iFixit introduces battery replacement kit for Apple's MacBook Pro with Retina display

AppleInsider

Apple's notoriously difficult-to-repair unibody MacBook design has been a sore subject for repair enthusiasts for years, prompting solutions provider iFixit to create a new battery replacement kit that will make it easier for at-home repairs.

Priced between $89.95 and $109.95, iFixit's MacBook Pro Retina Battery Kits include all of the tools and instructions users should need to replace their own battery. Also included in the packages are batteries designed to fit within the various legacy Retina MacBook Pro designs, ranging from late 2012 until mid 2015.

Given how durable and reliable Apple's hardware is, battery use over time is now likely the main point of failure --or, at least, diminishing returns -- with legacy MacBook Pro hardware. iFixit's new kits can give MacBook Pro owners a new lease on life with refreshed batteries restoring a full day's charge.

iFixit says swapping the battery on a MacBook Pro with Retina display can extend the life of the laptop by another two to three years.

Apple does offer its own battery replacement service for $199, but iFixit's kit comes in at about half the price, making it a more economical approach for users who feel comfortable dissecting their notebook.

The Retina MacBook Pro features a glued-in-place battery that can complicate the repair process. iFixit's tools address this with a "blend of household chemicals" that are safe, but allow the adhesive to be removed.

"The repair is still a fair bit of work: removing the battery requires a lot of caution and patience -- but it's definitely doable with the right tools, the right instructions, and the right adhesive removal technique," the company said.

After lasting for about four years, the MacBook Pro with Retina display design was succeeded in late 2016 by a new, thinner chassis with USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports and a Touch Bar on high-end models. The new iFixit battery replacement sets are not designed for the latest MacBook Pros.

rob53

This article seems to say iFixit designed the replacement batteries but their website says "The battery is an original OEM battery." so they are simply providing the same battery provides, along with adhesive and tools (if desired), without charging you for labor. Of course, they do state this is a Difficult repair but don't say any additional damage done while repairing is up to the user to repair.

One thing that bothers me is they contradict their original statement about the battery with this:

MacBook Pro Retina batteries are originally adhered to the upper case assembly as a single part from Apple. The parts we sell have been separated from this assembly. Consequently, the battery adhesive may have some cosmetic flaws.

Does this mean they aren't actually Apple batteries or just that the batteries have been removed from the upper case before selling to the customer? If the latter, how much damage has been caused by this removal?

EsquireCats

This summarises everything that's wrong with iFixit's business model, starting with the batteries being the last part of my computer I'd be willing to skimp on.

The proposition is challenged: simply dig through a 'notoriously' complex device that cost $2,000 to $3,000 in order to install a non-standard part in the hope of saving a measly $100 (your time is worth more), versus taking the official repair option: a faster, quality assured and infinitely easier service, while sparing yourself the chance of damaging your 'notorious' device or having to find a way to dispose your old battery.

Even when ignoring those pesky hidden costs, that "saving" using ifixit's perceived lifetime extension works out to around 9c a day.

Mike Wuerthele

While I appreciate that fact that iFixit is offering this, I'm with EsquireCats on this one. Not only is the labor you're putting into it to fix it problematic from a cost standpoint, there is a really good chance you're going to break something stripping it down to the upper case assembly.

I've taken a few RMBPs apart, and they are hairy disassemblies, with a large number of very thin ribbon cables, with both the cable and socket easily breakable.

macxpress

EsquireCats said:

This summarises everything that's wrong with iFixit's business model, starting with the batteries being the last part of my computer I'd be willing to skimp on.

The proposition is challenged: simply dig through a 'notoriously' complex device that cost $2,000 to $3,000 in order to install a non-standard part in the hope of saving a measly $100 (your time is worth more), versus taking the official repair option: a faster, quality assured and infinitely easier service, while sparing yourself the chance of damaging your 'notorious' device or having to find a way to dispose your old battery.

Even when ignoring those pesky hidden costs, that "saving" using ifixit's perceived lifetime extension works out to around 9c a day.

