Hoping to take advantage of any sales this week: I’d like to upgrade the SSD in my early 2015 MPBr 13". I opted for more RAM vs a larger hard drive and didn’t realize until recently that I could actually upgrade this myself. I have 16gb RAM
When I upgraded my 2008 MP, I bought an entire kit from OWC, which included tools and a case to turn the old drive into an external. I see they still offer the same for my current machine, is this still worth it?
Is there another company and/or drive I should be considering?
Is it worth replacing the battery while I’m in there? It was replaced in May 2018 when I had the case replaced (for a missing foot!). Cycle count is 1051 and condition is “Normal”. It doesn’t last as long as it used to but it’s not horrible. One of the instructions I found makes it sound like you need to remove the battery to replace the hard drive anyway.
Only advice I have here is don’t get a reconditioned one, as mine failed. They sent a replacement along but it was a tad annoying. Customer support was excellent as always.
I just upgraded a 2015 15 in Macbook Pro to a 1TB from the original Apple 500GB. I got a Dataram SSD from 1800-4-memory on their ebay site. I also bought this case to put the old Apple SSD in. OWC Envoy Pro - SSD Enclosure for 2013-Current Macs
Everything went smooth.
Don’t know about the battery. I just had the battery recall done by Apple, but it is only for 15 inch.
I’ve done what you are proposing with a 15" Retina MBP several years ago. The DIY replacement is easy and well worthwhile. Almost a no-brainer!
I’d wait to replace the the battery until it is more problematic causing a shorter life when not connected.
Thanks John! I did decide to hold off on the battery after all, when I watched the videos the two don’t seem to be near each other. My box came in today, but apparently I need to upgrade to HS before starting the process so I’ll need to find a chunk of time. Pretty excited to get this going!
I cannot believe it’s been a year since I bought that drive. My work never slowed down so I didn’t take the machine down, instead opting to remove a large amount of photos off it to get me through the summer.
I really want to sit down and do this before year end, and just happened to click on my battery indicator this morning which now says “Replace Soon”.
I didn’t buy the battery last year as it wasn’t near the drive. Should I bite the bullet on it now, bring it to Apple or ???
Two things: it gets pretty warm while charging (brought it into Apple last year, they cleaned the port and said it was fine), and yes, runtime on the battery is diminished, I’m not even sure I get three hours on it anymore - though I do use it plugged in more these days. Cycle count is now 1392.
I would bring it to Apple for a battery replacement.
First off, iFixit points out that there was a battery recall in 2019 for this generation computer. You should check with Apple to see if you quality for a free replacement. If so, that’s definitely the best approach.
According to iFixit, battery replacement on a 2015 MBP is “difficult”. The batteries are quite solidly glued-down, so you will need flat cards and solvent to get them out. iFixit shows a complete removal of the motherboard as a part of the process, probably to ensure that solvent doesn’t get on it.
Is there an easier procedure? I suspect there might be, but it does look like something best left to the experts. And with all that work, the battery itself will cost $80 (or $88 for a fix-kit that includes the tools their procedure requires).
In comparison, Apple charges $200 for an out-of-warranty battery replacement. For me, it’s worth $120 to not go through that big complicated procedure. But you may not share my opinion about this.
(Of course, be sure to make a full backup before giving the computer to Apple. If something fails catastrophically and they end up replacing the whole computer, you don’t want to lose your data.)
Or, if you think you’re likely to replace the computer in a year or so, maybe just use it with its power brick more often until you are ready to buy a replacement.
Thanks for your input! You’re right, it’s not much difference, and if they break it, they get to fix it
I have a 13” but I plugged my serial number in anyway, and it said mine has already been repaired under the program. I asked them about it last year too as they had to machine open to troubleshoot a noise, but they said the battery was fine then. But I would ask again to be sure.
Mine was replaced I think in 2018, it was at the end of the AppleCare. One of the feet had fallen off and a few keys were worn off, and they did the battery under some program at that time. But I do wonder if the replacement battery has issues due to how hot it gets.
