Battery Replacement for MacBook4,1

[iWrightG3]

Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this but the battery on my MacBook4,1 is sitting at around 280 cycles and is temperamental as to whether it will hold a decent charge or not - sometimes it can last 2-3 hours and sometimes it can drain a fully charged battery in almost 30 minutes. Ordinarily I'd understand this if the machine was under a particularly heavy load sometimes but I rarely ever use it for much more than basic browsing and the like, so I don't think that's the issue.

I've only been able to locate a replacement on iFixit for around £80, which is considerably more than I'd like to pay if I can help it. Anybody here know anywhere I could order a reliable replacement for a slightly more reasonable price?

 

[theMarble]

Your best bet is to look around eBay for ones that are highly rated. Although, I would not trust an eBay battery to last as long as an iFixit. NewerTech used to make batteries, not sure if they sell them anymore though.

You could also check Amazon, but quite a few of the cheap batteries will be of crap quality. (eg: swell up in a few weeks to a month). That also goes for any battery, mostly non-name brand models.

Someone else here might have a good source for White MacBook batteries, we'll have to see.
What I would suggest doing is having a think about what you consider more important; price or reliability. Third-party cheap batteries are well, cheap, but will never last as long as a better quality battery.

 

[iWrightG3]

I did think about the likes of Amazon, but I've heard a few stories on here about relatively new batteries, some less than a month old, swelling to dangerous degrees and it's got me a little.. anxious, to say the least.

I'd definitely consider reliability over price but I'm hoping to try and find a reasonable balance between the two. Thanks for the suggestions though, I'll have a look around and see if I can find anything.

 

[theMarble]

Thanks for the suggestions though, I'll have a look around and see if I can find anything.

No problem. I'd suggest taking a look at various marketplaces to see if there are any second hand NewerTech batteries around.

 

[iWrightG3]

After some brief searching, i haven't really found any used NewerTech batteries, but a fair few new ones, all around $80 or so - so I think I may just have to put some money away and splash out a little on one.

Issue is that there don't seem to be any selling in the UK from what I've seen, and international shipping bumps the total price up by around $40 - so unless I can stumble across one being sold here, I think the iFixit one might be the one I'll have to end up going for. It's a little more than I was hoping it would cost, but I'd much rather spend a little more money than end up with a defective or low quality battery that could put my MacBook - or anything else in my home - in any considerable danger.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I don't know for sure but I suspect the iFixit batteries are just sourced from the same place as some of the Ebay and Amazon batteries…except you pay extra for a more solid warranty.

iFixit hopefully checks the battery for breakage before they send it out. I replaced a battery on one of those and there are some protruding plastic pieces that can easily be broken…as was the one I got from an Amazon provider.

Make sure you can return whatever you get for a full refund within a reasonable time. The battery life you're currently getting may be better than any replacement you find!

 

[rampancy]

I've had quite a bit of experience with A1181 aftermarket batteries (mainly from eBay, but a few from Amazon too), and my best advice is to keep your expectations low. For the most part, the vast majority of batteries I've encountered will last about 45 minutes to 1 hour (at worst) to 2-2.5 hours (at best), and they'll usually last to around ~200 cycles or so. The best A1185 batteries I've come across were from iCan, the house brand of Canada Computers, but they stopped selling those a few years ago.

If it helps, a tell-tale, hopeful sign of a good battery is its weight: I've had some aftermarket batteries be suspiciously lightweight and sure enough they lasted about half as long as batteries that felt heavier (but take that with a grain of salt, as it's entirely within the realm of possibility that an unscrupulous seller/manufacturer may have taken a battery that's only half-filled with cells and filled the rest with weights).

As for bulging or swelling, I've used at least several dozen third-party replacement A1185 batteries in my time fixing up A1181s - while I've encountered machines with third-party batteries already bulging, I haven't personally seen one that I've purchased bulge on me yet (but I don't take that as a guarantee that they won't).

