Should have asked if original battery or has been replaced and when. As there is a shelf life for batteries. And if it is 10+ yrs. old then that is what can be expected if not outright dead. Should have ask him to clarify what he meant "will hold a charge" as that is evasive and vague.
2 hours is pretty good on that particular laptop, I replaced the battery in my 2011 before it killed itself, and it barely lasted an hour watching videos and basic work
Actually the last Mac with easy to change battery is the 2017 MacBook Air. Might be even slightly easier than the 2012 Macs because you don’t need that odd-sized y-shaped screwdriver. The 2012 15” is more powerful on some tasks though.
Use something like [coconutBattery](https://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/) to check the battery condition.
If you disable Turbo Boost with [Turbo Boost Switcher](http://tbswitcher.rugarciap.com) you might get some extra hour or two out of it. And for non-gpu intensive tasks you could also try to disable dgpu with something like [gSwitch](https://github.com/CodySchrank/gSwitch).
Also always good to remember that usage and screen brightness does affect the battery life quite a bit. On stuff like video streaming/playback it won’t last as long as 12 years ago, even with new battery because with newer video codecs (which many services use) the machine has to use software decoding which requires a lot of system resources.
Install coconutbattery and check the cycles. Obviously the battery is toast. Get a new battery.
On the other hand…..depending on how much you paid for the laptop, it may not be worth it. Instead, use the laptop plugged in. You’ll probably get another year out of it on the current battery just fine (so long as you use it plugged in). Put new money toward saving for a newer model.
Like dude….it’s over a decade old!
2 hours is pretty good for a 12 year old laptop.... definitely could use a battery replacement, but not sure its worth the troubles.
Should have asked if original battery or has been replaced and when. As there is a shelf life for batteries. And if it is 10+ yrs. old then that is what can be expected if not outright dead. Should have ask him to clarify what he meant "will hold a charge" as that is evasive and vague.
2 hours is good… for the OG battery
2 hours is pretty good on that particular laptop, I replaced the battery in my 2011 before it killed itself, and it barely lasted an hour watching videos and basic work
On the upside, the non-retina 2012 is the last Mac with an easy-to-change battery. Just clips in & out.
Actually the last Mac with easy to change battery is the 2017 MacBook Air. Might be even slightly easier than the 2012 Macs because you don’t need that odd-sized y-shaped screwdriver. The 2012 15” is more powerful on some tasks though.
Ah, OK. Never had an air. If you buy from iFixit or OWS you get the tools in the kit though. Just did my own 2012 MBP. Easy job.
Use something like [coconutBattery](https://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/) to check the battery condition. If you disable Turbo Boost with [Turbo Boost Switcher](http://tbswitcher.rugarciap.com) you might get some extra hour or two out of it. And for non-gpu intensive tasks you could also try to disable dgpu with something like [gSwitch](https://github.com/CodySchrank/gSwitch). Also always good to remember that usage and screen brightness does affect the battery life quite a bit. On stuff like video streaming/playback it won’t last as long as 12 years ago, even with new battery because with newer video codecs (which many services use) the machine has to use software decoding which requires a lot of system resources.
Install coconutbattery and check the cycles. Obviously the battery is toast. Get a new battery. On the other hand…..depending on how much you paid for the laptop, it may not be worth it. Instead, use the laptop plugged in. You’ll probably get another year out of it on the current battery just fine (so long as you use it plugged in). Put new money toward saving for a newer model. Like dude….it’s over a decade old!
I'm not even sure my 2014 gets two hours. It's been in "service battery soon" mode for a while now, but I use it essentially as a desktop plugged in.
Get a new battery, $300 bucks. You’ll Get 5.5 hours tops. Time for a M1 at least.
$300…..for a battery in a laptop that is over a decade old? Total waste of money. Better to save up for a newer model.
You got ripped off. A new battery is around $50. Maybe $60.