Getting around the 'Genius' from the local MacStore

Mi Problema

I've always been a self-repair guy, however, this was the first time I had to replace a battery, so I figured I'd just head over to the local Mac Store and get it done by one of the Geniuses... ( service is normally pretty well over there )

However, this time one of them claimed he needed to keep my laptop ( which is my lifeblood ) for 5 days AT LEAST to repair the battery, on top of that it would cost 150 euros ( 203$ ). I spotted the "leadguy" hanging around and explained him that I couldn't possibly go a whole week without my laptop and he understood so he took me asside and sent me to this site...

The model I needed was sold out at the time, but my laptop still worked so it wasn't _really_ an issue, just kind of a pain in the ass that my battery went from full to empty in about 45 minutes. I sent off a mail to iFixit's team and got a reply as soon as businesshours opened in the US ( As I'm from Europe it was to be expected that I wouldn't get a reply at 3am in the morning in the US :-) ).

It explained that the new load would arrive within a week and that there would be no issue sending it to Europe, so I waited a bit, made the order on Saturday, the battery was sent on monday ( again, no surprise there ) and got here by Wednesday 11 am, just before I had to head out to my day-job, I still had about 15 minutes so I tore open my mac...

Mi Solución

It was surprisingly easy, I've heard lots of horror-stories from people saying Mac's can't be repaired by us commoners, I've done some of the easy ones before, installing extra RAM in my iBook G4, upgrading my HD in this one ( 480 Gb SSD FTW ) but a battery-change was a first...

I only had 15 minutes after FedEx dropped it off before I had to go to work, so I figured I'd get everything ready for when I got home, but 5 minutes later the battery was installed and charging, so I left for work feeling great and anticipating my homecoming where my trusty mac would be waiting for me again :-D

Mi Consejo

Do it yourself :-) Or order the parts and bring it over to me, if you have a nice ( Belgian ) beer with you, I'll do it for free :-D

I spotted some nice replacement-parts on iFixit in the mean time ( DVD-drive is busted as well, and I'm eyeing the HD-bay for that position as a 'dump-drive' for video & photo-footage ) so I'll be back for sure :-D