[memco]

I have a disassembled laptop in my garage after a failed attempt to replace the battery on my 8 year old MacBook. Apple no longer offers repairs nor is there anyone else in the area I could find to do it. I replaced my wife’s (10 year old) battery a few months prior to attempting mine: hers required a few screws and was done in about 5 minutes. Mine required disassembling the whole computer dissolving the adhesive on the old battery and replacing then reassembling. If you’re going to plan on having apple fix your battery do it 5 or 6 years from now regardless of the condition and then pray you have some repair option when Apple stops providing support.

[dillutedfixer]

Good advice, thanks. I've replaced the battery on my wifes 2013 MBA and it was incredibly easy.

My MBP is maxed out and was quite an investment so I want to keep it around for as long as possible. I'll probably just be safe and have Apple replace the battery around 5 years assuming it stays usable for that long.