Hacker News Reader

I have and use a 2006 MacBook Pro 17" which Apple treats in a bizarre way. Latest version of Mac OS X works on it fine as do things like Photos (which sucks but that's another story) and iTunes.

But they don't support the hardware. It is considered (their word): obsolete. The battery died long ago (Apple actually replaced it once years ago when it swelled up) and needs replacing (the replacement battery also swelled up) and they won't replace it.

View on HN

I also have a MacBook Pro 17" with a swollen battery (a bit newer though: early 2009)

Did you try having the battery fixed by a 3rd party? I remember a few years ago I mailed a broken Powerbook battery to some guy who replaced the cells. I think it was a a NiMH battery, but maybe it works with lithium-ion batteries as well?

I have a 2008 MBP 17" that's also gone through two swollen batteries. Most of the time now I use my work-provided Lenovo, but every now and then I need a big screen and Adobe Creative Suite (with a still-kicking Wacom Graphire2 tablet, circa 2003), so out comes the Macbook.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com