Bloated 17-inch MacBook Pro battery, part 3

Just a friendly reminder from your pals concerned for battery-safety: if you've got a 17-inch MacBook Pro (or any other laptop for that matter) and you're noticing swollen battery cells, stop using it immediately and contact Apple. We think everyone can all well agree that at least some users are definitely experiencing this issue, and if you're one of them, you need to seriously consider battery safety -- even if your laptop still works as it bobbles around the table.

[Thanks, Paul D]

[Rick @ Apr 8th 2007 1:38PM]

Yikes-- when will the next huge battery recall start?

[mattstl77 @ Apr 8th 2007 1:50PM]

No surprise... another crappy Apple product.

[nick.steinhouse @ Apr 8th 2007 1:56PM]

Any indication if this incident is showing up in any particular revision of the MBP? (being core duo vs. core 2 duo)

[Photo Tim @ Apr 8th 2007 2:22PM]

I have a first gen MBP 17". I didn't notice this dramatic display, but suddenly my battery charge was all over the place. I took it in, the genius looked at the batter, said, 'yep you've got one of the bad ones' and replaced it with a battery off the floor giving me a 1 yr warrenty as a new part.

[David Bradford @ Apr 8th 2007 6:24PM]

Mine was a Core Duo. Actually blew the latch mechanism out and made my 17" MBP jump about 1" when it happened. Took it to the Apple store and they arranged to have another battery sent. I had also noticed erratic battery charge indcations for about 1 week prior to the event.

[Jeff @ Apr 8th 2007 2:04PM]

i had a bulging battery w/ my 15'' MBP and it wasn't one of the ones recalled. REgardless i walked into the applestore held up my battery in my hand instead of waiting on a genius line and within 2min a genius technician took my battery to the back of the store and swapped mine out for a new one. I didnt have to sign anything, it was that simple. No lines, no problems, apple dealt very nicely w/ my problem

[mikeguru @ May 18th 2007 9:12PM]

Glad you had a pleasant experience at your Apple Store. Mine was just the opposite. They treated me as if I was invisible, I had to go to one of the Macs in the store, make a "Concierge Appointment", wait for them to call everyone else's name, and then they finally acknowledged my presence. So-called "Genius" was rude and hostle. He insisted they had no batteries available, even though he admitted mine was the FIRST 17" MBP they'd ever seen have a battery "go pufferfish". The first guy said all he could do was to order one via AppleCare, and that I would have to "wait a few days for it to be shipped to the Store", and then he said I could "pick it up" when it arrived. When I requested he call AppleCare and ask them to overnight the new battery directly to me, he became beligerent, and said "I can't take the time to do that, I have other customer's with appointments". I had to get the Manager out from the back room in oder to get any real help. He reluctantly agreed to call AppleCare, and I asked him to request that they ship the battery directly to me. They agreed and did so. AppleCare GOOD, Apple Store Manager OK, Apple Store "Genius" BAD, BAD!

[Crayola @ Apr 8th 2007 2:05PM]

I hate Apple, not only is it shown to be the least environmentally friendly company, it dresses up inferior products, over-price them, put out elitist adverts to prozac its cultish fanboys and plagiarizes original ideas in computing.

Get a Dell. Dell sells direct to customers so that we can pass on the savings to you.

[ramond @ Apr 8th 2007 2:32PM]

When I see someone with a Dell I laugh at them.

[Ron @ Apr 8th 2007 9:17PM]

Dell??!! Dell you say??!! yeah and they are the bastion of top quality products themselves..yeah right.. Absolute SHITE. as a Past IT company owner, who mistakenly let Dell supply his staff computers for the employees I certainly learned my lesson, garbage desktops, garbage servers. Not to mention their notebooks which constantly fail. Are filled with parts that are bought from suppliers not for their quality, but for the pricepoint. Where the customer service monkeys are of no use whatsoever, and if you want a battery serviced you have to wait while they take thier time getting it from you and then getting it back from you. At least with Apple, I can walk into a Genius bar and sort out my problems. At least with Apple the OS isnt prone to all kinds of security issues.. .. You keep on using your Dell Sir.. best of luck to you. because you need lots of it

[John Doe @ Apr 8th 2007 11:22PM]

HEHEH. Get a Dell. Guess what looser. I do Dell warrantee work and I can tell you right now that there is NO way in HELL. Absoltely NO way I would even buy one of their POS ever again. Why? Serveral reason

#1 - Because of cost cutting Dell will actively go out of their way to try and find an excuse not to repair it. You think I'm joking? Try again. When I'm onsite and I call them up because the mofo part they sent out was DOA (Happens about 1 in 6 calls.) they keep me on the phone for an extra 45 minutes even though the issues has been troubleshot down to a specific component. Think you are safe if you get an error in the diagnostics? Try again. I have been to one guy's house 4 times because Dell refuses to send out the SLI video card that is defective. They keep sending out either a new mobo or, RAM, or a new hard drive. Why do they do this instead of replacing the SLI cards? Cost. Simply put everytime I even LOOK at getting a Dell I mentally say fuck it. If, more like when, I call them up to do repair work I don't need to be given the run around.

