MacBook Air with expanded battery

Opening and repairing the machine

Sep. 14, 2017 - Willem L. Middelkoop

Last night I had a nasty surprise: my original MacBook Air was swollen due to an exploded battery. I immediately had to take action, for reasons of safety and to preserve this piece of modern computer history. Don’t try this at home, but if you do... read along for some practical tips.

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Steve Jobs unveiling the MacBook Air in 2008 from a vanilla envelope

The damage to the battery pack is clearly visible

The original MacBook Air: Groundbreaking due to its thinness and lack of ports

I disconnected the battery from the logic board using a plastic tool (that does not conduct electricity).

MacOS X correctly concluded that there are no batteries available, it works fine using a Power Adapter.

This laptop is not supposed to have a bobble...

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