I had an A1398 2014 MacBook Pro 15" until a few weeks ago. I also experienced the battery expanding (it was last changed in 2018 just as the AppleCare warranty expired).
The replacement battery killed the GPU.
The screen turned blank when waking from sleep. It survived another week, but after that, would crash whenever switching to NVIDIA graphics.
I can't just replace the battery now - I need to change the logic board ($500). Repairs for the 820-3787 are possible through Louis Rossmann, Paul Daniels, etc - but cost a similar amount to a replacement board.
Original batteries cannot be bought from Apple - the laptop is obsolete. I don't know which batteries to trust.
Non-Apple devices lack MagSafe, Thunderbolt, iSync USB, and Time Machine. Newer Apple devices lack most of these too, and can't even upgrade the SSD. The latest M1 MacBooks can't even dual-boot, or use Target Disk Mode for recovery. In the end, I'm probably just going to have to learn how to use OpenBoardView, buy a better soldering iron and microscope, and go for the real full-stack, hardware as well as software.
The replacement battery killed the GPU.
The screen turned blank when waking from sleep. It survived another week, but after that, would crash whenever switching to NVIDIA graphics.
I can't just replace the battery now - I need to change the logic board ($500). Repairs for the 820-3787 are possible through Louis Rossmann, Paul Daniels, etc - but cost a similar amount to a replacement board.
Original batteries cannot be bought from Apple - the laptop is obsolete. I don't know which batteries to trust.
Non-Apple devices lack MagSafe, Thunderbolt, iSync USB, and Time Machine. Newer Apple devices lack most of these too, and can't even upgrade the SSD. The latest M1 MacBooks can't even dual-boot, or use Target Disk Mode for recovery. In the end, I'm probably just going to have to learn how to use OpenBoardView, buy a better soldering iron and microscope, and go for the real full-stack, hardware as well as software.