It's good to see that the battery isn't glued to the top case. I'm not sure if the airs have ever had it glued, but the pros sure did.
It was always a bummer to tell people that a bad battery meant replacing the entire upper case.
It was always a bummer to tell people that a bad battery meant replacing the entire upper case.
Usually when companies glue parts together inside electronics they use rubber cement, which can usually be peeled off without damaging the component or the housing. It's an inconvenience, not a roadblock to repair.
I can see why they wouldn't want the techs doing that in the store, one of the failure modes if you screw it up is a lithium fire. Also, if the battery had started to swell up it may have bent the case. Apple doesn't leave much room for expansion with their batteries anymore.
Got the $80 battery from ifixit and replaced the battery relatively easily. It did have me pour generous amounts for aceton (nail polish remover) into my MacBook to unglue the battery though, was happy that everything still worked after.