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Disappointed.... [that battery died]

R

ruirego

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 28, 2012
11
0
Azores
After several years using a PC, 3 years ago I decided to buy a MBP, only because of the hardware. I wanted a machine "for life", I even decided to make some changes: ssd disk, processor i7...

Eve tiring work well for this 3 years, but this week, the battery's stopped working (only3 years????), tried to buy new battery, but only apple could do it, so I had to buy battery for 150€ VERY EXPENSIVE.

The worst new was that when they performed a computer scan mine was having a "power in" failure??? And the the technician told me that it could died any moment WTF??!!

Then I payed another 40€ so they could clean my MBP with no warranty. Then the told me it was ok.

Rui Rego
 
Not too sure what power failure they detected that they supposedly cleaned and fixed. Was this an actual Apple retail store? Sounds like a scam.

As for the battery, ALL batteries have life cycles. You cannot reasonably expect that a battery will remain healthy for life. In fact, most of my Apple batteries have lasted longer than any PC laptop I ever owned.
 
ruirego said:
After several years using a PC, 3 years ago I decided to buy a MBP, only because of the hardware. I wanted a machine "for life", I even decided to make some changes: ssd disk, processor i7...

Eve tiring work well for this 3 years, but this week, the battery's stopped working (only3 years????), tried to buy new battery, but only apple could do it, so I had to buy battery for 150€ VERY EXPENSIVE.

The worst new was that when they performed a computer scan mine was having a "power in" failure??? And the the technician told me that it could died any moment WTF??!!

Then I payed another 40€ so they could clean my MBP with no warranty. Then the told me it was ok.

Rui Rego
Click to expand...

Buying a computer "for life" is a silly idea. While the efficiency of OS X means even 5 year old white Polycarbonate MacBooks are perfectly usable, and the fact you're getting some of the best hardware possible is also great, it's never going to last more than 6 or so years, and by then it will be a dinosaur. It makes much more sense to upgrade every 3-4 years or sooner.

Lithium ion batteries do not last longer than 3 years. I've owned twenty two laptops, and sell a lot of them to my friends so I can see what happens to them long term. 3-4 years is the standard life of a lithium ion battery, and I have never seen laptops exceed this standard, in fact for some laptops the battery lasts just 2 years or less. Some will still work at diminished capacity after 3 years but then the battery barley holds a charge.

You're basically complaining about something perfectly normal that happens to every single computer in the world. 150€ is also not "very expensive". Every replacement battery I've purchased has been around the same price for a high end laptop, sometimes more. This is within the standard range of price for a laptop battery.

You also had a dirty computer, I'm not sure why you think that computers should magically be indestructible, but that's ridiculous. Charging only 40€, is very low. Do you know how much HP charged me for that exact same issue? 5 times that amount.

You are incredibly delusional and think that computers need to defy the laws of physics and should never have any problems. I can tell you as one of the hardest computer users on the planet that I've broken a dozen 2000€+ laptops to the point where they could not be fixed any more due to incredibly intense and hard use. The only ones I didn't break I only kept for a few months.

Apple computers are the ONLY computers that I can use and not have them break due to intense usage. I don't even use OS X, I use windows 7, but I still have to only buy Apple laptops because they are by far the most reliable computers in the world.

Apple's warranty service is also hands down the best, with any other manufacturer you'd have to send it off, and often their technicians are incompetent and cause more problems in my experience.
 
Last edited:
Hyuga said:
My laptop batteries usually last from 1 to 1.5 years before they start dying or are in horrible condition..
Click to expand...

I have 50 months and 450 cycles on my 2009 13" battery and it is at 85% capacity....what are you guys doing to your batteries, lol!
 
There is no such thing as a "machine for life", I update my computer every 3/4 years, people who game may update it more often.
 
Macshroomer said:
I have 50 months and 450 cycles on my 2009 13" battery and it is at 85% capacity....what are you guys doing to your batteries, lol!
Click to expand...

I have to travel a lot and I work as Apple consultant, my one year old retina already has over +300 cycles in, maybe constant plug in/plug out wears it faster..
 
