MacOSG: Changing a MacBook Air’s battery (video)
Posted by Dave Merten 
Jan 28, 2008 at 8:34am
Thinking about getting a MacBook Air, but you’re on the fence about not being able to switch batteries when you need to get a task completed, and you run out of power? This seems to be a deal-breaker for some people. Well, come to find out, the battery’s not that hard to change, and can be done in just a few minutes.
To change the battery, you need to remove ten #00 Phillips screws from the bottom casing. If you don’t have a small #00 Phillips screwdriver, you can pick an inexpensive one up at a local hardware store. There are three different screw lengths, so remembering where each screw belongs is crucial. You may want to put them in small paper cups or plastic sandwich bags.
Once you have the screws out, just lift up the back off the casing. There are no tricky tabs to unhook like on a MacBook Pro. There are some very small metal tabs at the front of the casing, but they are easily undone by simply raising the back first and pulling up.
Once the casing is off, there are nine #00 Phillips screws holding the battery in. Once the battery screws are out, simply disconnected the battery cable. Once you’re inside, the bottom casing also has a convenient two image reassembling set of instructions.
MacBook Air Disassembly Video
Video provided by Gizmodo
So as you can see, you can change batteries quite easy on a MacBook Air, and could even carry a spare with you for an emergency when traveling. You may not want to try and switch batteries on a plane, but it could be easily done in a hotel room.
Oh, and one more thing, don’t forget to pack the #00 Phillips screwdriver!
NOTE: It’s unsure yet if changing the battery yourself will void any warranty. We will have to wait and find out when the MacBook Air ships.
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Dave Merten Says:
Thanks for pointing this out Jonesy. Let me explain what happened. We load our articles in ExpressionEngine’s control panel. I inadvertently had two windows open--one edited, and one not. I came back to change the article’s picture, and mistakenly inserted the graphic in the unedited window, and uploaded it. Once the article was live, I never went back to proofread it. Getting that fixed. ;-)
As far as changing the battery goes, the article is meant to point out that the battery is not that hard to change as some critics may imply. It’s not like trying to get inside an iPhone and having to unsolder the battery to change it. I believe, if Apple didn’t want users to change batteries, they would have designed the computer harder to get into, and also soldered the battery in.
Also, after watching the video, I could see changing that battery easily in under 10 minutes--even with 19 screws.
Posted on January 26, 2008
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Dave Merten
Dave was one of the founding guides at ‘The Mining Company,’ now known as About.com, in February 1998. Dave was their ‘Focus on Mac Support’ guide. In 2004 he started ‘G5 Owners Support Group,’ and in 2005, renamed it ‘Mac Owners Support Group.’ In 2006, he started the ‘MacOSG Support Corner’ column here at Macsimum News.
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jonesy Says:
While I often find the info on Macsimum news is just a regurgitation of news from other sites, you do often provide a good synopsis of the stories going on in the Mac world. But you lose a lot of credibility with me when you don’t take the time to proofread the articles you post!
“Well come to find out...”
“Once you have screw out...”
“Once you’re the inside...”
“...you can change batteries quite easy on a MacBook Air...”
But to stick to the content of the article rather than its plentiful grammatical errors, do you really think removing 19 screws and remembering where each one of them belongs makes changing the battery in a MacBook Air easy? You must be joking.
Posted on January 26, 2008