The IT Nerd

The reason why your MacBook Pro has that message may be due to the fact that the battery inside your MacBook Pro has had the capacity that it was designed for drop to a point where it’s no longer holding the charge that it was designed for. Thus it might be time to replace it. You can confirm that this is the case by going to System Information via the Apple Menu and About This Mac and clicking on More Info and System Report. Then go to power on the left hand side. This is what you’ll see (click to enlarge):

Note the section called Health Information. If it says something other than “Normal” (such as “replace now” or “service now”) then you need to replace the battery. If it still says normal, then there’s a chance you have another issue. I would recommend resetting the system management controller to see if that makes a difference.

If you need to replace the battery, you have have a few options. Because it’s a non-removable battery, your best bet is to take it to the Apple Store and let a Genius do it for you. This is especially true if the MacBook Pro is under warranty or AppleCare as this will be replaced at no cost to you.  If you do have to pay for the new battery, Apple does have fixed rates for a battery replacement. You can also get aftermarket batteries that you can install yourself and can sometimes have longer run times. The process is not that hard, but I would only recommend this to someone who is used to working on the innards of a MacBook Pro and has the tools to do so. If that is you, then online sources such as iFixit, FastMac and PowerBook Medic can supply you with the battery and the tools. Just make sure you pay attention to which MacBook Pro that you have as the batteries are slightly different depending on which MacBook Pro you have. All of these sites can help you determine what battery would fit your MacBook Pro. Also, if you don’t have the tools to do this, do NOT cheap out and skip buying them. It will only make things really difficult for you. If you need instructions, iFixit can help you with that. A final option is to send it to someone like iRepair or your local independent Mac dealer to get the job done.

This entry was posted on December 22, 2012 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Tips with tags Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.