Yeah iFixit's business model is eroding away. This isn't the late 90's-mid 2000's where people are interested in fixing their computers themselves for the most part, AND, device manufacturers aren't making devices modular very much. Pretty soon (maybe now?), almost every review iFixit does on a device (Apple or non-Apple) will have a score of 2/10 on the repairability scale because thats not the priority of the manufacturer. I know there are those here who are very vocal about Apple not making things that are "repairable", but thats just the way things are heading. It's far easier and I would guess more reliable for Apple to design a device where everything is on a single board vs, designing something with separate boards, and then also have to design a way to access these things easily. 

robjn

This is simply dangerous.

The high tech batteries into today's products are high precision and high energy density. We have seen some phones restricted on airlines because of fires.

If the battery is not designed to be user replaceable we need to leave battery installation to those trained by the manufacturer. We also need to avoid third party batteries. All we need is for a few MacBooks to catch fire and we won't be able to carry any on an airplane!

robjn

MacBook Pro Retina batteries are originally adhered to the upper case assembly as a single part from Apple. The parts we sell have been separated from this assembly. Consequently, the battery adhesive may have some cosmetic flaws.

Does this mean they aren't actually Apple batteries or just that the batteries have been removed from the upper case before selling to the customer? If the latter, how much damage has been caused by this removal?

Exactly, it means the battery has been ripped off of another part. How? How can we be sure that this process did not damage the battery?

This is simply dangerous!

Want to watch your MacBook go up in flames? Go ahead!

I hope no one gets injurered from this kind of thing but it might take a few incidents before iFixIt and Greenpeace learn that users replacing these kind of batteries is a bad idea.

Repairs need to be carried out with parts supplied by the manufacturer by trained technicians following procedures written by the manufacturer.

lkrupp

Once again the tail is trying to wag the dog. “Repair enthusiasts” are a vocal but tiny minority attempting to force their demands on Apple and its customers. iFixit has been carrying the torch for many years. Their videos make it look doable but in reality it’s a major task. As electronics and battery technology continue to shrink in size repairability becomes less and less important. I don’t think iFixit has any upgrades or how-to videos for the Watch do they.

dysamoria

Logic failures in the above comments:

• "This is the direction things are going" as an excuse to give in to a practice that's anti-consumer, anti-environmental, and only a benefit to manufacturers' profit margins.

• "Specialized training" as a presumption that authorized technicians are somehow better than non-authorized technicians. Haven't any of you been employed by tech makers? Don't put unknown people on a pedestal. There's only so much training manufacturers give to authorized services. Often very little guidance at all, aside from a parts list and schematic. They're relying on the third party to have those skills and learn on their own how best to disassemble and reassemble their gadgets (if at all). Start taking apart junked laptops bought for parts and you've possibly exceeded the training given by manufacturers to so-called authorized service people.

The skills are mostly not out there; corporations don't want to pay for such people, nor train employees to have these skills. They want a screwdriver jockey who can replace a large part quickly and toss the "bad part" into a bin to ship it off to a third-party who will break it down in tedious and time-consuming (and low paying) situations, and then maybe buy back some of the recovered materials. We're not talking special, component-level skills here. Just general carefulness and fine motor skills.

People like Louis Rossmann are rare (doing component-level repairs for people who can't afford to re-buy disposable electronics) and he's not even an authorized service person for the stuff he fixes (and his hands shake like mine). He does way more than anyone at an Apple Store or Toshiba/Dell service center, and they've no interest in him except for how he eats into their profits by letting people have their stuff repaired cheaper or at all. Most manufacturers just ship your stuff out as junk and send you someone else's reconditioned former junk and call it a "repair".

If you work at a manufacturer who does it differently, by all means tell me about it. I'm interested.

Back to Louis Rossmann, he's a clever (and more patient than myself) individual who learned how to do things most people can't find the mental space to do. He does what people want done. There's a market for such repairs (actual repairs), at a lower cost. He and iFixIt have both made businesses to support themselves on this market, however small it might seem.

