The Nightmare of Replacing a Battery on a Mac Laptop • Hacker News Board

Re: The Nightmare of Replacing a Battery on a Mac Laptop

#11

Post by rayiner » Wed, Oct 28, 2015, 4:13 PM UTC

Out of warranty battery service on a Mac ranges from $130-200: https://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=servicefaq&geo=Unite.... I think that's a reasonable price considering Lenovo charges $140 for a 75-watt hour 68+ battery for the T450s: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/itemdetails/0C52862/460/D91DC49....

And for $130-200, they will replace your top-case (including keyboard and touchpad). I have had it done more than once and it was a same-day turnaround each time (couple of hours).

I wonder if there wasn't something more wrong with his laptop caused by letting a worn-out battery sit in there too long.

Re: The Nightmare of Replacing a Battery on a Mac Laptop

#12

Post by sarahprobono » Wed, Oct 28, 2015, 4:13 PM UTC

thearn4 wrote: post #3

I'm curious what other people's perspectives are on the (what appears to me anyway) dominance of Macbooks among developers these days. Is it the convenience of a Unix-y machine with decent drivers, or something else?

I bought mine (15" pro) because I wanted

- A high resolution display - Decent battery life - A good keyboard - A Unix based OS (Though I'm fine with Linux) - Hardware that feels good to use

The MacBooks are easy to compare to pick the one you want, all look good, and you're pretty well guaranteed that you're going to get what you expect, even if it costs a little more. On the other hand, to pick another manufacturer, you have to dig a lot to even start finding what the options are, much less to refine them. I paid $X more to get a macbook and not go through that :P

Re: The Nightmare of Replacing a Battery on a Mac Laptop

#13

Post by austenallred » Wed, Oct 28, 2015, 4:14 PM UTC

thearn4 wrote: post #3

I'm curious what other people's perspectives are on the (what appears to me anyway) dominance of Macbooks among developers these days. Is it the convenience of a Unix-y machine with decent drivers, or something else?

Yes. For me at least, I don't want to think about the hardware, and for the most part my MacBook is flawless in that category. Paying an extra $x00 for that is a no-brainer.

I use OS X for the same reason, but it's a great Linux box as well.

Re: The Nightmare of Replacing a Battery on a Mac Laptop

#14

Post by matthewmacleod » Wed, Oct 28, 2015, 4:14 PM UTC

ant6n wrote: post #2

On my macbook pro, the battery is a bit worn down and it hard-crashes when the Battery is at around 5%. You'd think that Apple would be able to write an OS that detects this new low for the battery and adjust the meter correctly and hibernate the computer, so you it doesn't cause you to accidentally loose work. But I guess AAPL can't afford those kind of development costs; or maybe improving the pixels on some transi…

Apple do provide details on how to calibrate a battery correctly; it should be part of your general maintainance, though I'll bet barely anybody bothers in practice. See https://support.apple.com/kb/PH14087

Re: The Nightmare of Replacing a Battery on a Mac Laptop

#15

Post by ksec » Wed, Oct 28, 2015, 4:14 PM UTC

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #5

> Next toss in the problem that Apple thought I didn’t have AppleCare on the machine. This is Apple’s extended warranty. This was despite me showing a receipt that showed that I bought both at the same time. Turns out that if you don’t by the machine from an Apple Store, you have to actually fill out some online form to register your warranty. If you buy at an Apple store, they automatically attach it. Anywhere else,…

um..... I am under the impression ALL apple product gets their one year warranty when they first start the machine, which it will register itself.

There should be no form to fill in, and this sounds very un Apple.

Re: The Nightmare of Replacing a Battery on a Mac Laptop

#16

Post by yeukhon » Wed, Oct 28, 2015, 4:15 PM UTC

dchuk wrote: post #4

Isn't this sort of a cake-and-eat-it-too situation? If you want a slim, lightweight laptop that still performs at a high level, you can't expect the old pop out batteries with the little switch we grew up with on laptops. While $400 is expensive to replace a battery, it's obviously not as simple as just popping a new one in, which is the compromise one has to make if they want a Macbook Pro. If you want easily swappa…

Depends. These days with hardware failure rate becoming higher (maybe it's just an illusion due to the ability of providing feedback on the Internet, but I argue that most of the old machines I know still work today but not so many with the more recent one), the next victim can be your SSD. Apple does get some good SSD from Samsung though. The benefit of a lock-down is controlling variable, and placing Apple at a higher standard (I hope they still do for software). Raising the bar so fewer people are able to customize computer helps controlling quality and also prevent wasting time on figuring out if problem was caused by foreign hardware's fault or not.

Re: The Nightmare of Replacing a Battery on a Mac Laptop

#17

Post by franze » Wed, Oct 28, 2015, 4:15 PM UTC

new (1 month old) macbook retina, 12 inch, el capitan http://replycam.com/i/Pasted_Image_28_10_15_17_10_1BE12B12.p...

fully charged battery -> 4h max ... (running mostly chrome and keynote) not really the "all day battery life" they promised (http://www.apple.com/macbook/design/)

Re: The Nightmare of Replacing a Battery on a Mac Laptop

#18

Post by jakejake » Wed, Oct 28, 2015, 4:15 PM UTC

There's a trade off to having a laptop that seemingly defies the capabilities of the day - they have to glue parts and remove coverings. Apple has been shedding ports & user-serviceable parts in laptops for years to get them thinner and lighter.

Almost every complaint in the article has a counterpoint. Bought AppleCare but didn't register it. Complains about the Genius Bar repair time - try finding somebody to even speak to you in person for free about your PC laptop.

Re: The Nightmare of Replacing a Battery on a Mac Laptop

#19

Post by vetinari » Wed, Oct 28, 2015, 4:15 PM UTC

ant6n wrote: post #2

On my macbook pro, the battery is a bit worn down and it hard-crashes when the Battery is at around 5%. You'd think that Apple would be able to write an OS that detects this new low for the battery and adjust the meter correctly and hibernate the computer, so you it doesn't cause you to accidentally loose work. But I guess AAPL can't afford those kind of development costs; or maybe improving the pixels on some transi…

It looks like you have mis-calibrated battery.

Apple did what you ask for in PPC era already. At least I remember, that it worked with PowerBook.

Re: The Nightmare of Replacing a Battery on a Mac Laptop

#20

Post by irremediable » Wed, Oct 28, 2015, 4:16 PM UTC

thearn4 wrote: post #3

I'm curious what other people's perspectives are on the (what appears to me anyway) dominance of Macbooks among developers these days. Is it the convenience of a Unix-y machine with decent drivers, or something else?

I think "Unix-y machine with decent drivers" is a large part of it. Another is that the battery life is pretty good. Another is that the hardware build quality is reliably good. The main complaint people seem to have is about the aluminium getting hot -- which IMO is far less of a problem than having shoddy hinges, failing keyboard, etc.

It's interesting to see the shift; I know some old-school techies who've moved to Macbooks despite using Linux/BSD laptops for as long as laptops have been practical.