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Recommandation for a 12" battery?

pierrox

pierrox

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 19, 2015
271
81
Paris, France
My 2016 12" MacBook battery is showing signs of failure to come. At 1500 charge cycles, I'm not surprised. It's a maxed-out 2016 so it still browses the web fine and I love the form factor on this machine. So I looked into a battery option. And found out that Nupower doesn't offer a battery for this model. I've read some pretty bad reviews about Amazon's options.
So I'm looking for a recommendation here, since it's always been my most reliable source of feedback. I'll replace it myself, it will be a first on this machine, but I've replaced a dozen batteries on MacBook Pro so I'm familiar with the glued batteries...
Thanks guys!
Side note, this machine would be so amazing with a M1/M2 chip, shame the sales were not enough for Apple...
 
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Hmmm, just realized iFixit sells this as a 2015 battery, and has a different one for the 2016 and the 2017. I guess it's ruling it out then.
The strange thing is that other brands sell one model for the 3 years of MacBook 12.
 
The cheaper one is sold. The iFixit is still available but it's from the year before. Are they really that different? iFixit is the only brand offering two different batteries, one for the 2015 and one for the 2016-2017.
 
pierrox said:
OEM Apple is probably the best option out there, I'll see if I find something. 👍
Click to expand...
good call.
looking at the complexity of a battery replacement for yours, i'd say an authorised Apple Repairer is the go.
here they charge Aus$409 but for that you get genuine Apple battery plus warranty.
if your Mac is a keeper, then that'd be my recommendation.
I had the i7 version back in the day and i still kick myself for letting it go.
 

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Just sent my 2017 (maxed out) to Apple to have the battery replaced -- had gone down to 72% of capacity. $280 or so, but Apple makes the process very easy. I looked at iFixit to see about replacing the battery myself -- looks very very difficult, and you might never get the MB to work again. We have a 2010 MBA, and replacing the battery takes 5 minutes on that machine. Progress, I guess. The MB is a fantastic machine, and still works well for most things. I have a 13" M2 MBA, and it's fine, but its portability does not compare with the MB.
 
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I believe in general with 'Books' made after 2015 Apple made battery replacement much harder, at least by 2019 as the ifixit guides show high difficulty from there on.
 
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glhiii said:
Just sent my 2017 (maxed out) to Apple to have the battery replaced -- had gone down to 72% of capacity. $280 or so, but Apple makes the process very easy. I looked at iFixit to see about replacing the battery myself -- looks very very difficult, and you might never get the MB to work again. We have a 2010 MBA, and replacing the battery takes 5 minutes on that machine. Progress, I guess. The MB is a fantastic machine, and still works well for most things. I have a 13" M2 MBA, and it's fine, but its portability does not compare with the MB.
Click to expand...
really?
M2 Air weighs in at 1.24 kg (2.7 lbs)
13" 2010 Air weighs in at 1.32 kg (2.9 lbs)
11" 2010 Air weighs in at 1.06 kg (2.3 lbs)
so if you're talking 11" then i concur :cool: - 13" not so much.;)
the missus' 13" is actually larger than M2 Air
here's a actual comparison pic 11" + M2
IMG_0155.JPG


IMG_0156.JPG
 
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halledise said:
so if you're talking 11" then i concur :cool: - 13" not so much.;)
the missus' 13" is actually larger than M2 Air
here's a actual comparison pic 11" + M2
Click to expand...
True enough. The current M2 Air is a fantastic computer, but my wife likes the older MacOS and she's used to the older machine. Running Snow Leopard, it boots almost instantly, but of course it doesn't do so well on the internet. Upgraded to High Sierra, though, it works pretty well on everything. The MacBook is fantastic for carrying around everywhere, and for me it works quite well.
 
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If I were you I'd be looking to a different laptop if that's a financial option?

I had one of these for a while (maxed out as well) and I totally agree it's a lovely and light form factor and my son used it after me for a while. The screen was replaced twice (even though I was using a microfibre cloth between keyboard and keys after being told by Apple to do so) as was the keyboard. The keyboard was starting to go again so I traded it in with Apple before it was too obvious.

More importantly for this - one of the battery cells failed on it and was replaced under warranty at the time by Apple - who had to get a new one made (as it was maxed out that was a build to order rather than in stock and shipped from Asia so took a while...) as their battery replacement process 'failed to meet their quality control standards'; I'm guessing they are broke something in the fiddly process or had a big accident and dropped it - either way it just felt like a time bomb of a machine by the end.

Andrew
 
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Andrew, Was the MacBook you had a 2017 one? I have had no trouble with mine. I had a 2015 version before -- I would not recommend that one, but the 2017 version that I have now is flawless, and I've used it a lot. Sent in on Thursday to replace the battery and got it back today -- 3-day turnaround, and I'm typing on it now. The battery service from Apple is, not surprisingly, pretty expensive -- $270. But they do include 1-day delivery both ways, and that makes the service convenient. George
 
glhiii said:
Andrew, Was the MacBook you had a 2017 one? I have had no trouble with mine. I had a 2015 version before -- I would not recommend that one, but the 2017 version that I have now is flawless, and I've used it a lot. Sent in on Thursday to replace the battery and got it back today -- 3-day turnaround, and I'm typing on it now. The battery service from Apple is, not surprisingly, pretty expensive -- $270. But they do include 1-day delivery both ways, and that makes the service convenient. George
Click to expand...
Hi,

It was a 2015 (maxed out meant 1.3).
I’m glad the issues were shaken out, I do miss the form factor. Replaced it with an MBP 16 :)

Thanks,
Andrew
 
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