If you don't like that business model, then you don't have to pay them for their services. There's no reason to crusade against what they do (where's all the usual libertarian, free market, pro-capitalism commentary to defend these guys doing what they do??). iFixIt tells you the task is difficult or not. So does OWC. These are good businesses who are empowering consumers (consumers that are otherwise being screwed by the pathological pursuit of perpetual increasing profits in corporations). Explain why that's a bad thing.

zoetmb

rob53 said:

This article seems to say iFixit designed the replacement batteries but their website says "The battery is an original OEM battery." so they are simply providing the same battery provides, along with adhesive and tools (if desired), without charging you for labor. Of course, they do state this is a Difficult repair but don't say any additional damage done while repairing is up to the user to repair.

One thing that bothers me is they contradict their original statement about the battery with this:

MacBook Pro Retina batteries are originally adhered to the upper case assembly as a single part from Apple. The parts we sell have been separated from this assembly. Consequently, the battery adhesive may have some cosmetic flaws.

Does this mean they aren't actually Apple batteries or just that the batteries have been removed from the upper case before selling to the customer? If the latter, how much damage has been caused by this removal?

That's not the issue.  The issue is that this makes it sound like the batteries are either used are come out of computers.   But I don't know how that could be, so it's a bit confusing.   Between that and the risk of damaging the computer repairing it one's self, I'd rather spend the extra $100 and have Apple do it. 

 lkrupp said:

As electronics and battery technology continue to shrink in size repairability becomes less and less important. I don’t think iFixit has any upgrades or how-to videos for the Watch do they.

Repairability doesn't become less important, it become more difficult.   There's a big difference.   IMO, it is absolutely ridiculous that Apple can't make a MBP with removable and replaceable battery (especially), memory and storage like they used to.   Is glue really the best way to construct a computer?    For Apple to claim that they're such a green company and then essentially force people to buy a new computer rather than being able to upgrade one is quite cynical and hypocritical.    My 2008 MBP had the DVD drive switched out, the memory upgraded and the battery replaced twice.   And I was able to use that computer for 8 years until one day it just wouldn't turn on anymore and no one had the parts to repair it.   You can't tell me that the engineering geniuses at Apple can't figure out a way to provide access to such parts and put them back on connectors and without glue.   They just don't want to, in part because of their anal obsession with not having any seams in the case.  

Would you buy buy a car in which you couldn't replace the battery, tires or lamps?   Essentially, that's what Apple is selling us.   Now if Apple had a walk in repair service where they'd switch out memory, battery or storage for reasonable prices in half an hour, I'd have somewhat less of a complaint (although that would still be a pain for anyone not near an Apple retail store), but since they don't provide such a service, IMO any such complaints are completely valid.    Now I don't think companies should be legally forced to provide a repairable device as iFixIt seems to want, but I have no problem with them pointing out how non-repairable most Apple products are.  

slurpy

dysamoria said:

Logic failures in the above comments:

• "This is the direction things are going" as an excuse to give in to a practice that's anti-consumer, anti-environmental, and only a benefit to manufacturers' profit margins.

• "Specialized training" as a presumption that authorized technicians are somehow better than non-authorized technicians. Haven't any of you been employed by tech makers? Don't put unknown people on a pedestal. There's only so much training manufacturers give to authorized services. Often very little guidance at all, aside from a parts list and schematic. They're relying on the third party to have those skills and learn on their own how best to disassemble and reassemble their gadgets (if at all). Start taking apart junked laptops bought for parts and you've possibly exceeded the training given by manufacturers to so-called authorized service people.

The skills are mostly not out there; corporations don't want to pay for such people, nor train employees to have these skills. They want a screwdriver jockey who can replace a large part quickly and toss the "bad part" into a bin to ship it off to a third-party who will break it down in tedious and time-consuming (and low paying) situations, and then maybe buy back some of the recovered materials. We're not talking special, component-level skills here. Just general carefulness and fine motor skills.

People like Louis Rossmann are rare (doing component-level repairs for people who can't afford to re-buy disposable electronics) and he's not even an authorized service person for the stuff he fixes (and his hands shake like mine). He does way more than anyone at an Apple Store or Toshiba/Dell service center, and they've no interest in him except for how he eats into their profits by letting people have their stuff repaired cheaper or at all. Most manufacturers just ship your stuff out as junk and send you someone else's reconditioned former junk and call it a "repair".

If you work at a manufacturer who does it differently, by all means tell me about it. I'm interested.