I can't vouch for iFixit's aftersale support, but unless you can find a brick-and-mortar store in your area that stocks them, I'd say that Amazon would be a decent choice to get a replacement battery, as their refund system is pretty easy to use if you get a dud (which is what happened to me once).

Again, I'd keep my expectations for aftermarket A1181 batteries low -- I basically view mine as a way to keep a machine alive if I'm moving it a short distance or storing it for a short trip, and as a way to prevent the CPU from downclocking.

 

[iWrightG3]

For the most part, the vast majority of batteries I've encountered will last about 45 minutes to 1 hour (at worst) to 2-2.5 hours (at best)

Part of me was hoping for slightly longer battery life, although I'm not entirely sure what this particular model averaged when it was new, so I suppose I can't complain too much - if the typical battery life isn't likely to improve too much, apart from possibly holding a charge more consistently, I'll probably keep an eye on the clock speed and think about getting a replacement a little more urgently when the downclocking becomes an issue (I wasn't aware this was a thing, I assume it's to prevent using more power than the battery can supply?)

I'll make sure to keep your point about weight in mind on my searches, though I think the best idea might be to keep it connected to the adapter during use and mostly run off the battery if I absolutely have to take it with me somewhere. Then again, possibly a better idea for that particular scenario would be to save some cash here and there and invest in a slightly newer model.

 

[Amethyst1]

[…] I'll probably keep an eye on the clock speed and think about getting a replacement a little more urgently when the downclocking becomes an issue (I wasn't aware this was a thing, I assume it's to prevent using more power than the battery can supply?)

The underclocking to 1 GHz happens when there’s no working battery, supposedly to prevent using more power than the AC adapter alone can supply.

 

[iWrightG3]

Ah, that makes sense - I'm aware this may seem like a bit of a stupid question, but what defines a "not working battery"? Is it based on the number of cycles, or something else entirely?

 

[Amethyst1]

Ah, that makes sense - I'm aware this may seem like a bit of a stupid question, but what defines a "not working battery"? Is it based on the number of cycles, or something else entirely?

Not working as in not holding a charge or being missing.

 

[iWrightG3]

I'm hoping the battery I've got still has a little longer in it before it gets to that point then

 

[rampancy]

Part of me was hoping for slightly longer battery life, although I'm not entirely sure what this particular model averaged when it was new, so I suppose I can't complain too much - if the typical battery life isn't likely to improve too much, apart from possibly holding a charge more consistently, I'll probably keep an eye on the clock speed and think about getting a replacement a little more urgently when the downclocking becomes an issue (I wasn't aware this was a thing, I assume it's to prevent using more power than the battery can supply?)

I'll make sure to keep your point about weight in mind on my searches, though I think the best idea might be to keep it connected to the adapter during use and mostly run off the battery if I absolutely have to take it with me somewhere. Then again, possibly a better idea for that particular scenario would be to save some cash here and there and invest in a slightly newer model.

Apple advertised the 4,1 as having "4.5 hours of wireless productivity", which Apple later clarified as being "wirelessly browsing various websites and editing text in a word processing document with display brightness set to 50%". But for my usage patterns (using YouTube, listening to iTunes, using Facebook/Twitter and intensive web apps like Gmail at 60% of max brightness) I'd get usually 3.5-4 hours of life (and this was on a 2,1 with an OEM battery). 2.5-3 hours for me is acceptable for a third-party knockoff battery costing 50-60% of the price of an original Apple battery (nevermind what they would cost nowadays).

As for the downclocking (to my knowledge, all Intel Mac laptops downclock the CPU to about 1 Ghz in the abscence of even just a working battery), I would surmise that yes, this was a power saving feature to protect the hardware.

 

[iWrightG3]

That's a good point, if it was an OEM battery or a replacement from a similarly high quality producer, a similar battery life would be reasonable but all things considered, I can't complain too much if the replacement ultimately does the job it's supposed to, regardless of whether it lasts as long per charge as a first party replacement or not.