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Battery
- Thread starter borgward
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MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2010 Parts | iFixit
MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2010 parts for DIY repair. Screens, batteries, keyboards, logic boards, hard drives, connectors, and small parts all tested and guaranteed with fast shipping and easy returns.
www.ifixit.com
OP:
How old is the battery on the 2010?
Has it been replaced?
If it's still the original battery, you got a good life out of it.
But it's time for a replacement.
Re the question "who makes good batteries"?
That's a crapshoot.
Like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, "you never know what you're going to get".
I've read reports here from folks who bought ifixit batteries, and they weren't that good.
If it was me, I might try Other World Computing.
I wouldn't spend too much. Put one more battery in, use it for a year or two, and then it's time for a new Mac.
Actually, I'd say "it's time" for a new Mac right now...
How old is the battery on the 2010?
Has it been replaced?
If it's still the original battery, you got a good life out of it.
But it's time for a replacement.
Re the question "who makes good batteries"?
That's a crapshoot.
Like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, "you never know what you're going to get".
I've read reports here from folks who bought ifixit batteries, and they weren't that good.
If it was me, I might try Other World Computing.
I wouldn't spend too much. Put one more battery in, use it for a year or two, and then it's time for a new Mac.
Actually, I'd say "it's time" for a new Mac right now...
Yep. It'll tell you how many cycles you've put on the battery and the estimated "health" of its charge capacity.
CoconutBattery will also let you keep an eye on your power consumption. I have it set to put the watt draw right there in the menu bar. My M1 Air usually sits between 3-5 watts in casual use. If it bumps up much higher for a while, I can see that something is up and open Activity Monitor to investigate. Not sure what a 2010 MacBook Pro draws, but if you run it for a while you start to get a feel for what's normal.
I do not know if the battery has ever been replaced. The people that gave it to me would probably get a new mac instead of replacing the battery. In real life a 13" mid 2010 MackBook Pro battery should run for about 6 hours on wireless connection, light Internet and text use. This MacBook runs for about 1 + hour on light use so it's probably time to get a new battery soon.
As others have suggested, the coconutBattery app provides a lot of information about the condition of a Mac's battery. Its "History" feature is great for tracking changes in battery capacity over time. The current version requires Sierra or newer, but you can download older versions that will work as far back as Lion.
If you don't want to try coconutBattery, you can get a count of the number of charge cycles your battery has had by using Apple's "System Information" app, available by choosing "About This Mac" from the Apple menu and then clicking on "System Report." Look for "Power" in the sidebar, and you'll be able to see basic battery statistics. If your battery is in the high hundreds of power cycles, it's almost certainly near the end of its life.
I've replaced batteries in a couple of 13" MBPs from 2010-2012 in the last couple of years, all using batteries from Other World Computing. I've been very happy with their performance. I haven't explicitly measured battery life on these particular replacements, but I'm pretty comfortable saying that they are getting around four or five hours after a year or so of use. I wouldn't say six hours of time is impossible, but it might be an ambitious goal without implementing significant power saving techniques.
If you don't want to try coconutBattery, you can get a count of the number of charge cycles your battery has had by using Apple's "System Information" app, available by choosing "About This Mac" from the Apple menu and then clicking on "System Report." Look for "Power" in the sidebar, and you'll be able to see basic battery statistics. If your battery is in the high hundreds of power cycles, it's almost certainly near the end of its life.
I've replaced batteries in a couple of 13" MBPs from 2010-2012 in the last couple of years, all using batteries from Other World Computing. I've been very happy with their performance. I haven't explicitly measured battery life on these particular replacements, but I'm pretty comfortable saying that they are getting around four or five hours after a year or so of use. I wouldn't say six hours of time is impossible, but it might be an ambitious goal without implementing significant power saving techniques.
Bear in mind, that ‘6 hours’ is pretty unrealistic unless it’s doing virtually nothing.
Having said that, something like web browsing only (not playing videos) should go for more than an hour.
I’ve replaced a handful of older macbook/pro batteries over time and like others have said, it’s almost roll the dice - iFixit or OWC are probably the best bet for one that will ‘probably perform reasonably well.’
Just here to agree with this. I was sometimes lucky to get even 4 hours on an Intel MacBook Pro. I wouldn't count your chickens on that being the standard.
Edit, just to be a little more helpful to the OP: I'd say as long as the battery in the Mac now is actually holding a charge when shut down/sleeping and not just draining overnight, it's probably ok for now, but you never know what can happen a week or two down the road.
Having read the replies, I'd suggest a battery from Other World Computing.
It's easy enough to replace, you can probably get 4+ hours (maybe more) out of a new one.
Something else... while you have the back off...
Get a 2.5" SSD and replace the internal HDD (unless it's been done already).
Don't buy "for speed" -- just buy a cheap one and put it in there. You ought to be able to get a 512gb 2.5" for around $40 or so.
The battery and SSD will give it a whole "new beginning" (within reasonable constraints)...
It's easy enough to replace, you can probably get 4+ hours (maybe more) out of a new one.
Something else... while you have the back off...
Get a 2.5" SSD and replace the internal HDD (unless it's been done already).
Don't buy "for speed" -- just buy a cheap one and put it in there. You ought to be able to get a 512gb 2.5" for around $40 or so.
The battery and SSD will give it a whole "new beginning" (within reasonable constraints)...
