A new lease on life for our MacBook Air!

My Problem

The battery on my wife's MacBook Air (mid 2012) was dying quickly. It only provided about 30 minutes before shutting down the computer without any warning. A new battery was clearly needed.

My Fix

We ordered the spare battery (new) and the required P5 and T5 screwdrivers from iFixit. Replacing the battery was a matter of removing a few screws, unplugging a flat connector and swapping batteries before screwing everything in place again. The only challenge was that the screws were very tiny (we used double-sided tape to keep them secure on the workbench).

My Advice

Most of the exterior P5 (pentalobe) screws were very tightly fastened and the screwdriver easily slipped over the screw heads. To avoid damaging the screws, we had to be careful not to apply too much torque on the screwdriver, but rotating steadily, making sure the tip of the driver was securely in the screw head.