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Apple Says Battery Can Be Replaced Individually in New MacBook Air With Retina Display

Hopefully we'll see this reflected in the next generation Macbook pro, maybe Apple felt committed to the design for several years.

I'm sure many of the pro users will happily sacrifice a little thinness for things like standard SODIMM ram, m.2 slots and replaceable batteries.

Heck, if the new Mac mini had replaceable storage (and a dgpu option) it'd be perfect.
 
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I am going to the Apple store to have the battery replaced in my 12" MacBook this weekend, i didn't realise they virtually take the whole MacBook to bits to do this. I will be giving it a very close inspection before i leave the store.
 
rek89 said:
That really isn't how computers work these days, and certainly won't in the future. Have you looked at the component density and/or component size on modern circuit boards?
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Yes - I've noticed - been watching for a long time. They are hard problems to solve. Apple has VERY SMART people working for it. IF they wanted to they could make their products more repairable. Add repairability to their recycling program and you would have a even better mix of options.

We live in a fast paced, disposable society and Apple is a great company. I would love for them to do even better - they have the creative brain power to do it. Just seems wasteful to throw out a whole mother board because one component has gone bad. Or throw out whole computer because it can't be upgraded to last a few more years. Its great for a companies bottom line to sell a whole new computer, but very wasteful for society as a whole. I hope reuse and recycle go hand in hand.

I hear your point.
 
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polee said:
Good news for new MAC owners. I cannot imagine having to replace an entire top cover whenever a battery is needed.
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Dude, not just the battery...
  1. the trackpad
  2. the side speakers
  3. the keyboard
  4. and, of course, the aforementioned battery
Either of the above, can only be "fixed" by replacing the whole top cover assembly.
Sorry, but what is the reasonable excuse?
 
This is nice to see. I think Apple is shifting back towards being able to replace batteries and screens (on everything) easier, because they're finding that they have to do it (over the last years).

The replacement on the Xs was much better than the Pixel 3 I think - because Apple designed it in to be something doable and expected. I want to see them continue with this.
 
DrJohnnyN said:
Do people replace their Macs battery often? I never have.
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Yea, I have. A bunch of times, and specifically in the Macbook Airs. In my opinion, Macbook Airs between 2013 and 2017 are all nearly identical spec-wise and it wasn't worth upgrading during those years. So when battery health slips lower than you like, replacing the battery is way cheaper than getting a computer. In some ways easier too - much faster than migrating all your stuff to a new computer.
 
coolfactor said:
On the flip side, Apple continues to reduce the size of components and circuit boards, which is a huge step forward in terms of the environment. Unlike many companies out there chasing the cheapest way to build, and being wasteful in the process, Apple continues to chase the best way to build, cost aside.
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I do wonder about the environmental impact. Slimmer and more compact devices require less material, perhaps at the cost of that devices lifespan. However, there is an average lifespan of all things, and I’m curious to see the stats on these devices and how that coincides with the life of a battery. Is the service fee by allowing Apple to replace the battery the best option when it comes to keeping a device going? Which is related to:

benshive said:
God forbid it just screws in and Apple sells batteries on their store that people can pop in themselves.
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There is no doubt a value in being able to do this yourself. The questions become how is the old battery disposed of, and can this be done safely? Modern batteries have more energy density, which can pose more of a risk should the old battery be mishandled. I know that can be a stretch, but proper disposal is another matter. Apple and it’s authorized facilities likely have strict recycling rules, where a DIY job leaves disposal a mystery. I know there are electronic recycling drop-offs, but there’s no guarantee they would be used over the garbage can. In this regard, I’m conflicted, as I value the personal liberty of doing such upgrades yourself, but I also like to see proper recycling.
 
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cb3 said:
Apple has VERY SMART people working for it. IF they wanted to they could make their products more repairable. ... Just seems wasteful to throw out a whole mother board because one component has gone bad. ...
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I absolutely agree with you that there is (or should be) a middle ground, like maybe swapping out a new mother board in an old chassis to bring the chassis and monitor back to life or replacing individual boards when there are multiple instead of the machine in its entirety, but is it practical in this day to repair the motherboard at a component level? The component sizes are such that humans can't make the boards by hand to begin with and they must be populated and soldered by pick-and-place machines. And with the minuscule size of the components, even the removal process can damage surrounding components because of the heat. Moreover, we're slowly moving toward eliminating some of the passive components (resistors/capacitors that could blow, etc.) from the board as discrete components and instead incorporating them into silicon or metal traces on the board, and those certainly can't be made replaceable.

My point being, to what degree can they really make modern electronics end-user repairable? What performance are users willing to sacrifice for that limited repairability?
 
I hope they learned a lesson from all those top cases with keyboards and batteries glued on they had to replace for the MacBook Pro keyboard fiasco. Any laptop they had to fix must have been a loss for Apple - I can't imagine the replacement cost to them is less than their profit margins for MacBooks, as high as those margins might have been.
 
bladerunner2000 said:
They should put them back in. That and user installable RAM if Apple really cares about doing the right thing.
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No way either of these happen. The industry is moving away from physical audio connections and user-installable RAM, in a portable device, comes with far too many downsides to justify the few users who want them.
 
I’m planning on getting the 2018 Air and keeping it long enough to matter. This is very positive. I expect I’ll be doing my own post warranty battery replacement at some point.
 
rek89 said:
No way either of these happen. The industry is moving away from physical audio connections and user-installable RAM, in a portable device, comes with far too many downsides to justify the few users who want them.
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There's no downside. If you have no use for the headphone jack, don't use it. I don't complain about bluetooth being in my phone eventhough I never use it.

See? Not that hard.
 
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Wow. This is insane! Apple doing something to benefit repairability? Idiots! Think of all the money they'll lose. Boo!

Jokes aside, after having gone through the ordeal and expense of getting my Retina MacBook Pro's battery replaced without a top case replacement after it prematurely failed, I decided that no matter what, I will not be buying anything with a glued in battery. While I thought this meant that I will never be buying an Apple laptop again, maybe that won't be the case after all.

Now if only they stopped using glue and used, you know, screws instead, and allowed the user to replace the battery... I know it sounds crazy but that would be great. I still don't see how using 6 tiny screws takes up any more space than freaking glue. How does that make sense?

I don't understand why companies get to charge whatever they want for repairs. If the cost of a battery replacement had to be in part paid by the manufacturer, I'm sure they would come up with cheaper ways to do it. Replacing the entire top case including the whole keyboard and trackpad is ridiculous, and I should not be made to pay for it. It's Apple's stupid idea, make them pay for it. Or they should at least be forced to advertise it as a feature: "Please note that a battery replacement costs $600 after the 1 year warranty period is over". When I bought mine I didn't know it would be that expensive, and only found out when I was told by the Genius.
 
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DrJohnnyN said:
Do people replace their Macs battery often? I never have.
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tgarg said:
Hey, can you tell me where to get the battery replacement for $100. Apple told me it will be
$199 + tax.
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Good point. I was having the screen replaced also because of the anti-glare coating coming off so perhaps they charged less because the machine was already apart? Either way I would still have paid $199 for everything new vs less for just the battery.
 
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