Coder_sls

Q: Is replacing battery of my White Macbook a good idea?

Hi, I have a White Macbook purchased in 2011. Now that its battery life has become 3-4 hours, Im considering changing the battery and continue using it (for may be 2- 4 years). Need advise if its a good idea, considering the fact that the system is more than 5 years old. It had been defect free so far. I have upgraded my RAM to 8 GB.

Advise please.

MacBook, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Aug 14, 2016 10:29 AM

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Q: Is replacing battery of my White Macbook a good idea?

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  • by K Shaffer,

    K Shaffer K Shaffer Aug 14, 2016 3:07 PM in response to Coder_sls
    Level 6 (14,244 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 14, 2016 3:07 PM in response to Coder_sls

    While considering the MacBook, you may think about a replacement

    hard drive, too; they wear and need replaced. The MacBook can see

    a longer life with a few parts every few years. iFixit guides give views.

     

    Good luck!

  • by Coder_sls,

    Coder_sls Coder_sls Aug 14, 2016 7:27 PM in response to K Shaffer
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 14, 2016 7:27 PM in response to K Shaffer

    Thanks.

         Hopefully it improve the battery life and performance (memory upgradation). Typically, are the other parts of the system - trackpad, keyboard, display,etc - can they be expected to last longer, may be 2-4 years more?

  • by K Shaffer,

    K Shaffer K Shaffer Aug 15, 2016 5:52 PM in response to Coder_sls
    Level 6 (14,244 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 15, 2016 5:52 PM in response to Coder_sls

    Hard to say just how long the other parts may keep working;

    some user experience suggests it may be years if nothing else

    happens to the computer, such as accident or power surge, etc.

     

    Some models even with a questionable service life can have

    exceptions, and variables can happen in any build series.

     

    I have an iBook G4 Mid-2005 12-inch portable that's 11 years

    old, the only things wrong with it mostly were built in. Lack of

    more storage, due to smaller hard drive. No superdrive. And a

    lack of upgrade beyond OS X Leopard 10.5.8. An SSD upgrade

    may cure most of what ails it. Plus a new battery.

     

    My other older computers are about the same vintage, different

    build models; one is first model MacBook1.1 13-inch 1.83GHz

    coreduo; it also runs Leopard 10.5.8. Does well enough. It was

    given to me, & was second or third hand used. Another item is

    a last model G4 Mac Mini 1.5GHz, also runs Leopard 10.5.8. It

    is a candidate for an SSD drive since that would speed it up.

     

    Rotational hard drives tend to be the speed bottleneck or choke

    point in data flow, and when an OS relies on virtual memory or

    use of drive space as temporary swap or VM capacity, that drive

    can be an issue. The read and write speeds to the drive can slow

    the entire computer down when the load is greater than capacity

    of the hardware. Solid-State-Drives have no moving parts, so they

    are inherently faster to move data. That is an upgrade to consider.

     

    These are repairable, so long as you can get parts. When nobody

    local has the parts, you just locate someone out of the area & send

    the computer to them for repair. A reputable authorized shop. At

    some point in time, undetermined, the unit may -or not- just stop.

     

    Anyway, the battery and hard drive are items that some users can

    successfully accomplish replacement; the drive is more effort due

    to the necessity to have a backup of the old drive content. And to

    migrate or clone the old drive content to new replacement drive.

    Suitable backups and a reliable strategy can be a matter of study.

     

    In any event...

    Good luck & happy computing!