Good replacement for bad NewerTech battery?

[Camaro83]

Looking for a battery recommendation for my early 2011 15" MBP.

The original Apple battery lasted about 5 years and 500 cycles. I then replaced it with a NewerTech NuPower NWTBAP15MBU78W bought from macsales.eu; packaging and accessories all looked like i got the real (OWC) deal, not some funky fake.

From the start the NewerTech battery performed nowhere near the original Apple battery. I was lucky when my MBP lasted over an hour with the NewerTech battery; which only happened when there was zero load on the system...

Now, after not even 2 years and less than 100 cycles, the NewerTech battery has completely died. MBP will shut off immediately when i unplug the power adapter. PRAM and SMC reset didn't help either.

It also looks to me like the NewerTech battery reported incorrect capacity data, until the failure just became too obvious:

So now i'm looking for good battery recommendations. NewerTech is not an option, for obvious reasons.

 

[A7ibaba]

Obviously ,official Apple OEM battery

 

[Camaro83]

Are these still available through Apple resellers / service providers? I thought the 2011 MBPs were declared Vintage (= no support or parts anymore). Also, i don't have the old original battery anymore, hope that wouldn't be a problem when trying to get a new one through official channels...

Or do you know any other reliable supplier of original batteries?

 

[A7ibaba]

https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service. .It cost 129 $ for vintage macbook pro

 

[MBAir2010]

You need to condition the OWC battery, there is a process involving running the battery to 0%, then restart.
ask them or visit their site for step by step instructions.

hope this helps!

 

[JPack]

https://www.rewatechnology.com/batt...-a1382-early-2011-mid-2012-oem-new-12746.html

 

[Webster's Mac]

You can take it to Apple, or try to find a higher quality aftermarket battery. I personally use batteries sold by Mardext on eBay that he says are genuine (though I cannot confirm that). I have used several of these in various machines, ranging from 2009 through the mid-2012 series (a1278 models). Going with Apple is definitely the safer and more expensive route. Aftermarket/"oem" batteries on eBay can be a gamble. I've had good luck, but as always YMMV. Also, when removing the old battery, be sure not to use a metal flathead screwdriver or other metal object to pry the connector up, because there are exposed pins that go to the SMC that are exposed in that same area, and if the screwdriver shorts them, you will be looking at a component level board repair (like what Louis Rossman does) or logic board replacement. It's not a hard job, quite the opposite in fact...as long as you are careful. It's one of the easiest things to do on a pre-retina Macbook. If you need any help, let us know.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Good advice above but I'll add that cheaper replacements from Amazon or Ebay are risky...but not always bad. I bought off Amazon for a 2008 MacBook that died in 4 weeks. Got a full refund, tried another seller, and that one has been working about as well as can be expected for 13 months...$30.

In February 2016 I got an Lizone battery for a 2007 MacBook Pro. It gets used very little but the battery is holding up. Paid $53 for that one.

 

[Camaro83]

Just a quick update:
- Reconditioning the bad OWC battery obviously did not work, as the battery was effectively at 0% all the time. Disconnecting the power adapter caused the MBP to switch off immediately.
- A couple of days ago the battery status changed from the "Service Battery" state to the "Replace Now" state, which causes the CPU to throttle massively. The MBP was unusable with that throttling.
- I then went to the local Apple service provider, which replaced the OWC battery with a new Apple (= SMP) one for about 180 bucks.
- When i picked up the MBP, the service provider told me that usually the price is about double (360 bucks - WTF?) when the old Apple battery is not available. Apple actually wants the old batteries back and charges twice the price if the returned broken battery is not an Apple one.
- Because i told the service provider beforehand that it's a 3rd party battery and they (apparently accidentally) told me it would cost 180 bucks to replace with an Apple one, they did actually honor the lower price.

I knew that Apple Stores don't sell replacement parts, but did not know or expect Apple to have such totally crazy replacement part policies forced onto their service providers.

At least i can continue using the old MBP for work now, until my 2018 MBP (15", i9, 32GB, 4TB) arrives in 2-3 weeks...