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Literally last week I had a conversation with Apple about a swollen laptop battery. They said it’s not a fire hazard but I should replace it and not use the la

Literally last week I had a conversation with Apple about a swollen laptop battery. They said it’s not a fire hazard but I should replace it and not use the laptop. And, refused to replace it because it was in a “vintage” laptop. Carefully crafted language.

a_t48 9y ago
You should have sat down at one of their tables and plugged it in. :)
eumoria 9y ago
6 months ago is 'vintage' to them. How old was the laptop?
- shawkinaw 9y ago
  Actually "vintage" has a specific meaning and is at least 5 years after the product is no longer manufactured. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624.
- andrei_says_ 9y ago
  It’s old. I think 2011. Just replaced the battery with one from ifixit
llsf 9y ago
That is why I run my "vintage" MacBook pro without a battery (first unibody, with swappable battery), always plugged in. It works for me as it stays stationary at home. If I need to unplug for any reason, I close the lid and macOS saves everything, then unplug, replug later, and nothing is lost.
- Kluny 9y ago
  Wow, I love that. Still, there must be some small coin-sized battery on the motherboard that's saving state, which will have to be replaced at some point?
  - coryrc 9y ago
    No, it's hibernating; state is saved to the hard drive.
- stinos 9y ago
  Problematic if you have a magsafe connector in combination with kids or pets running around though. Or just if you trip over the cable yourself. In my unfortunate experience :P
  - isostatic 9y ago
    OK, machine turns off, rather than smashing on the floor (dog knocks it off, kid chasing dog puts foot through the screen) I still haven't grokked the decision to abandon magsafe.
Keverw 9y ago
Second time my 2012 13" MBP battery swelled up. Glad on the older model you can at least replace parts yourself. I think my problem might be that I treat my laptops more like desktops and keep them plugged in 24/7 and hardly ever run them off batteries. Last battery only had 2 cycles on it. I want to get into vlogging at some point, so might at some point upgrade to a 15 inch with a GPU. I love Apple's software but disappointed the newer hardware isn't user serviceable anymore.

a_t48 9y ago

You should have sat down at one of their tables and plugged it in. :)

eumoria 9y ago

6 months ago is 'vintage' to them. How old was the laptop?

shawkinaw 9y ago
Actually "vintage" has a specific meaning and is at least 5 years after the product is no longer manufactured. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624.
andrei_says_ 9y ago
It’s old. I think 2011. Just replaced the battery with one from ifixit

llsf 9y ago

That is why I run my "vintage" MacBook pro without a battery (first unibody, with swappable battery), always plugged in. It works for me as it stays stationary at home. If I need to unplug for any reason, I close the lid and macOS saves everything, then unplug, replug later, and nothing is lost.

Kluny 9y ago
Wow, I love that. Still, there must be some small coin-sized battery on the motherboard that's saving state, which will have to be replaced at some point?
- coryrc 9y ago
  No, it's hibernating; state is saved to the hard drive.
stinos 9y ago
Problematic if you have a magsafe connector in combination with kids or pets running around though. Or just if you trip over the cable yourself. In my unfortunate experience :P
- isostatic 9y ago
  OK, machine turns off, rather than smashing on the floor (dog knocks it off, kid chasing dog puts foot through the screen) I still haven't grokked the decision to abandon magsafe.

Keverw 9y ago

Second time my 2012 13" MBP battery swelled up. Glad on the older model you can at least replace parts yourself. I think my problem might be that I treat my laptops more like desktops and keep them plugged in 24/7 and hardly ever run them off batteries. Last battery only had 2 cycles on it. I want to get into vlogging at some point, so might at some point upgrade to a 15 inch with a GPU. I love Apple's software but disappointed the newer hardware isn't user serviceable anymore.