A igamesnews reader has a 2009 MacBook Pro that’s in perfect condition except for its swollen lithium-ion battery. He wants to keep it on hand for limited uses after removing and safely disposing of the battery. Is there a downside to working without a battery?
Not really. As long as you’re always plugged in, a Mac laptop has no idea or interest in whether it’s drawing power from a battery or a wall outlet. Years ago, I used a second-hand iBook like this one (back when you could just remove a dead battery, since they were removable) so my kids would have a machine to work on when they were little.
Of course, the big problem is that any power outage means the Mac shuts down instantly. Hard drives used in older Mac laptops can suffer from instant power outages, but this is usually not a problem as long as the machine is not moved. Any work in progress that is not saved is lost.
Our reader, however, is well-informed on the subject and has already planned the ideal addition to a Mac laptop without a battery: an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). You don’t need a model with a large battery capacity, because you’re just trying to gain a moment or two to save and shut down in the event of a total power outage. In most cases, the UPS helps the Mac overcome small setbacks that would otherwise cause it to crash or reboot.
This Mac 911 article is a response to a question submitted by igamesnews reader Tom.
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