MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?

Mik

Replacing an A1322 battery on a 2011 MacBook Pro that the battery swelled on. Any recommendations?

Klaus

I've never changed a battery on a MBP, but I've seen it done, and it's very complicated.

I'd say it's not worth the hassle on a 10 year old laptop.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@mik said in MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?:

Replacing an A1322 battery on a 2011 MacBook Pro that the battery swelled on. Any recommendations?

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/laptop-batteries/macbook-pro

Find your model on the page and they'll have a very informative video on how to do it.

I've done it on a 2013 MacBook Air. Surprisingly easy.

Not sure if this is your model, but here's their video on a 2011 MacBook Pro:

Link to video

Looks pretty easy.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

Pro Tip: When you remove those screws, put them into little 3 oz disposable cups so they don't get lost. There are several sized screws, so, keep them organized.

I've also replaced the SSD in Mrs. George's MacBook Air. Though a bit more complicated, it was not daunting.

Other World Computing (www.macsales.com) is a great place for upgrades.

Mik

@klaus nah. Piece of cake if you have the right screwdrivers.

Well, what I meant was a recommendation on what battery seller. There are a zillion of them!

Klaus

Oh, that doesn't look so complicated indeed.

Maybe it's just the newer models were it is a real PITA. As far as I remember everything is glued together and you have to work with heat to take it apart.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@mik said in MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?:

Well, what I meant was a recommendation on what battery seller. There are a zillion of them!

Go with OWC. They've been in the Mac business for decades and they have great tech support. Any problems, they'll talk you through it. Can't recommend highly enough. You might pay $10 more, but....

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

Also, if the battery swelled, you might want to chat with them and see if this is a fatal error.

taiwan_girl

@george-k said in MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?:

@mik said in MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?:

Well, what I meant was a recommendation on what battery seller. There are a zillion of them!

Go with OWC. They've been in the Mac business for decades and they have great tech support. Any problems, they'll talk you through it. Can't recommend highly enough. You might pay $10 more, but....

On George's recommendation and @Axtremus , I used OWC to purchase some stuff. Worked out really well.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@taiwan_girl I have three OWC products:

A 4-bay thunderbolt enclosure which houses my (two) backup drives, my media for music and my media for video.
A thunderbolt external docking bay which houses my boot drive (SSD) and another backup (yeah another backup)
A USB/thunderbolt external enclosure that's housing a spare SSD. Don't know what I'll do with that in the future.

Klaus

Hey @George-K do you have any experience whether an upgrade of a 2014 fusion drive with a modern SSD will make a noticeable difference?

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@klaus said in MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?:

Hey @George-K do you have any experience whether an upgrade of a 2014 fusion drive with a modern SSD will make a noticeable difference?

No clue. But, I will say that I boot from an external 2TB SSD connected via thunderbolt to my 2014 iMac. Works perfectly.

OWC has some videos on installing a SSD into a 2014 iMac. It's an adventure I didn't feel like undertaking, particularly because I'm going to be selling this Mac toward the end of the year (when the Apple Silicon iMac comes out). The skill level is "advanced, professional installation recommended."

https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/imac_27in5k_14late_hdd/

taiwan_girl

@george-k said in MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?:

@klaus said in MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?:

Hey @George-K do you have any experience whether an upgrade of a 2014 fusion drive with a modern SSD will make a noticeable difference?

No clue. But, I will say that I boot from an external 2TB SSD connected via thunderbolt to my 2014 iMac. Works perfectly.

OWC has some videos on installing a SSD into a 2014 iMac. It's an adventure I didn't feel like undertaking, particularly because I'm going to be selling this Mac toward the end of the year (when the Apple Silicon iMac comes out). The skill level is "advanced, professional installation recommended."

https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/imac_27in5k_14late_hdd/

I did the same (per Mr. Georges recommendation 555). For my computer, made a big big difference. Used to take looooooong time to get started and any applications took a loooooong to time load and use. Now that everything is on the solid drive, almost like a new computer.

Klaus

@george-k said in MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?:

But, I will say that I boot from an external 2TB SSD connected via thunderbolt to my 2014 iMac.

How did you connect it via Thunderbolt? Usually, external SSDs only feature USB or USB-C?

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@klaus said in MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?:

How did you connect it via Thunderbolt?

I have two options: I have a 4 bay thunderbolt enclosure that will take a 2.5 inch SATA drive (currently it's populated with spinning drives I use for media (~~pr0n~~ movies and music) and backups (two drives for backup - 1 time machine, one Carbon Copy Cloner).

However, I use this for easy swap-ability. I don't think I paid this much for it, however. I bought it in 2014.

https://www.amazon.com/HighPoint-Dual-Bay-Thunderbolt-RocketStor-5212/dp/B00DJ3YEH0/ref=sr_1_36?dchild=1&keywords=drive+dock+thunderbolt&qid=1611062081&sr=8-36

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George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

Other World Computing also has this:

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/External-Enclosures/2.5-Inch-Drives-HD-SSD

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But this is what I use for my 4 bay enclosure:

Screen Shot 2021-01-19 at 7.20.15 AM.png

Here's something else that might pique your fancy:

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/envoy-express/thunderbolt-3

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Klaus

@george-k said in MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?:

Here's something else that might pique your fancy:

Wait, but that's a TB3 connector, no? AFAIK, you can't connect a TB3 device to a TB2 port. Or can you?

Axtremus

@klaus said in MacBook Battery Replacement - any recommendations?:

Wait, but that's a TB3 connector, no? AFAIK, you can't connect a TB3 device to a TB2 port. Or can you?

I think that’s right. Apple sells an adaptor that converts a female Thunderbolt 3 port to a female Thunderbolt 2 port, but none that converts the other way round. If you Mac has only Thunderbolt 2 ports, you will need to start with an enclosure that supports Thunderbolt 2 (or covert to USB).