MacBook Pro 15" battery dead

[King Herald]

My daughter two year old MacBook Pro battery has died suddenly. It tells her the battery is nearly flat and will shut down if not charged. This apparently just happened. It is a 2015 model.

Connect the charger and it works okay, just does not charge up.

It hear it is possible to replace the batteries, but where can you buy a battery set on line? Amazon don't have them.

Our nearest Apple centre is 30 miles away or I'd just pop over there.

[bitchstewie]

If it's 2 years old call them, may get something from goodwill.

[King Herald]

bhstewie said:

If it's 2 years old call them, may get something from goodwill.

It was bought in the Philippines, just over two years ago, don't have a receipt for it either. I doubt Apple UK would stump up the cost of a new battery and installation.


I found a local computer shop who say they can do it, but no price as yet...

[DSLiverpool]

The Bookyard in Liverpool are service experts get a price from them as a comparison.

[King Herald]

DSLiverpool said:

The Bookyard in Liverpool are service experts get a price from them as a comparison.

Thanks, just had a look on their site, not sure the exact details as her Mac is locked but a new battery appears to be £129 It is a MacBook Pro Retina 13"

I assume the shop may get a discount, but then they charge for fitting, so this could be quite an expensive operation.

I paid about a grand for the MacBook itself, but she uses it every day and loves it.

[DoubleSix]

King Herald said:

bhstewie said:

If it's 2 years old call them, may get something from goodwill.

It was bought in the Philippines, just over two years ago, don't have a receipt for it either. I doubt Apple UK would stump up the cost of a new battery and installation.


I found a local computer shop who say they can do it, but no price as yet...

You have nothing to lose by asking. Apple can be pretty flexible about this sort of thing...

I would take the daughter along

[AJB88]

Might as well ask!

I replaced my 2010 MBP battery my self got one off Amazon. I think the 2010 model is a lot easier to do though then the 2015 model.

[King Herald]

AJB88 said:

Might as well ask!

I replaced my 2010 MBP battery my self got one off Amazon. I think the 2010 model is a lot easier to do though then the 2015 model.

I could order a battery from the Bookyard and have a go myself. The battery is glued in, but can be eased out by various methods.

YouTube makes it look fairly easy, but I have no idea where to get the correct 5 point stardrive to undo the casing screws.

[Digitalize]

If you have a local Apple store it's worth booking an appointment, Apple used to be fairly lenient with where a product was purchased, especially portable devices that you can travel with.

[megaphone]

I've had limited success with 3rd party batteries in my Apple devices, I'd make sure you get it done at an approved store. As suggested, Apple will probably support a two year old machine, they offer a world wide guarantee, I've had my US bought MacBook repaired at a UK store, not even mentioned it was bought abroad.

The star head screws are normal Torx head as far as I'm aware, get a set from Maplin or similar.

[King Herald]

Digitalize said:

If you have a local Apple store it's worth booking an appointment, Apple used to be fairly lenient with where a product was purchased, especially portable devices that you can travel with.

I shall give them a call, just see what they say. I'm pretty sure we registered the Mac on line when we bought it, but no idea where the papers might be.

megaphone said:

I've had limited success with 3rd party batteries in my Apple devices, I'd make sure you get it done at an approved store. As suggested, Apple will probably support a two year old machine, they offer a world wide guarantee, I've had my US bought MacBook repaired at a UK store, not even mentioned it was bought abroad.

The star head screws are normal Torx head as far as I'm aware, get a set from Maplin or similar.

The screws aren't Torx, I have a full set of Torx drivers, all with 6 points. These screws have 5.

Probably to stop the average Joe getting in.

[AJB88]

my replacement battery came with screwdrivers to do it.

[Mr Pointy]

According to this guide:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+R...

it's a P5 Pentalobe you need which you can get from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=se...

However I suggest you check that's the right model on the iFixit site as I had to guess.

[qube_TA]

Don't by a non-Apple battery.

The reason is that there's a chip in there that the OS uses for monitoring the temperature. The 3rd party ones don't have this. The computer thinks it's overheating and throttles the CPU right down to try and cool it down, as it's unable to it throttles it down to almost a halt.

You can remove a kernel extension to get around this but you computer will run a bit weird.

I discovered all this when I had a duff battery and tried to do it via eBay.

[C&C]

King Herald said:

The screws aren't Torx, I have a full set of Torx drivers, all with 6 points. These screws have 5.

Probably to stop the average Joe getting in.

Is this set any use?

I got one recently and was very pleasantly surprised at the quality for the price.
It has 3 sizes of 5 point drivers as well as a large range of other bits.

I've already used it to take apart a Polar heart rate monitor to replace the battery which I couldn't get into without the appropriate driver. The set more than paid for itself with just this one job as opposed to getting the manufacturer to change the battery.

[Digitalize]

King Herald said:

I shall give them a call, just see what they say. I'm pretty sure we registered the Mac on line when we bought it, but no idea where the papers might be.

You don't need a receipt or any proof for an Apple store, it's their product. Besides if it's two years old it's probably out of warranty anyway.

[King Herald]

[quote=C&C]

Is this set any use?

[/quote]


One of those three 5 pointers might do it, maybe. That would be the very first step out of the way, then it gets harder......

When the daughter gets home from school (with model and make details) I'll call the Apple centre, in Birmingham, see what they reckon. Bit of a hike to get over there, but if they will do it, and give a warranty, it might be easier.

YouTube has a few interesting comments about people setting fire to their Mac trying to change the battery.......

[Bikerjon]

They're pentalobe screws and seriously don't bother with this repair. Yes, laptop batteries should be simple to replace but Apple have made some of the later models near impossible. I think they even replace entire top cases on some Macbooks now just for trackpad issues. Great laptops to use, but the repairability is getting more bonkers with each model!

See the link below and take to an Apple store

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/mac/repair/service

[King Herald]

Well I ordered a genuine Apple battery through a local computer shop, three weeks ago today.
It has still not arrived!

I just checked the Bookyard, tells me it is out of stock....

I may go down today and cancel it, this is not good enough, they indicated being in stock on the website I was looking at, and same when the shop looked, but I didn’t fancy tackling the job myself.

ETA: Just called the shop again, battery has finally come in. So should be fixed soon.

Edited by King Herald on Saturday 7th October 14:40

[King Herald]

Battery was the wrong one.......reordered....waited....on order from Germany......waited...... finally went down today, six and a half weeks later, cancelled the order, got my £125 back.

I shall call a proper Apple shop on the morrow, see if maybe they have a battery in stock.

If not, anybody recommend a decent general purpose lap top for £500 or thereabouts. Spending £1000 on a school kids lappy is not happening again.

Edited by King Herald on Wednesday 25th October 23:37