Review on Enhanced CPU Cooling Fan Assembly for Apple MacBook Pro 15" A1286 (2008-2012) by Justin Bradford

One of the fans on my early 2011 MPB started making an intermittent high frequency whine/hum. The noise was more frequent and lasted longer, so I decided to clean the fans and vents. It didn't affect the noise, so I decided to buy these fans as replacements to squeeze a little more life out of this aging machine. Installation was pretty easy. You can find videos online, but to do this you just need to remove the screws (very small Phillips head) and the cover on the bottom of the laptop, disconnect two cables from the battery (not required but recommended for the security of your device), remove three screws ( T6) from each fan and disconnecting the fan cables (they detach vertically [up and away] from the motherboard, not horizontally as it seems at first glance). The fans can then be easily removed and replaced in reverse order. The whole thing took me no longer than 10 minutes. While you're there, clear out the clumps of dust. The fans themselves appear to be identical to the original fans in terms of finish and quality and fit with no issues. I've used them for a few days with normal heavy use and they spin up and down as expected as observed on iStat. The computer even runs a little colder than before. Can't speak of a long term fan build but in the short term they seem like an ideal buy, especially considering the low price.