Back to Louis Rossmann, he's a clever (and more patient than myself) individual who learned how to do things most people can't find the mental space to do. He does what people want done. There's a market for such repairs (actual repairs), at a lower cost. He and iFixIt have both made businesses to support themselves on this market, however small it might seem.

If you don't like that business model, then you don't have to pay them for their services. There's no reason to crusade against what they do (where's all the usual libertarian, free market, pro-capitalism commentary to defend these guys doing what they do??). iFixIt tells you the task is difficult or not. So does OWC. These are good businesses who are empowering consumers (consumers that are otherwise being screwed by the pathological pursuit of perpetual increasing profits in corporations). Explain why that's a bad thing.

Your post lacks any kind of real objectivity or a wide perspective. People like Louis define the greatness or a product simply by their repairability. He calls the newest MBP and Surface "absolutely terrible products" simply because of this one factor. And yet, these products are the most well reviews and recommended products by far in their categories, if you go by any kind of technology review websites. Yes, Louis is skilled no doubt, but he's choosing to die on a hill that nobody gives a shit about anymore. He's out of touch with average consumers, and he's preaching to a vocal minority.

Your claims about non-repairability being "anti-consumer" and "only a benefit to profits" is also dead-wrong, as expected based on your narrow viewpoint. Creating repairable products (ie. slots, connectors, and mechanisms for removable components) reduces reliability, and adds complexity and additional hardware requirements for internal components. Connectors are the most common components to fail. This is a fact. For those that need upgradeability and repairability, they can buy desktops. For everyone else, it's not a big deal. I'm someone who makes 100% of my income using my MBP, and I couldn't care less about how repairable it is. I have had so many less issues with recent machines, and I'm completely fine with selling and replacing it completely every few years rather than worrying about constantly upgrading it. As for environmentalism, your claim is also false, as almost every single components of newer machines are recycled, and the decreased size/weight/complexity also have a positive effect on the environment. 

Soli

lkrupp said:

I don’t think iFixit has any upgrades or how-to videos for the Watch do they.

Sure they do. They’ll at least have a teardown, which is “how to.”  

• https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Apple_Watch

Soli

lkrupp said:

Once again the tail is trying to wag the dog. “Repair enthusiasts” are a vocal but tiny minority attempting to force their demands on Apple and its customers. iFixit has been carrying the torch for many years. Their videos make it look doable but in reality it’s a major task. As electronics and battery technology continue to shrink in size repairability becomes less and less important. I don’t think iFixit has any upgrades or how-to videos for the Watch do they.

1) Everyone on this forum “are a vocal but tiny minority” of anything Apple does, so that means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

2) I find it odd that so many post to say how much they have iFixit for providing something you have no interest in. It’s no different than some knucklehead coming to a forum about the next Apple Watch saying how it sucks because they don’t have a need for it.

If the business model is sustainable then they will adjust their mode or go out of business. Yes, things are harder to repair these days, which has surely helped and hurt them as it means more will need their guides and tools, as well as more will not attempt their guides or buy their tools.

Why hate them for that? Why hate them for being honest about saying a repair is difficult, saying that very few things can be repaired, and more modern issues like with glue and watertight seal replacements being warnings for repairs? That sounds like something to praise them for since they’re being upfront. How do they make anything look easy? By breaking it down into mana grab me steps without any guesswork? That sounds like planning which helps makes thing easier, but I can tell you that the average person finds it all daunting to deal with dozens of steps.

mikethemartian

Why does Apple need to use glue? Is there not enough room to use machine screws to fasten the batteries?

Soli

mikethemartian said:

Why does Apple need to use glue? Is there not enough room to use machine screws to fasten the batteries?

It could be need since a screw may be more likely to pierce a battery if damaged, but I’d guess. It’s more to do with all around cost.

seltzdesign

I went to the local apple store here in Switzerland the other day to replace the battery of my 2012 15" rMBP. They had to order the top case, since it had a US keyboard, and the repair would have been 209 Francs (around 200 dollars). After 2 weeks they rang me and told me the topcases cant be supplied till September, so they would give me a replacement instead. So now I am getting a brand new 2017 15" rMBP for the price of the battery replacement. Not a bad deal They even let me upgrade to the larger HDD for just the extra it would cost BTO!