#2- Their mobos are for complete and total shit. Again this is not a joke. I'm dead serious. Example A is the Optiplex GX2xx series. The contracter that Dell hired to build these mobos FOXCOMM usually, put in shit capiciters that busted. Why? Because the paper inside of them was catching on fire and busting. Dell extended the warrantee on these systems but there isn't an outright recall. Again CHEAP.
The soldering joints on their mobos are for complete shit. That is why at work we get boxes with mobos stacked to the ceiling every weekday. Predominantly Dimensions but plenty of Inspirons. You want to talk quality? Lets. The Inspiron 5xxx series. Biggest pile of shit ever. I've replaced the motherboard so many times on that model I could almost literally do it blindfolded. I can replace that mobo in less then 20 minutes I've done it so frequently. The series is for shit. XPS system? Only marginally better.

#3- No media. I love constomers who continually bitch at me about their Dell and wonder why it doesn't ship with media. Oh sure Dell will ship it out to you if the hard drive crashes. (Usually. I had a call 3 weeks ago where I get out to the house they didn't send the media and when I called up Dell I was told that the customer had to buy a new license. Spent 15 minutes going around and around with habibe until I asked for his manager. Same shit. Hung up on them and told the customer they would have to get ahold of Dell and work it out themselves since I'll I'm contracted to do is hardware.) But seriously. CHEEEEEEEAP.

#4- Lite or demo versions does not == a wonderful deal. Does Dell load their systems up with all kinds of software? Yep. Sure. Very much so. Its also usually for complete and total shit. Demo versions of AV software that expires in 90 days. Lite versions of crap ass burning software that isn't Nero or ECC.

What it all bois down to is a massivly cheap company trying to throw out cheap products to cheap customers. WHile my Apple expierence has been less then steller. (Took it into the Apple store 5 times.) At least Apple has the balls to replace the system outright instead of sending the thing into depot. (Went from a CD MBP to a C2D MBP for free.)
I'm sorry but the very notion of "just get a Dell" borders on the ridiculous for anyone remotely in the know.
Dell is for shit from the training of their field techs, to their hardware, to their desktop phone support staff, to their hardware, to the very software they load. Shit shit shit shit shit. But hey. You are saving $500 on your PC. WOO HOO!

[js @ Apr 8th 2007 2:15PM]

It's all Dell's fault.

[michael @ Apr 8th 2007 7:57PM]

What's with the "I hate Dell" posts in here? This has nothing to do with Dell. What's so funny about a Dell computer? They actually make good stuff, if you buy their top-of-the-line stuff. It's just that most Apple users like to associate them with their lower products, which is kinda sad. Don't get me wrong, I have a MBP, it's just that I don't like it when fanboys get out of hand.

[yumi @ Apr 8th 2007 2:43PM]

Dell.
When their computers suck in performance, where's that tech support you need? They suck in customer service- a lot of my friends with dell computers complain about their tech support.
Apple goes all the a way.
Taking a risk with innovation is great.
As long as they acknowledge their mistakes and fix them, with that extra positive customer service!

[Anonymous.Skull @ Apr 8th 2007 3:02PM]

Dell outsourcing customer service to India for the lose.

Anyway, too bad for these few Apple owners. My guess is it's a rare occurrence, and even if a few hundred batteries are recalled, it's nothing compared to the Sony recall.

So many haters to flame, so little time.

[larsonst @ Apr 8th 2007 3:18PM]

FWIW Sony probably made the battery Apple uses

[brassready @ May 22nd 2007 11:41AM]

Actually, not all dell support goes through India.

I have a dell lappy, like it but won't get another due to proprietary bios. (didn't realize this at time of purchase). Anyway, there premier support goes through the phillipines. English is spoken very well over there, and the people are really well mannered over the phone.

But, i'm just one guy that's made one tech support call over 2 years. Sooo... maybe im a little bias towards there support.

Anywho... ramble ramble ramble... work sucks on Easter... You feelin me?

Sorry to all you battery problem having mac guys. We dell guys have had problems too. My sympathy goes out to you.

[syadasti @ Apr 8th 2007 7:00PM]

Anon.Skull-

Dell Inspiron consumer notebooks suck.

A fair comparison with the Macbook Pro is the Dell Latitude line (available to both consumers and corporate users). The Latitude line includes 3 years of US based warranty support with next business day on-site service free - thats real support for you. You don't have to pay extra for Applecouldcareless plan. They haven't been plagued with as many design flaws as the Macbook Pro and they are cheaper too. www.delloutlet.com - certified refurbs FTW...

[panik @ Apr 8th 2007 3:06PM]

happened to me twice!!

