2006 MacBook with difficult touchpad

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I've read that lots of people have touchpad problems often caused by a swollen battery. My touchpad is hard to click and does not respond efficiently. I took out the battery, and it has a slight concave shape to it. Swollen might be the description as it's not perfectly flat on both sides.

Here's my concern: buying a $130 batter for a 7-year old computer. Sure, it's a lot cheaper than a new machine, but I'd rather not toss $130.

Does anyone have a good way to test this "swollen battery" theory, or do I just pay the $130 and see if it solves the problem?
Is it a good idea to try and keep a 7-year old machine going?
 

pigoo3

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My touchpad is hard to click and does not respond efficiently.

Could be gunked up with 7 years of finger-cheese...it could simply be getting worn out after 7 years of use...or both.

- Nick
 

chscag

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As a quick note..... I deleted your other post that you put in the wrong forum. We ask that you do not double post. If you feel that the post is in the wrong forum, ask a moderator to move it for you. (You can not delete your own posts.)

Now to your question.... If the battery is swollen, and it appears yours is, the best solution is to replace it before it damages your machine. You don't have to spend $130 for a new one from Apple. With a machine that old, I would buy a knock off battery from eBay or another discount reseller instead.
 
C

chas_m

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Also: sometimes the "clicker" part of the trackpad goes bad -- on my 2009 MBP the "clicker" only works in one particular spot, which is quite the devil to find sometimes!

I solved the problem in two ways:

1. I switched the trackpad to use taps rather than clicks.
2. Recently I got a Magic Trackpad with a working "clicker" but now that I'm used to taps I'm just using that when I'm at home and the built-in trackpad when I'm on the road.
 

Slydude

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I can say from experience that the battery problem you describe can be part of the problem. In my case the trackpad on my 2008 MacBook Pro worked fine with the "swollen" battery removed.

I ended up purchasing a third party battery for about half the cost of n Apple battery. Haven't been too pleased thus far though since the performance seems to be somewhat erratic. Sometimes I get the low battery warning with 20% battery left sometimes with 5%.
 

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