I have noticed that there are M3-M4 MacBook Pros being sold as new old stock (sealed unused packages) and I wondered what the advice would be to buying something that has been sitting in its box for 1-2 years.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
New old stock battery health
- Thread starter vanishing
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
keksikuningas
macrumors regular
I found this on one of ai bots (GPT-4o mini)
When an Apple Silicon MacBook Pro is completely shut down, the battery drains very slowly. Typically, you can expect a depletion of around 1-2% per month under normal conditions. This minimal depletion occurs due to background processes like maintaining system settings, clock functions, and other low-power tasks.
Does anyone have real world experience?
When an Apple Silicon MacBook Pro is completely shut down, the battery drains very slowly. Typically, you can expect a depletion of around 1-2% per month under normal conditions. This minimal depletion occurs due to background processes like maintaining system settings, clock functions, and other low-power tasks.
Does anyone have real world experience?
Well, if it’s of interest, I bought a MacBook Air M1 in November 2024, new, unopened but old stock. Was advised that battery could be dead but if so Apple would replace it. I bought the Air (it was a good spec and one of the last of these available new; I like the wedge), registered it with Apple, bought AppleCare and then submitted a battery replacement request with Apple. They replaced the dead battery at no cost to me and without fuss (other than a visit to the nearest Apple Store and the AppleCare I’d bought, ‘just in case’).
UK eBay, some authorised sellers, some business sellers that deal with Apple gear - never any private seller.
Apathist
macrumors member
You might look at this MR discussion about stored MacBook batteries from last year. The OP's concluding post is perhaps suggestive of what a battery's condition might be like after a couple years of nonuse, though obviously isn't dispositive.
Relatedly, I purchased a refurbished M1 from a third-party authorized reseller in June 2023. At that time Coconut Battery indicated the battery was manufactured November 2021, had 6 cycles, and retained 99.5% of its capacity.