Apple snobs who were hooting at Dell’s misfortune can now suck it, because Apple has recalled 1.8 million batteries. News sites should break the details soon, but it appears to affect PowerBooks. No MacBooks involved, even though they had all sorts of swelling issues with the battery.
edited to add
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06245.html
Were Dell and Apple using the same source for batteries or something?
A very large chunk of the Li-ion battery market is provided by Sony, who is involved in both of these recalls.
So, uh, fuck Sony?
(Can’t check now, but my iBook G4 is probably included. I bet it’s burning down my place right now!)
Yeah, “Apple snobes who were hooting at Dell” were out of line in the first place, it was Sony at fault there. I don’t know if Sony’s responsible here too.
Only if you have the 12"
I’ve been looking into buying a MacBook Pro to replace my Compaq laptop I use at work as my primary office machine (for a lot of reasons, on campus there is good reason for me to have a Mac, and besides I like 'em, and the educational discounts aren’t bad). This battery thing doesn’t affect MacBooks though as far as I can tell; I think the batteries are a different type.
What does affect my considerations though is the supposedly imminent switch from Yonah to Merom CPUs in the MacBook Pros. As I understand it, the Merom Core 2 Duos or whatever they are are a bit faster than the original Core Duos and are 64-bit, and Apple is set to release Leopard, its 64bit OS, next year.
I’m thinking either the existing MacBook Pros will get a price cut, or you’ll get more bang for your buck, CPU-wise, when the switch happens. Some rumor mongers are saying as early as the first week in September, while others say after the Paris show in mid-September, and still others claim October. In any event, I won’t be making a decision (buy, not buy, and if buy, which model) until I hear what’s going on with the CPU I think.
Hell Womby, if you’re interested, I might sell you my MacBook Pro for a decent price when the new ones come out… I bought mine in mid June, but the thought of Core2Duo MBP is tempting.
Do you take Confederate money? I have some of that laying around I think. :)
I think I can get the college to spring for a good chunk of the price if I get it via their “Apple Store” but thanks for the offer!
I’m affected. I’m trying to get through to the support website, but it’s been totally slashdotted.
Just take your battery to an Apple Store; that’s what I’d do, assuming there’s one nearby. Should be quick and easy.
Darn. My capacity is down to around 65% of its original, so I was hoping for a free new battery.
I’d check before you do that. The Apple stores may not be equipped to handle a large volume of battery returns.
I did that first. They just found out about the recall themselves, so they have no batteries to exchange.
I did notice that this battery would get awful hot during-- no, sorry, that’s the CPU. Never mind.
I just checked and my battery is in the recall range. Fortunately the online exchange process appears quick and painless.
And Sony manages to step into yet another huge pile of poo. After the Dell explosion they were still testing and arguing what was to blame – Sony’s batteries or Dell’s manufacturing – but now there can be no doubt. Dell will probably demand a full refund from Sony, for the batteries and the cost of the recall, and so will Apple.
“Sony snobs are heartbroken.”
Slightly off topic I suppose, but if you have Applecare give them a call and see if you can get a new one. I’ve been able to get new a new battery for my iBook and later Powerbook when they started to hold significantly less than a full charge.
Macsales has some higher-capacity batteries that are quite good.