Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I remember when a replaceable battery was standard in Mac books. I always had a second charged battery just in case. I think it was the first MacBook Air which did not have a replaceable battery… and then all of their laptops after that followed the same approach.
 
You can already get 3rd party batteries but they are difficult to replace and warranty is void, although Apple fixed my battery mess, without asking questions and for free after my ****up.

They're not really difficult at all. I've done many many worse repairs with zero issues.
 
  • Like
Reactions: turbineseaplane
I remember when a replaceable battery was standard in Mac books. I always had a second charged battery just in case. I think it was the first MacBook Air which did not have a replaceable battery… and then all of their laptops after that followed the same approach.

I miss the old thinkpads. You had two batteries. You could swap them out without powering down.
 
As someone who has replaced a battery in a 2019 MBP, this is a welcomed change. Best method was to turn canned air upside down and freeze the adhesive.

What that being said $200 for a battery is insane. Might as well put that $200 towards a new machine with how fast technology is advancing
And that's $200 TODAY. The M5 is brand new so literally no one will be buying a battery anytime soon. By the time the M5 batteries are failing to keep a charge, you can bet that the Chinese clone batteries will be on Amazon for $69.

The other option, for $249, is for Apple to do it. For 50 bucks more, it seems like that might be the better option if you really want an OEM battery and not have to deal with replacing it yourself (and possibly breaking something in the process!).
 
  • Like
Reactions: deific and cjsuk
$210 just for a battery? Sheesh. I can normally just about justify Apple’s inflated prices by saying ‘you get what you pay for’ but that’s ’wheels on a Mac Pro’ money
It actually isn't. Go to Dell.com and look at the prices of OEM batteries there. Most of this capacity are $150. Keep in mind the M5 battery is large so it will cost more, plus it's Apple we're talking about.
 
I know, I know… not a snowball's chance in hell, but I would have loved RAM upgrades as well or even instead of.

But for now, this is progress.
but you would have to be able to buy the ram first, with ram prices going up I predict even Nintendo is going to increase prices for switch 2 (they have 12 GB RAM)
 
I remember when Apple came out and said the new chassis 2021 MBP will get separate battery replacements “soon,” and that has never happened.

Gluing the battery cells to the chassis remains one of the more baffling decisions to me. Why can’t the batteries be glued to a thin plastic backplate that get screwed to the chassis for easier removal? That’s how it was/is done in the first unibody integrated battery Macs and many new Windows laptops today.
Because then you would save money, which would generate less revenue for Apple
 
  • Like
Reactions: platinumaqua
I remember when a replaceable battery was standard in Mac books. I always had a second charged battery just in case. I think it was the first MacBook Air which did not have a replaceable battery… and then all of their laptops after that followed the same approach.
Going back even further in time: It took just a few seconds to swap batteries in my PowerBook 170. Extras were a must, since they only lasted about two hours. It came with 4 MB of RAM, an 40 MB hard drive, and a 640 x 400 monochrome display, all for more than $4k.
 
  • Like
Reactions: deific
No design changes necessary for this. They used pull tabs for their batteries ever since they re-designed the Apple Silicon MacBooks. They just didn't offer standalone batteries. Third parties like iFixit did tho.
M1 Pro/Max-M4 14" MBPs have two pull tabs hidden under the trackpad. I wonder if that was a factor in their decision to not offer standalone batteries.
 
I swapped the battery of an 2011 mbp for 30€ in 2021, so 10 years of battery life. Some screws, easy…
i really like the idea of installing a battery by myself. Thats a bonus today.
 
I remember trying to change the battery in my MBA with a hairdryer. I was halfway through heating the glue when my daughter came in and took her hairdryer back as she needed to go on a date. They got married so no hairdryer anymore and the battery is still in the original box.
Yeah.

So how have you repurposed her room?
 
I remember trying to change the battery in my MBA with a hairdryer. I was halfway through heating the glue when my daughter came in and took her hairdryer back as she needed to go on a date. They got married so no hairdryer anymore and the battery is still in the original box.
I just wonder why the hairdryer. In the old (pre-2017) MacBook Airs the battery held on screws and in Airs that came after that, you can simply pull on the tab on the adhesive and it’ll come right off.

Plus, heating up a li-ion battery is fundamentally a bad idea…
 
Read the article. Design changes were made for this particular battery replacement to be easier to do. You can't retrofit that to an older. chasis.

I did read it. I don't give a crap.

I want them to sell me an M1, M2, M3, M4 battery on selfservicerepair.eu. Not a top case with the battery stuck to it which is all you can get now. Just the battery. It's £550 vs £200. That is quite frankly ****ing robbery.

It's not a hard replacement process. It's just more complicated than the one they introduced due to the design changes. And it's for their benefit, not ours. This reduces their store service overheads which means more margin on the repair.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bogdanni
I appreciate the gesture, but these battery repairs with the strips are also annoying. I hate when they break on iPhone battery swaps.

Then they want to use some funky 5IP screw. I'm sure it caused less stripping during manufacture, but how often are you really undoing these things? Would it have killed them to do a simple Phillips or even the same pentalobe they use on the bottom of the cases.

Then the "adhesive activation roller" is a funny touch - like no one would have that besides if they're renting the gear from Apple, probably for the cost difference to having the store do the repair.

Anyhow, I realize I'm nitpicking here, but I miss the days when you could:
1) slide a lever to remove the battery (Late 90s-2000s)
2) use a coin to turn a hook and pull out the battery (Early to mid 2000s)
3) unscrew the bottom case panel with some small Phillips screws and disconnect a single cable then remove the battery (2010s to 2015s)
 
  • Like
Reactions: johntherazz
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.