Replace battery on MBA that's 3 years old?

[rainbowcat]

Already had to replace the logic board, and now the 12 hour battery only lasts for about 4 hours. Anyone know approximate cost of replacing the battery? Wondering if it's even worth it, or time to replace the laptop...

 

[pigoo3]

When you say cost of replacing the battery…do you mean by yourself or professionally?

Unless it was done via warranty...Im surprised that replacing the logic board on a 3 year old MBA was cost effective. Many times it's not worth it due to the high cost of replacement parts.

- Nick

 

[rainbowcat]

The logic board was replaced when the laptop was only 2 years old, which is why I'm debating having the battery replaced. I'd have it done at Apple; don't want to mess about myself, as I know just enough to get myself in trouble! I've seen the battery for around $30 on Amazon, but I'm sure it's lots more than that to have Apple replace it.

 

[pigoo3]

I'd have it done at Apple...

$129 + tax.

https://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=servicefaq&geo=United_States&product=Macnotebooks

- Nick

 

[XJ-linux]

I have a 2012 MBA with a battery that I just recently started to notice wasn't holding a charge for very long either - maybe 4 hours as well. Due to it's age, it won't fetch much in resale towards a new laptop, and there isn't really anything out right now I like as a replacement. I think I'd rather part with the $150 for a battery than part with $1000+ for essentially the same laptop.

 

[techiesteve]

I've seen the battery for around $30 on Amazon, but I'm sure it's lots more than that to have Apple replace it.

The battery you saw on Amazon wouldn't be an Apple battery, but some cheap knock off. I doubt it would last long.

 

[rainbowcat]

XJ-linux - Good point about replacing the laptop; I just wanted to make sure I didn't have to dish out $500 for battery replacement, as I'd no idea how expensive it was. Thanks for input.

 

[rainbowcat]

$129 + tax.

https://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=servicefaq&geo=United_States&product=Macnotebooks

- Nick

Thanks Nick!

 

[rainbowcat]

And just to kerflumox things - Apple Genius Bar said battery is fine at 94.6%, and doesn't need to be replaced. Their verdict was that Firefox (!) is using a ton of energy (at 104+ on Activity Monitor) and I should delete it and reload it. Curious as to your opinions.; I'm not convinced reloading Firefox is going to do anything.

 

[pm-r]

It sure won't take much to try but why not go even one better and change your browser use to Safari and save even more battery use???

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/safari-offers-longer-battery-life-than-chrome-or-firefox

 

[rainbowcat]

It sure won't take much to try but why not go even one better and change your browser use to Safari and save even more battery use???

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/safari-offers-longer-battery-life-than-chrome-or-firefox

Thanks PMR, but it's worth it to me to keep Firefox; I'm not a Safari fan.

 

[azboomer]

Was that 104+ on the "energy impact" tab or "avg. energy impact" tab? Either way, that doesn't sound all that high. Not high enough to get that bad of battery life anyways. I see around the same. Here is an example of me having a lazy day and using chrome and safari most of the day today (chrome was used for casting to my Chromecast and Safari was for web browsing). I have no problems getting 10 hours of battery life.

No sure if those numbers would be represented differently because you have a MBA though.

Screenshot 2015-11-15 16.53.54 by Jim Boomer, on Flickr

 

[pigoo3]

And just to kerflumox things - Apple Genius Bar said battery is fine at 94.6%, and doesn't need to be replaced. Their verdict was that Firefox (!) is using a ton of energy (at 104+ on Activity Monitor) and I should delete it and reload it. Curious as to your opinions.; I'm not convinced reloading Firefox is going to do anything.

We were never told how many battery cycles are on this battery. So this would be good to know.

As far as Firefox. ABSOLUTELY 104+ is a lot (if we're talking % CPU resources). For example. As I'm typing this message…Safari is fluctuating between 0% and 8% CPU activity. It is possible for a browser to use 100%+. But usually only if you are doing some sort of demanding activity…like playing videos or online gaming. If you're doing nothing other than casual browsing & email…104+ % is too high. Or you may have an open browser page/tab that has a lot of advertising on the page (scrolling ads and repeating videos) which eats up CPU/GPU resources.

At the very least…you could quit FireFox. And use Safari or Chrome for a while…and see how battery life is. Then reopen FireFox and see if there is any difference. Of course look at Activity Monitor throughout…to see what the numbers look like.

- Nick

 

[azboomer]

As far as Firefox. ABSOLUTELY 104+ is a lot (if we're talking % CPU resources). For example. As I'm typing this message…Safari is fluctuating between 0% and 8% CPU activity. It is possible for a browser to use 100%+. But usually only if you are doing some sort of demanding activity…like playing videos or online gaming. If you're doing nothing other than casual browsing & email…104+ % is too high. Or you may have an open browser page/tab that has a lot of advertising on the page (scrolling ads and repeating videos) which eats up CPU/GPU resources.


- Nick

The OP did say energy, so I would assume he's talking about energy impact, not CPU use. Hopefully the OP can clarify.

The energy tab in the activity monitor is generally the more beneficial tab when diagnosing battery problems of the running programs and how they effect battery life. Especially, when looking at the energy tab over a period time (avg. energy impact).

If the OP is really set on using Firefox, I would suggest trying to post a screen shot similar to mine of a few hours of his "normal" use to better judge if its Firefox or the MBA battery.

 

[azboomer]

Here is a good thread to read. Although, the OP never came back and said what the resolution was But if you look at the last posted screen shot, the avg. energy impact tab is super high! That was not normal.

http://www.mac-forums.com/apple-notebooks/327795-brand-macbook-pro-13-battery-lasts-3-hours.html

 

[vansmith]

Firefox and Chrome are notorious for battery usage (particularly Chrome). It's the price you pay for using those browsers (I, like you, won't be switching anytime soon). One thing to consider is switching browsers to Safari when mobile and sticking with Firefox while plugged in. I know that's not ideal but it will help short term.

 

[chscag]

I agree, but wanted to mention in addition to what Bryan advised is that Safari is the only OS X browser that will sync your bookmarks to iOS using iCloud. Very convenient.

 

[vansmith]

True and if you're all in with iCloud, Safari is the way to go. It's also the way to go, as I mentioned, if you appreciate battery life. I may not use Safari but if I ever need to squeeze every bit out of my battery, I will, without hesitation, switch over to Safari temporarily.

The iOS versions of Chrome and Firefox (now that the latter is available for iOS) both sync with their respective services as well if that's something you need.