3rd party Macbook battery

[Rikos87]

To start, I have one of the first models of the Macbook, got it right when it came out.

I'm in need of a battery soon and I'd like to be able to get a battery while saving money. I'm looking at Fastmac and am wondering what users opinions are of their batteries. Also, if anyone can suggest other good 3rd party batteries as well and any negatives I should be aware of.

Thanks in advance all.

 

[wordoflife]

If you want to risk your computer spontaneously combusting, then sure, go for it.

 

[GGJstudios]

I would never trust a battery that didn't come from Apple.

 

[Alaerian]

I second this. With as much money as you spent for your computer, is it really worth saving a few bucks and putting it in jeopardy?

If you want to save money on cheap parts, do it on things that can't affect your machine - external drives, mouse, keyboard, etc. The battery is a fairly integral part.

 

[Aljovido]

I purchased a cheap 3rd party battery on ebay for my MacBook (which is way out of warranty anyways). Amazingly enough, I believe this battery to be far superior to the 2 Apple batteries I've had, and it was 1/4th the price!

That said, the rubber stopper on the bottom is different (and cheap), and the plastic housing the battery came in is not nearly as nice as an official Apple one... but I'm never looking at the bottom anyways.

I'm sure the quality control is lacking on these 3rd party ebay batteries. A battery from Fastmac is probably a lot better (but still costs more). Your results may vary.

With as much money as you spent for your computer, is it really worth saving a few bucks and putting it in jeopardy?

Don't forget that this is an older MacBook, and while genuine parts are nice to have, the real value of these computers has dropped significantly. A new battery straight from Apple can cost quite a bit considering how much an 06 is worth now.

However you may be right, especially if this MacBook is the OP's main computer. My Macbook had the display hinge develop a crack (out of warranty) and the dreaded palm rest cracking. So I bought spare parts, "voided the warranty" and installed them myself (before I found out Apple would replace these out of warranty). This is now a secondary computer and so I'm not too worried about losing it, so I had no problem going with a 3rd party battery.