Battery replacement for white MacBook?

[janisg]

I think my MacBook battery needs to be replaced. The battery condition says "Service Battery." The light glows green when being charged, but when I turn it on, it only shows 98%. Then it discharges fairly rapidly after that.

Is it possible for me to replace the battery myself, or should I bring it in for service? Also, how can I determine how many cycles it's on?

 

[Kaveman]

If its one of the old whitebooks with the assessable battery on the bottom, then you can buy one and do it yourself.

If your whitebook is a newer one with the internal battery then you need to take it to a AppleCare Service center near you.

To see the cycle count Apple Menu > About This Mac > More Info > choose Battery from the list. Note the MacBook batteries are rated for 300 cycles.

 

[janisg]

It's at 113 cycles, and the condition says "Normal". So I'm confused about whether it really is the battery, since it's nowhere close to 300 cycles. I calibrated the battery a couple of weeks ago as recommended on the Apple website and it seemed to be running normally. Not sure what to do now.

 

[Kaveman]

The battery has smarts and that tells the Mac what it needs, if its saying it needs service take it to an AppleCare service center near you. If the battery goes bad it can do damage to your MacBook. I've even seen them damage the case and motherboard.
The "Service Battery." message is not to be taken lightly.

 

[janisg]

I think I'm going to try to replace the battery myself. Something is definitely going on and I'm going to recalibrate it again and see what happens.

 

[janisg]

I just am having a problem paying $130 for a battery for a computer that's 5 years old. Is that reasonable?

 

[oldscribe]

Apple charge $129.00
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA561LL/A/rechargeable-battery-13-inch-macbook-white