I purchased this item as a replacement for 1.5 year old battery that came from the manufacturer. My previous battery had something wrong with it, in a period of 2 months, it went from 85% health, to about 40% health, and then in a period of about 2 days it dropped below 20% health. This made it so i was getting < 1 hour battery life which was unacceptable. I was at about 290 cycles when it was at 40% health, and I called apple, but they said since it's been over a year they wouldn't do anything about it (which contradicts a lot of things I've heard from other users experiencing the same issues).
At any rate, my new battery is here, popped it in, drained it, gave it a boisterous charge, and now i'm getting somewhere between 3.5 to 4 hours battery life on a full charge. I was appalled after 1 cycle though, the health dropped to 99%, but now I'm nearing 20 cycles and it's still at 99%. Works for now, hopefully this one will last the rated 300 cycles (apple says 300 cycles should have a health of 85% still). Apple MA348LL/A 15-inch MacBook Pro Battery (Retail Packaging)
The battery in my 2006 MacBook Pro swelled up and had to be replaced under warrantee in 2006. About a year ago, the replacement battery which I had used for 2.5 years was down to 45% of its original capacity so I bought this battery from Amazon Prime as a replacement. It seemed to work okay for about 4 months, and then strange things started to happen.
1) My computer would shut off suddenly with no warning with plenty of charge showing on the battery indicator LEDs. Resetting the PMU (following Apple's instructions) seemed to work, though I no longer got the "running on reserve power" warning but rather a shutdown at the low end of the battery charge.
2) Then after a few months the computer would only run for about 1.5 hours on a full charge. The power indicator showed 2:30 of charge, but it would go down to 0:00 in 1.5 hours and then shut down. Again I followed the documented procedure to reset the PMU -- it did not help.
3) As of December 2009, I could barely get 30 minutes out of the battery, even though the battery health monitor said it had 90% of its original capacity.
4) Finally, as of January 2010, one year after it arrived, the battery is completely DEAD. The charge status LEDs do not light up at all when the button on the battery is pressed. It is no longer recognized as being installed so the computer won't charge it, and the computer goes into hard sleep if the power cord is removed. I reinstalled my old battery and it works fine (except for having only 45% of its original capacity). But 45% on a working battery is much better than 90% of a DEFECTIVE BATTERY.
If I had bought the replacement from Apple, they would (with a little complaining) recognize it as obviously defective and replace it, as they did the defective battery that came with the computer originally.
Be aware that Amazon has no provision whatsoever for replacing defective merchandise unless it is within their return "window", which in the case of this battery is ONE MONTH. The defect started to show up 4 months after purchase. There is no place to go on this web site to complain, other than this review!
MORAL: These batteries fail after a period of months so buy them from dealers that will stand behind them, not just for a month replacement window!
Be aware that Apple considers batteries "consumables" and are not covered by any warranty. The warranty is tied to your MacBook Pro. If your laptop is out of warranty, so is your battery. This, sadly, is what I discovered when I called Apple tech support about my defective batteries.
I have 2: one that originally came with my laptop, and one I purchased separately for extra power on the road. Both used minimally and about 2 years old when they started having major problems holding a charge and reporting the wrong remaining charge. With one battery, at 85% remaining, the laptop would just completely and suddenly shut down.
These batteries are supposed to last up to 300 cycles, according to the specs. Mine died way before that. When not on the road, I remove the battery and run on AC power, in order to prolong the battery's lifespan (heat deteriorates the cells). One battery has had 146 charge cycles and the other has had 66, as reported by the System Profiler. The charge capacity is wildly erratic, and both show up as "Check Battery" in Profiler status.
Apple issued a battery recall on this SKU, but unfortunately, mine was not eligible for replacement. Non-recalled batteries like mine still have quality control issues, which Apple will not acknowledge.
You may be fortunate to have a good battery and not have to go through the problems I experienced. Mine are 2/2 defective, so I am frustrated at Apple's lack of support. Just something to be aware of when deciding to purchase this battery as a spare because $110 is not a small chunk of change. - Apple - Lithium - Macbook Pro - Battery'
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