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Recycled Computing
Power Your Recycled Laptop with a Rebuilt Battery
- 2008.02.20
When you're reviving an old laptop, you face one issue that you don't when you rehab a desktop computer - power. Hence the need to have a least a power brick in order to use a laptop as a desktop. Of course, almost (but not quite) every different laptop has a different AC power transformer and a different fitting. You need to have the right one and should probably shy away from the purchase of an older laptop if one isn't included in the deal. I was fortunate in that my used Pismo had it's own yo-yo power supply, and I salvaged another from a dead clamshell iBook.
Batteries
Batteries - if you want to go mobile, you got to have 'em. Again, I was very lucky. My Pismo had two batteries - one still has about 3400 mAh out of the original 4400 mAh. The other was deader than a doornail. If I wanted to unleash the full potential of both of the Pismo's battery bays, I would have to buy another battery.
Or would I?
Charles Moore has an excellent column, Are Extended Life Laptop Replacement Batteries Worth The Extra Cost? over in MacOpinion, on after market batteries for your Pismo (and probably other iBooks and PowerBooks). I agree that if you're going to get a replacement battery, the more milliamps, the better. And I also agree that if you're going to buy a new battery, stay away from OEM. Even if the Apple battery still has the original shrink-wrap on it, it's been on a shelf for the last 7 years. You're better off with a newly manufactured battery.
In the past, I've had a lot of luck rehabbing batteries for the PowerBook 500 series and the PowerBook 5300. Jeremy Kezer's Battery Amnesia [see Low End Mac's review] is a great utility for truly discharging NiCad batteries on PowerBooks, and Apple's own Intelligent Battery and Battery Recondition are must haves. Be patient and keep at it, as a really dead 'un will require a number of attempts to be revived.
New Life for Dead Batteries
The Pismo, like almost all modern laptops, uses Li-Ion batteries, and once they are gone, they're gone. I tried just about everything (resetting Power Management, resetting PRAM, resetting NV-RAM) and was about to use the dead battery as a doorstop, when I ran across Battery Refill, a firm out in California. Battery Refill supports almost every Apple notebook since the PowerBook 500 series. This firm breaks open your old battery box, takes out the old cells, and replaces them with new, oftentimes more powerful cells. All for the reasonable price of $85 (plus $10 shipping).
Disclaimer
time. This is by no means an endorsement on my part, and I am not
responsible if your experience with Battery Refill isn't the same as
mine. (I'm sure the staff of Low End Mac feels the same way.)
Let me tell you about my experience, and you can make up your own mind.
I sent Battery Refill my dough, they sent me a prepaid mailer, and I mailed off my dead battery. Now it did take me a month to get the battery back, so if you have been drinking too much Jolt (or coffee) and just can't wait to get your battery back, this is not a good option for you. I had a working battery and the patience that comes from having three teenage children.
Battery Refill emailed me when they received the dead battery and emailed me again when they shipped it out. According to them, I would have to cycle it five times to get it up to snuff.
I've done that, and it works great. I now have two batteries for the Pismo and can trot around with it for most of an eight hour day without plugging it in to an AC outlet. Now that's wireless!
Eventually, my other battery is going to bite the dust, and when it
does I'll sent it off to Battery Refill and have it rebuilt. It's
cheaper, a tad bit more eco-friendly, and my original battery case
looks almost brand new.
Recent Recycled Computing Columns
- Macintosh Remote Control with Chicken of the VNC, 10.06. Sometimes you want to or need to control another Mac remotely. The free Chicken of the VNC program is a great tool for doing exactly that.
- Upgrading a Pismo PowerBook with a Slot-load Drive Salvaged from an iBook, 10.01. Starting with a spare DVD-ROM module and the SuperDrive from a G4 iBook, the author ended up with a SuperDrive in his Pismo PowerBook.
- Why the 20" iMac Is Perfect for Home or School, 09.29. The aluminum iMac has plenty of power and screen space, yet it's small enough and light enough to tote from place to place.
- Windows Woes: A Lesson from Boot Camp, 09.21. Getting Windows installed, running, and activated is more work than this Mac user bargained for. Learn from his mistakes.
- More in the Recycled Computing index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Power Mac 4400, Nov. 1996 - Apple does cheap to compete with clones - and nobody is impressed.
- Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
- November 7 in LEM history: 00: PowerBook Lite dreams - Our first Macs - 01: OS 9, OS X, or Linux? - 02: Xserve for the classroom - 03: Panther on slot-loading iMacs - High capacity Lombard/Pismo battery - 05: Clean keyboard residue from laptop screen with ROR - SeaMonkey - 06: Dan Bricklin, inventor of the spreadsheet - Turn any Mac into a gameshow buzzer - 07: The transforming PowerBook 1400 - PowerBook 540 on Compact Flash
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Quad-Core CPU Makes Sense in MacBook Pro, OS X 10.6 Causing Overheating, Overseas Power, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.06. Also Late 2009 MacBook reviewed, how to add RAM to new MacBook, 18.4in Acer notebook used Intel i7, and SanDisk SSD chosen for Sony VAIO X.
- Dumping Macs for Google Apps, SSD in iMac, Late 2009 iMac Performance Problems, and More, Mac News Review, 11.06. /newsrev/09mnr/1106.html
- WiFi Paranoia, iMac-O-Lantern, Magic Mouse Does Click, Free Clipboard Managers, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.05. Also strange time stamps, problem with ColorIt on Intel Mac, and the story behind OS X 10.5.4 install discs.
- IDE Is Dead; Long Live SATA!, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.04. SATA has displaced parallel ATA. While IDE hard drives haven't disappeared, the best deals are in SATA hard drives.
- QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 11.04. The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
- Best iPhone Deals, 11.03. New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
- Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
- Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
- Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
- Best G4 iBook Deals, 10.30. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498.
- Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
- More deals in our archive.
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