Feb
5
Crappy laptop batteries
Posted by Dirk Avery at 9:16 am under Internet.
So, you go to law school. You buy a fancy laptop. By the end of the first year, you can barely play a DVD movie. By the end of the second year, you’re lucky if it doesn’t die on standby overnight. Middle of the third year, it’s dead. At least, that’s how it happened for me. When I checked out replacement batteries for my Dell Inspiron 6000, I was shocked. Dell sells the exact battery I had for $140! $166 for the upgrade, 9-cell battery. I would not be forced to accept such exorbitant prices! Last month I took my useless battery out and just used the power cord. After accidentally kicking the cord out twice in the middle of unsaved work, though, I was about to cave. I searched online everywhere. The best price I found for the 6-cell battery was $80 (sans shipping). Still too much…
I happened on a discussion board that mentioned buying batteries on ebay. At first the idea sounded terrible: buy someone’s old, used, nearly worthless battery? But, financial pressure and inconvenience convinced me to at least look. After some searching I found a Hong Kong dealer who claimed to sell new, OEM batteries. The prices were amazing. $33 for the 9-cell plus $20 in shipping. Normally, I wouldn’t consider it (foreign country, Internet jitters) but I was desperate. I noticed too that the place had nearly 7,000 feedback, 99.6% positive. I took the plunge. On 1/10/08 I ordered paying by PayPal e-check. Payment cleared on 1/15 (delayed by an intervening weekend). On February 2nd, the battery arrived, complete with customs paid in full. The battery appeared new. It has worked better than my original Dell battery ever did. I am totally satisfied! $55, including shipping, versus Dell $166, excluding shipping. I love this Internet thing. I’ll keep you posted if anything comes up but so far it is working great. If your battery has gone bad, check it out! FULL DISCLOSURE: I get nothing out of this endorsement.
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