My MacBook Pro’s trackpad hasn’t been clicking properly for a while. It requires considerable effort to push and doesn’t provide much tactile feedback. I didn’t really mind it too much since I just use taps and gestures. I thought it was just my Mac getting old.

But I eventually learned that it is a common issue with MacBooks. It turned out that the battery is swelling and impinges on the trackpad pushing it upward and preventing the full range of motion. Now it’s either an accident or a clever design feature of MacBooks, but when the trackpad act erratically, people would then go to the shop and have it serviced thus averting a possible battery disaster. Of course, that didn’t work in my case :P

One solution offered by people on the net (always taken with a grain of salt, or more) is pricking the battery cells to release the trapped gases that caused the swelling. Intentionally creating a mini ecological disaster in your workspace at best or obliterating it with a mini explosion. Uh huh. Not for me.

The best solution is replacing the battery. But I’m not about to blow away several thousands to replace the battery of a 4-year old laptop. So the next best thing is to find a cheaper non-OEM replacement part. I found one from PCPartPH. They deliver via courier but I wanted mine right away so I did a “meet up”. Transaction was quick and easy and as soon as I got back home, I installed the new battery.

So far so good though I noticed capacity is not per specification (3980mAh vs 5200mAh). I’ll observe for a few days and see how it goes.