I was typing on my old MacBook Pro today and noticed that the bottom case was wobbling back and forth a little despite being on a flat desk.
I grabbed my trusty iFixit toolkit, took off the case bottom, and found this:
That’s what we call a “spicy pillow”, a lithium-ion battery that has chemically degraded to the point of releasing gas. The only way to fix it is to (carefully) remove the battery and professionally dispose of it because it’s a fire hazard.
Sadly, the battery pack in this model is glued into the case with a strong adhesive. To get it out, I’d have to disassemble pretty much the entire bottom case and then loosen the adhesive with solvent, all the while working around a battery that may turn into a tiny volcano if it’s pierced by a screwdriver or the corner of a spudger by accident. That’s $100 or so for a new battery, plus two or three hours of tricky labor, all to fix a laptop that I bought in 2017. I decided not to spend the time, money, and effort to keep a 9-year-old laptop going, so I pulled out the SSD storage, closed the case again, and set it aside for disposal.
I used that MacBook Pro pretty steadily for the last seven years, so I’d say I got my money’s worth out of it. Still, it has traveled to a lot of places with me, and I wrote more than one novel on it, so I’m a little bummed to have to retire it. It couldn’t run the latest MacOS anymore, but it was still working just fine for daily computing. Alas, it’s not safe to use like this anymore, so out to the great computer lab in the sky it goes.
Sadly there us way too much ‘built in obsolescence ‘.
Sigh… I’m typing this on a Mid ’14 MB Pro, which has already had one battery replacement. (Apple sold the repair shop a combo bottom plate and battery part, which is the ‘right way’ to do this.) I’m running the last 32-bit Mac OS on this mostly to be able to run the even older version of Microsoft Office I have. This is the last/only machine in the house running Office. (Repair done by Mac Edge in Portsmouth.)
The newest MB Air looks like a great replacement, although I think they should have included an HDMI port on this. Of course, you can add a Thunderbolt adapter that includes HDMI, more USB-C ports, Ethernet, SD card slot, etc. (All the stuff that one would argue “Apple forgot to include.” )
If the new machine helps you write faster, That’s A Good Thing 🙂 🙂
So…
After a few years, it seems you’ve now got a rotten apple.
Ferment that thing and make some hard cider or applejack.
Glad you found the problem before it became a fire!
Recently saw somewhere online the life-expectancy of a PC laptop is 3-4 years. (!) This was news to my 12-year-old XPS13 on which I read that. It is on its third battery, but I expect it will outlive Windows 10.
Just in the process of replacing my 10 and a bit year old xps 13…also on its third battery. The second went very spicy indeed. I’d forced it onto windows 11, though, which was a mistake. It’ll still be in use, just as a machine for the kids.
Lenoco Thinkpad Carbon is its replacement – which also has a user replaceable battery. Hopwfully this will also go 10+ years.
Yikes! I’m glad you figured out what was going on before it got worse. I’ve never heard of that before!
I had to retire my last Macbook for the same reason, and discovered it the same way for the same reason. Made me nervous to even put the case back on so I could turn it in to my service desk.
Have you thought about reusing LCD (as an extra monitor)? Recently, I learnt about this project: https://hackaday.io/project/179868-all-about-laptop-display-reuse
It takes me about an hour to replace an old battery on a late 2010’s vintage Air. I’ve done a few for family and friends. It’s not too bad. I do feel my eyesight is on the outs, and that’s beginning to add to the time. More and more each time.
It’s a sad situation to have to say goodbye to a trusty tool in any case.
The no-notice Tesla type bonfire is only a problem if the battery has a charge or is being charged. You might run it unplugged (maybe with it sitting in a fireplace) until it runs totally out of juice, then go thru the rigmarole here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kgl6Ns9lIs
If that doesn’t appeal, Costco usually has a pretty good discount on MacBooks, Airs, iMacs, or Minis. It’ll pay for a year’s membership and their warranty is double the factory with priority customer support.
Several of my friends carry an Air in the field and hook it up to a good monitor & USB C hub when at home for the best of both worlds.
This Air has just been discontinues as of 4 March and should be available at a good price about now:
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook-air/specs/macbook-air-m2-8-core-cpu-10-core-gpu-15-2023-specs.html
In any case, good luck with your transition to an ARM Mac. You’ll like the speed, even if storage is small. An external USB C flash drive velcroed to the case can make a world of difference, too.
B. Mouse