Like others have said, I dont think its worth it to attempt on your own for 100 dollars - its not worth your time and potentially ending up with a bricked macbook that they definitely wont repair again at the Apple Store if it all goes wrong.

StrangeDays

Yet again the DIY hobbyist crusaders here confuse user-serviceable with repairability. New MBPs can be repaired by the pros, even if it’s too difficult for normal end users. That’s fine. Autos went this route decades ago and you don’t hear these crusaders trying to claim its wrong the way they do about Apple gear. Makes no sense. Apple’s customers clearly prefer other factors and vote with their wallets. Plenty of other laptops to choose from if you absolutely must prioritize user serviceability, but don’t confuse that hobbyist DIY use case for anything other than an ultra niche realm that most people do not not prioritize or share an interest in. I myself prioritize lightness, power efficiency, reliability and build quality in my portable. 

Soli

StrangeDays said:

Yet again the DIY hobbyist crusaders here confuse user-serviceable with repairability.

Whom do you call a crusader? Do you not understand what a rating of difficult means in this context? Do you not understand why they would give a score a 1/10 for repairability, despite easier—not harder—helps their business model? Do you not understand that user-serviceable components from Apple already have detailed guides? It sounds like you're the one conflating terms if you think that iFixit is appealing to the average CE user.

Example:

• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201165

dysamoria

seltzdesign said:

I went to the local apple store here in Switzerland the other day to replace the battery of my 2012 15" rMBP. They had to order the top case, since it had a US keyboard, and the repair would have been 209 Francs (around 200 dollars). After 2 weeks they rang me and told me the topcases cant be supplied till September, so they would give me a replacement instead. So now I am getting a brand new 2017 15" rMBP for the price of the battery replacement. Not a bad deal They even let me upgrade to the larger HDD for just the extra it would cost BTO!

Like others have said, I dont think its worth it to attempt on your own for 100 dollars - its not worth your time and potentially ending up with a bricked macbook that they definitely wont repair again at the Apple Store if it all goes wrong.

If you were in the USA I would say "They gave you a refurb. No way they gave you a brand new one." But Switzerland has different consumer protection laws. I wish the USA had the same.

dysamoria

slurpy said:

dysamoria said:

Logic failures in the above comments:

• "This is the direction things are going" as an excuse to give in to a practice that's anti-consumer, anti-environmental, and only a benefit to manufacturers' profit margins.

• "Specialized training" as a presumption that authorized technicians are somehow better than non-authorized technicians. Haven't any of you been employed by tech makers? Don't put unknown people on a pedestal. There's only so much training manufacturers give to authorized services. Often very little guidance at all, aside from a parts list and schematic. They're relying on the third party to have those skills and learn on their own how best to disassemble and reassemble their gadgets (if at all). Start taking apart junked laptops bought for parts and you've possibly exceeded the training given by manufacturers to so-called authorized service people.

The skills are mostly not out there; corporations don't want to pay for such people, nor train employees to have these skills. They want a screwdriver jockey who can replace a large part quickly and toss the "bad part" into a bin to ship it off to a third-party who will break it down in tedious and time-consuming (and low paying) situations, and then maybe buy back some of the recovered materials. We're not talking special, component-level skills here. Just general carefulness and fine motor skills.

People like Louis Rossmann are rare (doing component-level repairs for people who can't afford to re-buy disposable electronics) and he's not even an authorized service person for the stuff he fixes (and his hands shake like mine). He does way more than anyone at an Apple Store or Toshiba/Dell service center, and they've no interest in him except for how he eats into their profits by letting people have their stuff repaired cheaper or at all. Most manufacturers just ship your stuff out as junk and send you someone else's reconditioned former junk and call it a "repair".

If you work at a manufacturer who does it differently, by all means tell me about it. I'm interested.

Back to Louis Rossmann, he's a clever (and more patient than myself) individual who learned how to do things most people can't find the mental space to do. He does what people want done. There's a market for such repairs (actual repairs), at a lower cost. He and iFixIt have both made businesses to support themselves on this market, however small it might seem.