Thanks again, I will look at making an appointment soon!
The 13" model has a slightly less complicated battery replacement procedure (iFixit). A complete removal of the motherboard isn’t required there.
I think the reason for this is primarily because you need to remove the speakers in order to get a place to slide the plastic cards, to break the adhesive. And to make sure their adhesive solvent doesn’t contact the plastic speaker enclosures, since it will damage them. On the 15", it appears that the motherboard covers part of the speakers, so it has to come out first, making it a more ugly procedure than on a 13".
But either way, I still think it’s easier and safer for Apple to do it.
I did some web searching for independent repair shops, but the reputable ones charge the same $200 or more for this job. Probably because of the amount of labor involved.
WRT your battery, if it was replaced in 2018, it’s still over 3 years old. That is the expected life of any lithium-ion battery pack. And you’ve got almost 1400 charge cycles. So I don’t think this is a premature failure.
We have one local shop here and they are pretty expensive (and grumpy). I’ve given up trying to give them business
No, I don’t have an argument with my charge cycles, just the heat it’s been generating for the past year. They “cleaned out” the port which made it a little better for awhile, and I continue to do so with a soft toothbrush, but it can still get pretty hot. Hot enough that I unplug it if it’s charging and I have to leave the house. I never leave it plugged in overnight unless it’s on a full charge. Once it’s charged, it’s fine.
Does it get hot during normal operation, when it’s not charging?
If so, then you might want to clean dust out of it. Use a can of compressed air on the vents. Maybe remove the cover and blow out dust from the inside (especially around the fan blades and wherever it appears that there may be airflow).
I don’t know if this will help, but it can’t hurt.
Are they saying you need to leave your laptop with them for two weeks?
Or are they saying the part will arrive in two weeks, and you can keep using the laptop until then, bringing it in for a same-day replacement at that point?
If it’s the former, that’s nuts. If it’s the latter, it’s not too surprising.
I called an large, long standing independent about an hour from me. They charge $350 (!!!) and may still have the machine up to 3 days.
So I went back to Apple this afternoon. Took me three people to get them to understand I had an open work order and was supposed to let them know that I wanted to order the battery. They finally got an admin out to me, who told me I didn’t have to pay until it was finished (I was told I had to pre-pay, not a big deal) and he told me the girl I talked to Tuesday had ordered the battery/case for me already! And it was there!
Obviously I wasn’t expecting this so I didn’t have the machine with me. He said it could be as little as a couple of days, and we agreed early in the week would be better than tomorrow (Friday).
Yes, I considered a new machine. I could move my 32 bit apps to the iMac and access it remotely, but frankly I really hate change and the new machines are a bit more than I’d like to spend right now.
I am hoping the new internal SSD and hopefully fiber in a couple of months breathes new life into this machine. It does work well when I have enough free space, but internet browsing is horrendous (too many tabs and I think my Airport is failing and I don’t want to replace until I know what’s going on with fiber).
Oh - the girl I worked with on Tuesday gave me one of their power cords (the part that plugs into the machine). Mine had been getting so hot while charging I could burn myself, and I no longer left it plugged in unless I was sitting there. I told them that a year ago and they insisted everything was fine once they cleaned the port out. Wouldn’t you know, the new cord doesn’t over heat the machine.
That’s really great. Since the cord is not detachable from a MagSafe power brick (as far as I know), she must have replaced the whole adapter. Those adapters cost $85 (MSRP). I assume she’s treating it as a warranty replacement, but that’s still generous, given the fact that the computer is well beyond its warrany period.
It’s also good to know that the problem was with the charger (or its cord) and not in the computer. Chargers are less expensive than a motherboard replacement.
Yes, it was the brick to the computer. I’ve bought 2 for this laptop already, then one was replaced under its own warranty. But they only do that once each purchase, so even if the replacement dies within a year, you’d need to buy it again.
The downfall of the warranty replacement is that they just give you the brick to the computer, but that’s what always seems to fail.
