Replacement Battery for Mid-2009 Macbook

[leons]

I am (still) using a mid-2009 Macbook Pro. My computing needs are modest; and my financial assets even more modest. The battery, after close to 1,000 cycles, finally died. I know a lot of people are against replacing a battery yourself/3rd market batteries, but it's the only option I have. I scoured ebay for a reliable vendor, and found one with a good reputation, a 60 day return policy, and a 3 year warranty. The battery I received was advertised as Genuine Apple. I am well aware of Chinese Counterfeits, but with the 60 Day Return Policy (at their expense), I figured, what could I lose?

The battery arrived. Close inspection/comparison (with a magnifying glass) give every indication that the battery is genuine. In addition, after installation, OSX's System Report is reading the Chip properly, and the information provided matches exactly that of Apple's Batteries.

However, the manufacture date shows that the Battery is 5.1 years old!!!! And (not surprisingly), although delivered with only 1 cycle, has only 82% capacity. They will take it back at their expense, but I need a new battery. I know that there are a lot of others with aging machines and a similar problem, so this thread may help them too.

I DID run it down a few times to see if "calibrating" it would help. It didn't.

Here are my questions/concerns.

Because a battery is such an important component of a laptop, I prefer to get an original Apple battery. But, is it a forgone conclusion that any battery from Apple that fits my machine will be years old? Has apple stopped making batteries for this machine several years ago?

If that's the case, then what? If an Apple Battery is out of the question (because they will all be years old), then what is a reliable alternative? Going by ratings doesn't help, because many consumers who buy these things are not even aware of how to read manufacturing dates or to interpret full charge capacity. So, I'm looking for advice from the informed on this forum.

TIA

 

[RichardC300]

I'd be pretty surprised if that battery was actually genuine. Chinese knockoffs are getting scary good! 3rd party ain't so bad. Try Anker. They're pretty reputable.

 

[leons]

Thanks a lot RichardC300!!! Actually, aside from what I mentioned, the major reason I think it's real is because of the Manufacture Date of more than 5 years ago. I think if they made a knockoff, they would put in a more recent date.

I looked up Anker on Amazon. They have 4 stars, but close to 20% are 1 & 2 Stars with scary stories of very low capacity and connectors breaking off.

I spoke with Apple, and they DON'T have batteries for this model at ANY price! So, it looks like if I want Apple, it will be an aged one. The "Genius" that I chatted with was NOT able to tell me when they stopped making batteries for this model (so I could find out the "best case" date I might find in the wild.

Any other ideas are greatly appreciated.

 

[RichardC300]

Thanks a lot RichardC300!!! Actually, aside from what I mentioned, the major reason I think it's real is because of the Manufacture Date of more than 5 years ago. I think if they made a knockoff, they would put in a more recent date.

I looked up Anker on Amazon. They have 4 stars, but close to 20% are 1 & 2 Stars with scary stories of very low capacity and connectors breaking off.

I spoke with Apple, and they DON'T have batteries for this model at ANY price! So, it looks like if I want Apple, it will be an aged one. The "Genius" that I chatted with was NOT able to tell me when they stopped making batteries for this model (so I could find out the "best case" date I might find in the wild.

Any other ideas are greatly appreciated.

I'd take the 1 and 2 star reviews with a grain of salt. A lot of people don't leave reviews unless the product is bad anyways. Anker has great customer service, and Amazon has even better customer service, so if it doesn't work out, you're covered.

 

[leons]

You convinced me! However, Amazon is OOS with no date that it will return! :-( Any other ideas?

I'd take the 1 and 2 star reviews with a grain of salt. A lot of people don't leave reviews unless the product is bad anyways. Anker has great customer service, and Amazon has even better customer service, so if it doesn't work out, you're covered.

 

[RichardC300]

You convinced me! However, Amazon is OOS with no date that it will return! :-( Any other ideas?

You could try another brand on Amazon. I'd stay away from eBay. I only jumped to anker because I'm partial to Anker. Either way, Amazon is great with returns if you aren't happy.

 

[leons]

The problem is, Amazon's 30 day warranty is not enough time to figure out if the battery is a dud. At least Anker is a company with known backup to their 18 month warranty. Not sure I can say that about other brands (seems most are rebranded Chinese Clones) on Amazon.

Any other thoughts appreciated.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

The problem is, Amazon's 30 day warranty is not enough time to figure out if the battery is a dud. At least Anker is a company with known backup to their 18 month warranty. Not sure I can say that about other brands (seems most are rebranded Chinese Clones) on Amazon.

Any other thoughts appreciated.

Ifixit do some batteries for older machines, I'd imagine that the newest you'll find in a genuine battery will be 2-3 years old when they began to stop supporting it.

 

[iMacC2D]

Removed.