If you don't like that business model, then you don't have to pay them for their services. There's no reason to crusade against what they do (where's all the usual libertarian, free market, pro-capitalism commentary to defend these guys doing what they do??). iFixIt tells you the task is difficult or not. So does OWC. These are good businesses who are empowering consumers (consumers that are otherwise being screwed by the pathological pursuit of perpetual increasing profits in corporations). Explain why that's a bad thing.

Your post lacks any kind of real objectivity or a wide perspective. People like Louis define the greatness or a product simply by their repairability. He calls the newest MBP and Surface "absolutely terrible products" simply because of this one factor. And yet, these products are the most well reviews and recommended products by far in their categories, if you go by any kind of technology review websites. Yes, Louis is skilled no doubt, but he's choosing to die on a hill that nobody gives a shit about anymore. He's out of touch with average consumers, and he's preaching to a vocal minority.

Your claims about non-repairability being "anti-consumer" and "only a benefit to profits" is also dead-wrong, as expected based on your narrow viewpoint. Creating repairable products (ie. slots, connectors, and mechanisms for removable components) reduces reliability, and adds complexity and additional hardware requirements for internal components. Connectors are the most common components to fail. This is a fact. For those that need upgradeability and repairability, they can buy desktops. For everyone else, it's not a big deal. I'm someone who makes 100% of my income using my MBP, and I couldn't care less about how repairable it is. I have had so many less issues with recent machines, and I'm completely fine with selling and replacing it completely every few years rather than worrying about constantly upgrading it.
As for environmentalism, your claim is also false, as almost every single components of newer machines are recycled, and the decreased size/weight/complexity also have a positive effect on the environment. 

I'll grant you the decreased size and weight is a good thing. (So too is reduced complexity, but I'll comment further on that below). As for the claim of "almost every single component of newer machines are recycled", I'd really like to see the source of your claim. Have you not seen the mountains of electronics building up in e-waste dumps? The recycling of these compact devices is so much harder than their larger and modular predecessors. The separation of materials is MUCH more difficult (and sometimes nigh impossible), especially at the rate of disinterest most of the first world has in actually recycling. Do you know how much of our curbside recyclables are ending up being pelletized for incinerators, rather than being reused?

This is what makes disposables so bad: the inability to separate the materials for reuse (and companies refusing to pay for the labor and investment in tech to extract small amounts of materials). It's not just the act of throwing it away after one use that makes it bad. We are losing our resources faster by making them nearly inseparable from each other. 

I'm afraid you might be focusing more on Apple's recycling PR than the reality. Their impressive iPhone disassembly robot is a research proof of concept, not an actual process that is in place in industry.

As for people being able to buy upgradable and repairable desktops... Not from Apple we can't. 

Yes, connectors are the most common point of failure... unless we're talking about hardware that dies from a lack of proper heat dissipation. The smaller Apple makes their stuff, the more limits and the tighter the tolerances. My dead MacBook Pro didn't die of connector failure. Apple has demonstrated the ability to make nearly flawless connectors when they put the effort into it. Mobile devices are better with fewer moving parts, I agree, but the real reason they're doing it is the added profits from fewer parts, not reliability or longevity. Apple wants to sell you that new device every two years more than they want me to enjoy being productive with one system for 8+ years. Eventually they will only be selling product to the 1% (and no, that's not currently the case, despite PC enthusiast claims). 

As for the rest, well... you're lucky enough to make 100% of your income from working on your MacBook Pro. You can justify selling and replacing it every two years as a business expense. You are not the standard by which all other consumers can or should be judged. You're more privileged than the average. Congratulations to you, but keep in mind that you're not the majority. Everyone else is struggling to buy your used machines, not buying brand new devices. If everyone you know is buying new, every two or three years, then you live in a bubble of privilege. That's great for you, but don't presume everyone else should live by your standards.

arksoundguy

If the market for laptops did not demand that they be thin and lightweight, they would be much easier to service. To make a unit as thin as the current MB line is requires many compromises in accessibility to the internal components. Adding a battery that is removable would add a minimum of half an inch in thickness. What I do not understand, though, is the rush to make the iMacs thinner with each generation.