[jdnenej]

You can replace the battery on older macbooks fairly easily. Unfortunately now they glue them down so hard it's easier to just throw out the laptop.

[systemtest]

It's $199 for a battery replacement. Not cheap but given that you pay for a 95wh battery, a new keyboard, a new trackpad, a new topcase and warranty that's a pretty good deal. Your MacBook Pro will be as good as new.

[mtsr]

The price for the replacement is also higher if your battery isn’t actually in need of replacement. Basically apple subsidizes (compared to their higher pricing anyway) the other parts when replacing the laptop body to get the battery replaced.