Macbook Pro Late 2008 Battery Replacement

[Vlad_Milo]

Hi everybody,

I've had my Macbook Pro 15" (LATE 2008) for more than seven years and have never bought another battery. I just never used my laptop outside of the house so short battery life was never a problem for me. Finally, after seven years my battery has reached the REPLACE NOW status.

Since I know nothing about batteries I was wondering if you can give me some advice on which battery to buy. I've read older topics and people were talking about OEM and NuPower batteries, but I'm not familiar with those terms at all.

I've found this website, but I don't know if I should trust them with my money. Any thoughts about this?

Please feel free to give me your opinions.

 

[Richdmoore]

Hi everybody,

I've had my Macbook Pro 15" (LATE 2008) for more than seven years and have never bought another battery. I just never used my laptop outside of the house so short battery life was never a problem for me. Finally, after seven years my battery has reached the REPLACE NOW status.

Since I know nothing about batteries I was wondering if you can give me some advice on which battery to buy. I've read older topics and people were talking about OEM and NuPower batteries, but I'm not familiar with those terms at all.

I've found this website, but I don't know if I should trust them with my money. Any thoughts about this?

Please feel free to give me your opinions.

OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. I'm this case a replacement battery from Apple. I am not sure, but Apple may have discontinued replacement batteries.

NuPower is a brand of third party (not Apple) batteries sold by Other World Computing.

I would avoid batteries that are too cheap, as there have been many reports of people buying eBay batteries, and they don't last as long or work as well as the original Apple battery. I would go Apple first (if they are still available to buy), if not then I would buy a known good brand battery from a company that will still be around to honor the warranty if the battery fails after 6 months.

 

[t0mat0]

Got a Duracelldirect.co.uk battery for a MBP 2009 a while back for similar issue. Bought via paypal irc. As it's always plugged in even the new battery doesn't hold much power, but as its 7 yrs old I don't mind.

Guess you look around?

 

[one1]

I build-to-resell salvaged white MBs and I prefer to give new Magsafe chargers and batts when I finish putting one together since it has a clean bill of health. Since they aren't worth more than $200 I can't spend more than $35 for both batt and charger. This obviously means chinese products from ebay. My experience has been that these will either come DOA or they will work like a charm. No in-between. Battery life is about 70% of OEM and that is exceptional for a $15 battery with a replacement wty. Remember, you're replacing your OEM battery because it failed. It's not unlike any other battery, it's not ever lasting. Most of the swelling and physical issues I've heard of with failing batteries have been OEM Apple. If the chinese battery lasts you a year and you can buy one every year brand new for 6 years for the price of an OEM battery, whats the odds you'll have the MB in 6 years? I bet the OEM battery won't last 6 years.

Another thing to consider is cycle count. I'd rather have a new chinese battery than a 4 year old OEM battery with 500 cycles on it. All things to consider.