MacBook Pro Battery Replacement
My computer is a MacBook Pro (13inch, Mid 2010), which is almost 7 years old.
Around the year before last, the trackpad became hard to press, it needs more force to click on it. It seems to be caused by battery expansion. Once I managed to use it by opening the back cover and adjusting the screws. I could switch to tapping, but I am too lazy to change the operation I am used to.
But after a while, it couldn’t press at all, so I gave up on clicking and switched to using tapping. I thought I could never tap, but now I feel more comfortable tapping.
Then around last year, the computer became unstable when I put it on the table. The back cover swelled up due to the expansion of the battery, and the rubber feet on the four corners stopped touching the tabletop. This annoyed me and made me feel bad every time I used it, so I had to cover it up by sticking sponge pieces on the rubber feet.
I had managed to using it, but it seems to have reached its limits.
The other day, after installing an application, the operation of other applications suddenly became unstable. I deleted that last application I installed, but my computer has been unstable since then. Especially the Adobe application became unstable, which is fatal to me. So I decided to reinstall macOS.
I had been overwriting macOS upgrades all this time, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to clean it up once since some of the old stuff was still there.
The “macOS utility" (this image borrowed from Apple’s site).
I was going to run “macOS utility", clean the disk and reinstall it.
However, this screen comes up, but I can’t select any of the options because I can’t click on the trackpad. (The enter key won’t let me choose one. And tapping doesn’t work in this situation.)
Need to click to install macOS.
But I can’t click on it without changing the battery.
…The decision was made to replace the battery.
I searched the Internet and found that batteries can be purchased, so I ordered one.
The battery I bought was 6590 yen.
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It arrived two days later.
All I need is a #00 precision Phillips screwdriver and a Y-shaped precision screwdriver.
Using a Phillips screwdriver for the back cover, and using a Y-type screwdriver for the battery.
I removed the back cover.
It is obvious that the battery is swollen.
We can see it clearly from this angle.
The trackpad can’t be clicked with this battery.
Here is a photo of the removed battery standing up. The outer shell has already opened up.
The new battery fits easily. The back cover is now in place and the work is complete.
The trackpad can now be clicked normally.
Battery replacement was very easy and all that was left was to reinstall the macOS.
At first, I saw the message “about 6 minutes left", but it was a big lie.
It took over 30 minutes for those 6 minutes to come down to zero.
Still, it finished successfully.
I reinstalled the applications, moved the data, and restored the computer.
As for the battery, I just used it for 2 hours and the remaining battery indication dropped from 90% to 49%. It looks like I can use it for a little over 4 hours on a full charge.
So, my MacBook Pro (2010) is still working.