Jaime Hovey

Battery arrived quickly and the repair was straightforward and fast. One screwdriver worked for all screws. MBA 2012 working great!

I replaced the battery by only unscrewing the lower case assembly back cover and detaching the battery cable. I did not disassemble anything else. I then unscrewed all four speaker cover screws—two on each side— and propped up the speaker cover plastic “wings” using two iFixit cards wedged between them and the bottom case, to bend them up off the case slightly. Open the computer and turn it around so the clamshell is face down. Carefully squeeze solvent at the top and sides of each battery section and slowly work the plastic card, then plastic spudger, underneath each. Be especially careful not to get any solvent on the trackpad cable at the top of the battery, which snakes underneath the metal trackpad plate. Also be careful not to bend the trackpad plate when you unstick the two big middle battery sections—the battery is glued to it, and using too much force will bend it. If you are patient and gentle, you can unstick the battery without taking anything else apart.

I agree with everyone that you don’t need to go through the entire process. Do Steps 1-5, then 46-50. WARNING: use as little force as possible when removing the battery, as you most certainly will rip or disconnect something else if you are not careful. Take special care with the keyboard/trackpad ribbon. When I did this repair I somehow ruined the keyboard/trackpad ribbon, and neither worked until I put another ribbon in—which is very easy. They cost pennies to replace, so you might even want to have some on hand. Everything works perfectly now!

This was a great repair--very easy to follow! You helped me resurrect my old MacBook pro, which I closed up when the fans died. Now each fan is running smoothly. Thank you! I was so excited after doing this repair I couldn't sleep. :)

This was a great repair--very easy to follow! You helped me resurrect my old MacBook pro, which I closed up when the fans died. Thank you!

Thanks Jeff! I'm afraid this repair is a wash. Trackpad won't even click. I will ask around.

Battery seems to be working fine but trackpad and keyboard no longer work. They were working fine before I changed the battery. I checked the trackkpad cable but that seems fine and inserted properly. Reset SMC but still not working.