MacBook Pro Battery Problems?

This is not a "new issue". Apple has already acknowledged that a few of the very first MBPs (only the first two weeks of MacBook Pros produced) are potentially affected by a faulty battery and they are shipping free replacements.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/05/03/mbp.ba...

It's interesting that when an Apple product has a little problem it makes headlines. Imagine if all of the Dell or HP or Acer or (fill in the blank) problems were to make headlines like this? They would dominate the news!

I am noticing more and more BS "news stories" trying to smear Apple - everything from chicken little anti-virus software companies posting "alerts" for Mac virus' that don't even exist to this kind of FUD reporting. I can smell big time fear in all of these disinformation reports. Microsoft must really be spreading the cash around to try to blunt it's real and imagined losses as more and more people realize how terrible the Windows OS they have been using all these years really is...

This happend to me. Check out my blog at http://counterflo.ws for pictures.

Gareth

My Macbook pro was apparently manufactured within the time frame cited in recent web site postings related to battery failure (the first couple of weeks). It does exactly what the articles suggest - shows 90% charge or so, then suddenly shuts down without warning. It will not power up again until the power supply is connected.

Apple wants to charge me $50 to tell me it's a hardware problem over the phone even though I am only half way through the warranty period. There's a philosophical disconnect when a company provides a warranty, but won't honor it unless you fork over extra $$. I don't live in a city with an Apple store, so it will cost me the better part of a day and $50 in gas to get there. Apple support is better at stating caveates and trying to sell their support than solving a simple problem that I am virtually certain I already understand (gee, could be software, this might be hard...).

It's love / hate. I love the product (except for the battery) and hate dealing with Apple.

I've read that Apple is shipping replacement batteries for the early Macbook pros, but I can't find any way to confirm it. If anyone can help, please post the specifics.

Hopefully, this is the final word for my situation.

I called Apple support again and found them more helpful. They directed me to the battery exchange website (which was down at the time). The next day, the battery exchange program web site accepted the serial numbers of my battery and Macbook Pro.

I was initially confused by the description of eligible batteries and Macbooks on the site as it exclusively says "15 inch". I assumed the 17 inch variety like mine might be excluded, but not the case! In fact, when I removed the battery I found that it is labeled "15 inch" even though it's in a 17 inch system.

Assuming they ship the battery in a timely fashion, all will be right with my laptop.