With proper care, your MacBook’s battery will give you years of use. Like any type of rechargeable battery, however, the battery in your MacBook won’t last forever. Mac batteries typically last on average three to five years, at which point you’ll being to notice that you need to charge your battery more frequently. The charge also won’t last as long as when you first purchased your Mac. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to replace your MacBook with a totally new model.
Upgrading your MacBook battery with an OWC replacement battery will extend the life of your MacBook for many years to come. In this short video, Michele from Rocket Yard covers everything you need to know when upgrading your MacBook battery with OWC.
Find battery upgrade kits for nearly any MacBook Air or MacBook Pro here.
Hi Michelle, thank you for the article on laptop batteries. I have to admit that I am now confused as I have previously read an article that said the worst thing you could do was to keep the laptop plugged-in to the charger all the time. This was said to make the batteries get hot and their cells swell. Their argument was that batteries last longest when they are “worked”, ie fully charged then discharged to 10-15%, then re-charged again. Has this advice changed because of newer battery technology?
My advice would be to turn off the keyboard back-light and be sparing with the screen brightness if you want to get the longest time between charges.
What do you think?
John. (Proud owner of a 2012 MBP, complete with USB, ethernet, thunderbolt ports, optical slot and camera-card all built in, yay – no dongles!)
The sad thing about Apple’s predilection to solder in batteries is the damage to the environment and greater consumer hassles. Yes, some of these batteries get recycled but most end up in a landfill. About 10 years ago, the MacBook that I had allowed the battery to be replaced by putting a quarter into a slot and turning it 90°. The battery fell right out and it could be easily replaced by the consumer. Soldered in batteries are utilized to save a tiny bit of space but also encourage people to buy completely new hardware when the battery is the only problem. My new Mac Pro came with a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse. I use neither. I use a wired keyboard and mouse so I never have to worry about batteries.
My mid 2014 MacBook Pro has a battery that is fused to the bottom casing of the computer, so to replace the battery it needs to be sent to an Apple repair facility (usually in Texas). When it comes back, the only thing that’s not new is the display and perhaps the keyboard. The back panel of the computer is all new. I believe this is the only MacBook Pro that requires that kind of battery repair, but you’re invited to tell me if that is not correct.