[LittleJoe @ Apr 8th 2007 3:10PM]

It's happened to me as well. I know my newest battery is going to do the same thing, but I'm sure it'll happen after my warranty.

[Urza @ Apr 8th 2007 3:12PM]

DELL sucks at customer service? At least they'll fix your problems! I almost had to hack together a new power supply from radioshack parts for my gf's macbook because they completely stopped selling the power adapter for it. Damn thing's not even 3 years old and you can't find replacement power adapters anywhere. And this is her second one for the damn thing. Finally got it working by bending the pin. Talk about shit. Not to mention the fact that they use a headphone jack instead of a normal power jack for no reason other than making it more expensive to replace.

Needless to say she's not getting another mac. Going with System76 for her next laptop.

The best tech support is by far Gateway (replaced our motherboard free a year after the warranty expired), but Dell's systems do seem to be decent. At least they're worth the price.

[Bloobie @ Apr 8th 2007 3:26PM]

Considering the MacBook has only been around since May of 2006, your comment is flawed. Also, if you are actually talking about a PowerBook or iBook, then you should have checked with Apple for a replacement power adapter, such as here:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=31C2C4FE&nplm=M8943LL%2FA

[Urza @ Apr 8th 2007 3:44PM]

meh. I dunno exactly what kind it was. some apple notebook. She said she couldn't find any adapters though. So sorry, I was just going on what she said. But seriously, I could hack together one from radioshack parts for around $20, and they're selling it for $70??? And add to that that I have found parts I can get online for $0.05 selling for $3 at radioshack.....

[Jeffrey Frady @ Apr 8th 2007 3:40PM]

Can't we just agree that Apple and Dell suck all the same?

Yes I gotten screwed by Apple. And yes I agree Dell sucks.

[guilt+1 @ Apr 8th 2007 3:48PM]

All tech support sucks and it's all your own fault for being dumb. 99% of tech support calls are made by morons without real problems. They just lack the knowledge that they need to use their purchases. Those 1% of people with real problems are then lost in the crowd of idiocy.

To the guy whose girlfriend needed a new PSU for a notebook, don't you think it would be a good idea to know what kind of notebook it was before you go shopping for replacement bits. And sure you could go to radio shack and knock one up super cheap but it's not really the same, IS IT ?

[shimman @ Apr 8th 2007 3:49PM]

perhaps apple should ditch sony

[Jessica @ Apr 8th 2007 4:49PM]

Just curious if these are Core 2 Duos or just Core Duos? Or both?

[Greg @ Apr 8th 2007 8:00PM]

Originally no one thought the 17" battery was a problem. It is too. My MB Pro 17" battery started doing this. Apple replaced with no problem, but I did get the local store to enter the request.

[barry @ Apr 8th 2007 8:52PM]

It's not just the 17-inchers...I'm on my third battery and my second power supply. No problems with my other Apple loot, but my 15" Macbook Pro has been a complete lemon. They won't let me exchange it and they wouldn't give me a loaner when it was going to get worked on (defective power inverter) (restocking fee, so no buy-and-return while my laptop was in the shop).

I've come to understand that like Microsoft, Apple is hit-or-miss with their products, and Apple would suck just as bad as Microsoft if they were as big.

[sushant @ Apr 8th 2007 9:56PM]

dell sucks,
i baught a dell xps m1210 with 2.13 core 2.... 6 months later i'm using a 17"MBP
...
...when i baught my dell it took 3 weeks for it to arrive... MBP took 2 days(order on sun... arrive on tues)

thats what i call customer service!

[Jenn @ Apr 8th 2007 11:52PM]

My 15" MBP battery started bulging seemingly overnight. It was one of the recalled batteries, and I had already sent for the replacement - which came within a matter of days. I've also had problems with my powercord, and all I have to do it take it into an Apple store and they just give me a new one with no hassles.

[harpreet @ Apr 9th 2007 2:35AM]

i guess steve will defend this by saying that these are apple's next gen batteries which grow after the user by them and offer more battery life!!!

[crescentdavid @ Apr 9th 2007 3:47AM]

I always appreciate losers like "John Doe" who troll in the most sophomoric of ways. You really should have limited yourself to a couple of sentences. Your little diatribe more than proves your incapability of holding a job at the "genius bar," let alone a real tech support site.

Nice try. In other news ... wasn't this a post on problems with a battery most likely made by SONY and incorporated into an Apple laptop?

Or am I missing something here?

[Drew @ Apr 11th 2007 3:38PM]

Mine became pretty extreme -
http://data.tumblr.com/752778_500.jpg

Called Apple today and I'm getting a replacement.

[John M @ Jun 26th 2007 6:39PM]

Mine occured overnight, it may have been hot as it was covered. Some intel chip macbook batteries are covered 2 years, there is also software for battery charge see:
http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/
"MacBook Pro computers and extra batteries that were purchased between February 2006 and April 2007"