laptops so I figure this should be ok. Ordered the correct tools so once they arrive I'll be good to go.
 
FuNGi said:
I'd just let Apple do it rather than start peeling out lithium cells and swapping voltages. What does your battery health indicator tell you? I've put in a Transcend 480SSD into my late 2010 MBA and am quite happy with continuing to use it as my travel companion.
Click to expand...

Have you seen pictures of the battery in teardowns? Swapping batteries seems like a trivial exercise that should take a few minutes. Like changing AA batteries in a flashlight. Nothing to do with manipulating individual lithium-polymer cells or whatever.
 
sjackson said:
We don't have an official Apple Store here in Ireland either so I went onto the support section of the apple website and started a "chat". The representative said the battery was out of warranty so I had to purchase a new on.
Click to expand...

shouldn't we have a 2 year warranty ?
 
Andrei221 said:
shouldn't we have a 2 year warranty ?
Click to expand...

https://www.apple.com/ie/batteries/service-and-recycling/

Your battery is designed to retain up to 80 per cent of its original capacity at 1,000 complete charge cycles. The one-year warranty includes replacement coverage for a defective battery. Apple offers a battery replacement service for all MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro notebooks with built-in batteries.

That's the T&C's for Ireland anyway.
 
dyt1983 said:
There's the Apple 1-year warranty, and the E.U. 2-year consumer protection directive, which requires each member state to enact a law that creates some form of coverage for two years. I believe you can choose to make a claim under the 2-year rule, you'll have to investigate that further for Ireland.
Click to expand...

The two year warranty is only that good on paper. In practice it means that you have to prove that it was already defective when you purchased it once you had the device for more than 6 months.

http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/ecc/consumer_topics/buying_goods_services_en.htm
 
motrek said:
Have you seen pictures of the battery in teardowns? Swapping batteries seems like a trivial exercise that should take a few minutes. Like changing AA batteries in a flashlight. Nothing to do with manipulating individual lithium-polymer cells or whatever.
Click to expand...

Huh. Does seem quite simple. I was thinking they were individually glued in like the rMBP's but fixit.com clearly shows that's not the case. Go for it.
 
Just an update. Found a battery that I had bought for the Air off eBay back in the summer but was uncertain if it was genuine or not. Took a chance this afternoon and installed it. I'm delighted..... Back up to 6700 capacity. Just watched a couple of hours of sports streaming and the Air has been running now 3 hours and 10 minutes. Still 30% battery left.

If anyone is thinking about doing the job themselves, go for it. Takes less than 5 minutes.
 
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