I have a MacBook Pro 15" (older model). Should I buy official battery or replica?

RavinDJ

Supreme [H]ardness
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Apr 9, 2002
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The official battery from Apple.com is $120+

The replica battery is $40+

Is it worth it to spend 3 times the money for an official MBP battery?
 
if you are going to sell it anytime within the next 6 months -- get the cheapo battery and don't worry about it.

If it's already a dated laptop - why spend money on something you probably won't keep around for that much longer?
 
if you are going to sell it anytime within the next 6 months -- get the cheapo battery and don't worry about it.

If it's already a dated laptop - why spend money on something you probably won't keep around for that much longer?

Makes sense... I definitely plan on keeping it until end-of-life. Right now I have the older version of OSX, but plan on upgrading... it's an Intel CPU, so it's still relatively good. 2GB RAM and can be upgraded to 4GB.

I plan on doing some basic iPhone app development on it. Would be nice to have that bettery so that I can actually unplug it :D
 
I'm still running my late 06 C2D MBP and plan on using it until it literally stops running.

Just buy the Ebay batteries, I've been doing it since I bought the MBP new and they had those battery issues. I can't tell you whether or not they last longer than the Apple branded batteries because my Apple branded battery was defective, but I can tell you that I get a good year or two out of them before they need to be replaced. Even if you do have to replace them more frequently, they literally cost a 1/3 of what Apple charges, so why not save yourself some coin?

edit: Also, if you plan on keeping it around for awhile, invest in a SSD drive and throw out the cd drive, if it hasn't gone bad already. Easily the best upgrade I've made to my aging Mac so far.
 
I'm still running my late 06 C2D MBP and plan on using it until it literally stops running.

Just buy the Ebay batteries, I've been doing it since I bought the MBP new and they had those battery issues. I can't tell you whether or not they last longer than the Apple branded batteries because my Apple branded battery was defective, but I can tell you that I get a good year or two out of them before they need to be replaced. Even if you do have to replace them more frequently, they literally cost a 1/3 of what Apple charges, so why not save yourself some coin?

edit: Also, if you plan on keeping it around for awhile, invest in a SSD drive and throw out the cd drive, if it hasn't gone bad already. Easily the best upgrade I've made to my aging Mac so far.

I do have an SSD laying around... I'll shove that baby in :)

And why throw out the CD drive? Like, literally remove it from the notebook to make it lighter?
 
I do have an SSD laying around... I'll shove that baby in :)

And why throw out the CD drive? Like, literally remove it from the notebook to make it lighter?

Take out the optical drive so you can have 1 SSD (for the OS) and 1 HDD (for storage/big apps)
 
Why is this?
Because sometimes those eBay batteries may cause some random stability issues and such in a laptop. They're generally of lower quality. With that said, my personal success rate with ebay laptop batteries has been about 50%. Two of them ended up causing issues as noted before but the other two are working fine.
Take out the optical drive so you can have 1 SSD (for the OS) and 1 HDD (for storage/big apps)
This. Here's a guide for help:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_...-speed-and-capacity-with-dual-drive-upgrades/
 
Personally, I've had good luck with eBay batteries. It makes sernse to spend less on older laptop.

Also keep in mind you might need the latest OS X for iOS development.
 
I would stick with a genuine or known good quality battery brand. I would avoid ebay just for this reason, you have no way of knowing what is good and what is crap.


I've got one I could sell you. :p
 
If you want to spend less than OEM but still want a quality battery with a warranty, OWC is probably your best bet. Still a bit more expensive than the eBay batteries.

When my March 2009 MBP battery died I ordered one from eBay; then after enough reading, resetting SMC and other tricks, I actually managed to resurrect my OEM battery while the new one was still en route! I'm still using the OEM battery, while my $40 eBay battery is ready to go as a spare. It works fine, but it doesn't fit quite as well-- the battery cover protrudes out ever so slightly (this was the last model that still had a removable battery).


I have an older macbook, too. An original macbook. That battery was completely toast and in a state of deep discharge. I wound up getting the OWC battery due to my ill-fitting eBay battery experience. The OWC pack fits perfectly and holds more charge than the OEM pack did when it was new. Why spend $100 on a 6-year old computer? With a fresh install of Snow Leopard it still works great. I will probably sell it, and it's much more sellable now with a fully functional battery.
 
I'm still running my late 06 C2D MBP and plan on using it until it literally stops running.

Just buy the Ebay batteries, I've been doing it since I bought the MBP new and they had those battery issues. I can't tell you whether or not they last longer than the Apple branded batteries because my Apple branded battery was defective, but I can tell you that I get a good year or two out of them before they need to be replaced. Even if you do have to replace them more frequently, they literally cost a 1/3 of what Apple charges, so why not save yourself some coin?

edit: Also, if you plan on keeping it around for awhile, invest in a SSD drive and throw out the cd drive, if it hasn't gone bad already. Easily the best upgrade I've made to my aging Mac so far.

Where did you buy the mount for the older non-unibody MBPs? Optibay charges $100 for them, which is more than what I'm willing to pay. I wish I could find one for $15-20 like the ones for the unibody models.

To OP, another option is to buy a genuine Apple battery from an ebay dealer. Prices are in between the super cheap random batteries and a brand new one from Apple. Apple's battery prices are pretty high for my tastes, but it does have a nice warranty (not to mention Apple's customer service is pretty good in case things do go wrong).
 
Never had good luck with any cheap battery. Still using the original 3 year old on my HP, 9+ hours per charge, if it dies I would get the original.
 
3rd party ones are going to have shorter battery life and probably die quicker.

$99 though the genius bar. Same as retail but has a 90 day warranty instead of 1 year.
 
Where did you buy the mount for the older non-unibody MBPs? Optibay charges $100 for them, which is more than what I'm willing to pay. I wish I could find one for $15-20 like the ones for the unibody models.

I bought mine at www.newmodeus.com. I paid ~$46 for it shipped. I *think* it was this exact model:

http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=258

it's listed as Optical Bay HDD Caddy to replace "Slot-Loading Optical",9.5,PATA on my purchase order.
 
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