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Change of the Topcase... but still an old battery

M

mat1696

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 30, 2021
82
86
Hi all,
I participated in the butterfly keyboard replacement program with my 2018 MacBook Air at an Apple premium repair shop. The repair was accepted and the Top Case was changed (and apparently ordered from Apple). I can well feel that the keyboard is finally working properly.
However, I'm wondering. I thought that changing the Top Case was also changing the battery. Yet, the system information and Coconut Battery tell me about a battery dated November 2018, with 180 cycles on the counter (which is similar, if not higher than the cycles my battery had before repair, but I didn't take the exact measurements right before unfortunately), and especially 90% capacity (while when I took the last measurements a few months ago it was at 96%). So do you know what happened? Is a top case with a refurbished battery possible? If yes, I would have thought the batteries were at least changed...

Thanks in advance for your clarifications!
 
Was the repair done at an Apple-owned shop - or was it an AASP (Apple Authorized Service Provider), which would be a third-party business? That may be the difference, as an Apple shop would, AFAIK, always replace battery with the top case. But, it sounds like your repair did not include the battery (so your existing battery was moved to the new top case)
But, you should contact the shop that did your repair. They should be able to tell you if they would normally replace the battery with the top case, or just swap the existing battery to the new top case.
 
The only reason why Apple has to include the battery when changing the top case and keyboard under the keyboard repair program for MacBook Pros is because on the butterfly generation of MacBook Pros the battery is glued to the top case, along with the speakers and the touchpad. I know for sure that this is not the case with the 12" MacBook, which falls under the exact same repair program but does not receive a new battery since its battery is glued to the bottom case instead. I haven't checked but I can see this being the case with the MacBook Air as well.
 
mat1696 said:
Hi all,
I participated in the butterfly keyboard replacement program with my 2018 MacBook Air at an Apple premium repair shop. The repair was accepted and the Top Case was changed (and apparently ordered from Apple). I can well feel that the keyboard is finally working properly.
However, I'm wondering. I thought that changing the Top Case was also changing the battery. Yet, the system information and Coconut Battery tell me about a battery dated November 2018, with 180 cycles on the counter (which is similar, if not higher than the cycles my battery had before repair, but I didn't take the exact measurements right before unfortunately), and especially 90% capacity (while when I took the last measurements a few months ago it was at 96%). So do you know what happened? Is a top case with a refurbished battery possible? If yes, I would have thought the batteries were at least changed...

Thanks in advance for your clarifications!
Click to expand...
On the 2018 Air, the top case and the battery are not integral, so you don't get a new battery on these when the keyboard is replaced under the service extension program.
 
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