I hope this isn't normal

My screen is flickering and the battery went dead without any warning. Tried that battery reset thing Apple has on its support site. No change. Battery still not recognized.

So I've only had this MacBook for about a year and its starting to give me trouble. Is this normal for the battery and screen to give trouble only a year after purchase? Also IF they replace my MacBook will I get the new revision or the old first gen MacBook like I have now. Also do the new MacBooks get as hot as the old ones do?

BTW: I bought this MacBook as a refurb from Apple was that a mistake?

As always thanks for reading and your replies are appreciated.

 

No it is not normal at all. Call Apple or go to an Apple Store to get a new battery/your MacBook replaced. Hopefully you're still within the one-year warranty time?

You will probably get a Core 2 MacBook if they replace your MacBook (but most likely they'll just give you a new battery); unless the Apple Store still has some Core Duos left. Refurbished Macs are usually of very high quality, I don't believe that your issue has to do with its status as a refurb at all.

One question though...does the screen flicker when you use battery power or does it also flicker when you use AC power? If it still flickers on AC power then there's something wrong with the screen as well. Talk to Apple about it.

 

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I'll try that thank you for the help.

 

That would sound like power regulation on the motherboard (assuming Macbooks have it on the motherboard). I do hope you're under warranty, and if you can still buy the extension that would probably be a good idea in case they putz around and find an ultimately temporary fix.

 

i have a hunch of what is going on.

system preferences, displays,

uncheck "automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes" if that option is available.

i don't know if the macbooks do that, but its a very annoying feature if the ambient light changes where you are

ie. outside, clouds rolling in and out.

 

Anyways, no, MacBooks doen't have that ambient light feature. I don't even know if it should be a feature, it just sounds really distracting to me .

 

i turn it off. its annoying. the concept is good that it will automatically adjust the brightness to keep everything reasonably readable while optimizing battery runtime. however, there are already 2 dedicated buttons for this, and i prefer consistent brightness rather than seemingly random brightness changes.

 

Same thing happened to me. Apple refused to give me a free battery or repair my MacBook. They told me to buy a new battery and that was 100% the problem. I buy the overpriced battery, and of cource, thats not the problem. Apple then wont accept the return and tells me sense my mac is 12 months, 11 days old, they wont replace it. =[

 

Well, I'm sorry to hear about it, but your Mac was out of the one-year warranty and I can't see how you expected Apple to give you a free battery. Although it would be nice .