I need to replace a battery for my Macbook Air 13" mid-2011. There is no Apple's own repair service where I live, and I'm fairly savvy with electronics to do my own repairs.
How can I identify batteries for sale that are either genuine Apple parts or determine if alternative replacement batteries they are at least equal, but preferably better than, the original MacBook Air battery I have.
By "equal or better" I mean that it lasts at least as many cycles. I.e. after equal number of charges, it keeps Macbook running roughly as long as the genuine battery on a single charge, given the equal load.
Best Answer
(this answer was written for the previous edition of the question)
I didn't find any "most robust and lasting" choice yet, but I contacted iFixit re their replacement battery, and this is what I found out.
They claim that they sell the battery:
However:
the sales rep couldn't provide any tests proving the "with better life" statement, nor even confirm that such tests were ever performed: "Unfortunately I do not have any tests to show [better life / better time between charges] as we have found those to not be needed"
could not confirm that any part of these statements are true:
The above data doesn't exclude what I experienced with low-quality third-party batteries for non-Apple products: initially they start with unprecedented time on a single charge, but after few months time on a charge deteriorates to less than an hour.
But let's see what answers a question on performance of iFixit batteries will bring.