After 5 years of use, the battery in my MacBook air is finally on its way out. Whats a good aftermarket battery as I don’t fancy paying Apple £129

Others may have differing views, but £129 for the battery + labour + Apple warranty is probably a good deal.

MacBook battery replacements are, on most models now, a real ballache as the battery is often glued to the chassis, and even when not is hard to reach.

I need to do this on my MacBook Pro, and have been told by official Apple repair outlets that late 2013 is ‘Vintage’ and there are no spares available any more! I think I can get the right battery as a aftermarket job though so just need to find seo done who will fit it. So 5 years old may / may not be repairable via Apple….

If your mac is not yet ‘obsolete’ then I would get Apple to do it. My 2011 MB’s after market battery from Newertech (generally regarded as one of the best non-Apple providers) was ok at the start but only lasted 2 years before piling in. I’ve now cannibalised another battery from another broken MB.

If your old one lasted 5 years, I’d get Apple to replace it and you’re set for another 5. It’s not cheap but it’s worth it.

Andy – I was about to say that replacing the battery is easy but then realised yours is glued in. Looking at the ifixit guide, sod doing that myself!

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+Display+Mid+2014+Battery+Replacement/90276</span&gt;

I got what was described (and did seem to be) a genuine Apple battery off eBay for my 2011 MBA. Straightforward to fit, was under half of what Apple wanted fully fitted.

I’m considering doing it myself but may end up with no macbook at all….the battery model appears easily available eg from Duracell.co.uk but looking at recent comments sounds like that might last 5 minutes then pack up again. Just do annoying considering it both works fine and looks amazing after 6 years, it must be deliberate making the battery so difficult to replace!

Duracell battery was the one I was looking at. Mines an early 2014 model so might enquire if apple will change it.

Mine is of the same vintage and the answer was no but you might get lucky..!

The cheaper ones are cheap for a reason. My much older Apple laptop had a cheap battery just the once. The battery swelled and made the track-pad unusable. That battery went to recycling as soon as possible.

I’ve had a very poor success rate with non-original manufacturer batteries in any electronics over the years (cameras, laptops, iPod, drills). it really is a case of buy cheap buy twice – even if they seem ok when new the life is much shorter.

Also don’t try to buy discounted as there are loads of fakes around.

I bought a replacement battery from ReplaceBase for a mid-2012 MacBook Pro a while back, the ‘OEM option’. Battery utility shows it as a Simplo battery, which is indeed one of Apple’s OE suppliers apparently, and it’s been fine for me. I have no idea if it’s comparable to a genuine Apple battery, but like I say it’s been fine.

This was after a lot of wading through eBay and Amazon and looking for some sort of credible review online. The Newertech batteries do seem to get decent feedback, but are proper expensive. The one I bought was around 40 quid or so, but seems to have been a decent balance between cost and performance.

£130 is not a bad price, especially if that’s including fitting. As a rule of thumb, the thinner the laptop, the harder it is to work on.

Back in the days of the white Macbook when you could pop the battery out with a coin, I went through three or four aftermarket ones in the space of a year before giving up and paying for a proper replacement Apple battery.

I would love Apple to do it for me and £130 seems perfectly reasonably compared to a lot pounds 50 for a new one. If only they weren’t so rubbish as to stop stocking parts for a less than 6 year old MacBook….

Not sounding good on getting Apple to do it. Miss the good old days of my old iBook when you just unclipped the external battery.

I can highly recommend the iFixit kits (not just the battery, but the kit with the bits and bobs)

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Early+2014+Battery+Replacement/24738

I believe they are well regarded.

Recently did one of the family MacBook Pros, a 2012 15″ retina. It was significantly more difficult that the guide for your computer, but following the steps, and reading the comments for other tips, resulted in a safe and successful replacement.

If apple can’t do it, this might be a good option.