Longer Lasting

The new Mac is tempting.

An overarching environmental ethic should be not to throw away anything that can be employed usefully. Not only does following this principle preserve the landfill, it delays or even eliminates the pollution behind making a new item.

And so it was that I opted to replace the battery of the 7-year-old MacBook Air instead of buying one of the fancy new MacBooks.

These laptops balance high performance, portability and power savings in ways we just haven’t known in previous Macs and Windows machines.

The downside of the new Macs: they start at $1,999, but the one I wanted had added memory and an upgraded processor and would set me back $3,000.

The new battery arrived in two days. It was a $50 item which was shipped to Amazon's warehouse long before "supply chain problem" became a term in the popular consciousness.

I opened up the back using torque screwdrivers that came with the battery and put in the new unit.

Obeying the startup instructions to operate the computer until the battery drained completely, then charging it to 100%, I hope to get another three years out of the replacement.

A new Mac would have given me a thrill, but not having to spend $3,000 imparts a longer-lasting satisfaction.