Customer Reviews

Apple PowerBook 17" G4 Aluminum Extended Life Battery with TruePower Technology

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

As a replacement battery for an older Powerbook, this battery exceeds all of my expectations.

I was inclined to write a review within 2 days of getting the battery, but I wanted to give it a few weeks of use before I posted a review. While I'm not sure about the "extended life" feature, my 5 year old original Apple battery was down to about 15 minutes of runtime so it's hard for me to recall how things were 5 years ago. This replacement battery has my Powerbook in the 3+ hour battery range now - pretty darned good for a 17" G4. The battery is physically identical to the factory battery - the power meter is the same, the dimensions and indentions are the same and the color/finish is quite similar. Included in the adequate packaging were break-in instructions which I closely followed for the first few charges to ensure the battery was properly conditioned.

In the end this is a 5 star product in my opinion. It's comparable to, if not better than, the Apple-branded battery in functionality at a lower price. It's put the juice back into my ancient Apple!

I bought this last summer and it finally stopped holding a charge last week. It was easy to install (I mean, I just popped it in like the last one.) It ran ok for what I needed while it lasted (and survived a couple of blackouts and such). Usually, I would run it off it's battery for only up to an hour or so at a time. No problems there. But I really hoped it would last for at least a year or longer. Little bothered that it didn't last that long. The stock battery lasted from 2003 till last summer so I was expecting a little more than the seven months I had it. I could warranty it I suppose, but with my schedule, it's easier for me to just find another battery.

For the kind of work I do on the road, the extended life in the truepower battery really helped me out. I went through a few Apple batteries, but the truepower battery outlasted all three of them! In fact, the 10 percent higher capacity is really noticeable especially when comparing to the OEM batteries. I use one on my PowerBook and I also use a truepower battery on my iBook too! I even got my mom hooked up on one of these bad boys. totally 5 stars.

The battery is indistinguishable from the OEM battery it replaces. My old battery was close to 400 charge cycles and would last me maybe 20 minutes on a full charge. The new battery, after a couple of full discharge/full charge conditioning cycles typically gets me a little less than 2 hours to the low charge warning. If one is willing to reduce screen brightness and switch the processor to its energy saving mode, I know the battery would last longer. However, running the processor on energy saving mode also reduces performance, and I noticed that YouTube videos were jerky in this mode. So, in a real world situation, don't expect hours and hours of use out of a charge. I'm only slightly disappointed, as I'm fairly certain that my real world experience with this battery is not far off from most other battery choices out there for the 17" Aluminum Powerbook. That's alot of real estate to light up!

Super-Capacity Li-ion Battery For Apple M8983 A1057 PowerBook G4 17 M9462 Series series replace 661-2822 661-2948 A1039 M8983/A1057 M9326 M8983G/A M9326 M9326G/A MC-G4/17 series Ac Laptop Notebook Main Battery [ 5400mAh 9Cells] "I've had my PowerBook G4 now for over 8 years. It has been my companion through thick and thin. I've installed 1 upgraded hard drive and now need to double that. I love it. It contains most all my music, photos, correspondence, taxes, financial records, book keeping for several groups I've been associated with as well as a few good shows. I just wouldn't be who I am without it. This is the real deal. It is nearing time for me to upgrade to the next version to take advantage of faster processor and upgraded software. I just love it! I would suggest it to anyone and I would buy it all over again if given half a chance. The battery is alright to OK. I had hoped it would last longer but my older machine is a bit of a power hog by today's energy sipping standards.

I purchased this battery in July 2010. It worked well when I first received it. However, it's performance has steadily declined until it is now completely dead in February 2011. Spend a little extra and get a quality product. Do not purchase this battery.

FASTMAC has a horrible product and even worse yet customer service and technical support. I had placed an order for a FASTMAC battery and then waited 6 months to actually receive the battery. I have NO idea why I was so patient - perhaps hoping this was better than an actual mac battery. I emailed CS several times and was given the run around - that the battery was "on the way" and one day they claimed it was taking so long because they were moving the assembly of this battery back to the US. They claimed the battery was better because it was made in the "USA." Which I had no problem with because I THOUGHT this would be a descent battery....

Instead - 4 months later the battery stopped charging. I emailed technical support who gave me a list of things to try and when I did what they had suggested there was no success. Unfortunately I became so used to using my laptop with the charger connected I waited till exactly 20 days after the 1 year warrantey had expired. Then I had Darlene, "the all knowing" at Fast mac offer me 25 % off a new battery and a lecture about how its my fault for waiting and that there was nothing she could do. What a joke!!! I never post reviews but this has been a terrible experience. What a HORRIBLE company and HORRIBLE battery. PLEASE AVOID THIS BATTERY!! I'm going for the standard Mac battery......

In short....avoid this battery at all costs!

I bought this battery directly from Fastmac over nearly four months ago.

The first battery would not hold a charge and took forever to recharge. I returned it to Fastmac. They sent me another. Same problem. I returned it, and the sent a third battery. Same problem.

I did every bit of troubleshooting I could, even going so far as to take my laptop into Apple. There were no problems with my Macbook Pro 17", and now a new Apple brand battery is now working fine.

Fastmac could not identify the problem, and insinuated that I was actually trying to cheat them for some reason (huh!?). After weeks of back-and-forth, they finally issued a refund -- minus a 20% restocking fee.

Buyer beware. I am not the type who ever posts reviews, but my experience with this product was frustrating to say the least. I recommend you avoid Fastmac.

This product worked for less than two weeks and then quit. I emailed for advice no response.... I sent it back on June 26, 2010 for a refund... I received, no confirmation that it was received... will not buy another product this way again...

Works fantastic. Follow the direx supplied to the letter & you'll have no trouble..not to mention 2 hours of battery life again. Welcome back 17" Powerbook!