Hyuga said:
I have to travel a lot and I work as Apple consultant, my one year old retina already has over +300 cycles in, maybe constant plug in/plug out wears it faster..
Click to expand...

Yep, I think that is the case. If you where using a PC on that many charging cycles...
 
I just enjoy using my Macs and accept the fact that it's a costly endeavor. Battery life is something that I give little thought to.
 
GoCubsGo said:
Not too sure what power failure they detected that they supposedly cleaned and fixed. Was this an actual Apple retail store? Sounds like a scam.

As for the battery, ALL batteries have life cycles. You cannot reasonably expect that a battery will remain healthy for life. In fact, most of my Apple batteries have lasted longer than any PC laptop I ever owned.
Click to expand...

I have a 5 year old netbook that still has 2.5 hours battery on full charge. It doesn't have an SSD, and the hard drive has not given me problems.

I just don't think PC's are as unreliable as some of you say they are. Asus makes some pretty solid stuff. I can't vouch for Dell or Lenovo, however.

That said, I agree with the others about the "machine for life" comment. I tried this, but it just doesn't seem possible. My desktop PC lasted for 12 years, but I mainly use it for surfing the web and word processing. It did some gaming early in its life cycle. It still runs, but my iPad does its job far better.
 
Hyuga said:
My laptop batteries usually last from 1 to 1.5 years before they start dying or are in horrible condition..
Click to expand...

That's not right... you should be getting 3 years at a minimum before any significant capacity loss occurs. Maybe you left it plugged in all the time?
 
My PowerBook battery lasted 4 years until it simply would not hold any kind of charge. It is unreasonable to believe you'll get a lifetime out of a battery. Again, batteries charge based on their health. The health of a battery declines and is often judged by the cycle count. If a battery isn't treated like a battery (left plugged in forever) then that too can cause the health of a battery to decline.

To think a laptop battery will last a lifetime, to me, is a weak thought process. I am more interested in this ******** power failure deal that was suddenly "cleaned" for 40 euros.
 
My mid-2009 MBP went 4 years until the "Service Battery" warning. It still holds a small charge, but I didn't help it with having it plugged in a lot the last year or so. Hoping my new rMBP will last as long if not longer (since it's fricking glued in :p).
 
GoCubsGo said:
Not too sure what power failure they detected that they supposedly cleaned and fixed. Was this an actual Apple retail store? Sounds like a scam.

As for the battery, ALL batteries have life cycles. You cannot reasonably expect that a battery will remain healthy for life. In fact, most of my Apple batteries have lasted longer than any PC laptop I ever owned.
Click to expand...

This. Sounds like it wasn't an actual Apple store.

And batteries are a wear item, like the tires on your car. Just because they last a while, doesn't mean they should last indefinitely. (Although that would be nice...)
 
It is so incredibly easy to change a battery in most Apple notebooks.

And as everyone has stated, you can't have any machine to last 'for life' or even many years unless you are willing to do some repairs (hard drives, batteries being the most common).

My cousin still has his early 2009 white macbook and it runs incredibly well. He doesn't do much of anything but web surfing, emailing, editing his CV etc...but for him it is perfect and has lasted since Jan. 2009. I don't see him getting a new one in the near future either.
 
GoCubsGo said:
Not too sure what power failure they detected that they supposedly cleaned and fixed. Was this an actual Apple retail store? Sounds like a scam.

Yes it was a apple retail store, the only one in my island. I'm going to complain to apple and see if they can explain, the store told me to it was a online test.

As for the battery, ALL batteries have life cycles. You cannot reasonably expect that a battery will remain healthy for life. In fact, most of my Apple batteries have lasted longer than any PC laptop I ever owned.
Click to expand...

Ok I know but 3 years is very baddddd.
 
ruirego said:
mine were strong 'till they die. no warning...

----------



that was an expression, but it's still on the top, just the issue with the battery.
Click to expand...

That's like saying "he was healthy until he dropped dead." :D
 
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