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Thread: Laptop battery

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    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    MonkGuy

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    Default Laptop battery

    I have a Dell XPS 17 (L702X). It was near-top of the range when I got it but now its positively ancient (8 years old next month). Despite that, it still seems to do pretty much everything I need, and I don't want to replace it just yet. But about a week ago, I started getting battery error warnings, and the battery now drains much faster than it used to.

    The Dell US website offers a replacement (but with a smaller capacity) for $135.99 (the UK website doesn't seem to have any batteries for this model).

    I've also found a variety of third-party batteries for sale on Amazon etc, all cheaper and larger capacity than the one from Dell (but still smaller than the original). E.g.

    £15.99 ARyee
    £24.99 Bay Valley Parts
    £49.99 Duracell
    Plus some other more expensive ones that I didn't save the links to.

    Never having bought a laptop battery before, what should I look out for? Any brands to prefer or avoid? What sort of price is too cheap to be trustworthy or too expensive to be worth it?
    Last edited by Wardog; 2019-09-09 at 03:03 PM.

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    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    NecromancerGuy

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    Default Re: Laptop battery

    I've bought numerous replacement laptop batteries over the years. And though I often prefer Dell laptops, I never buy their replacement batteries. 3rd party is just fine (and who knows, they might just make the OEM battery themselves).

    So, as you will have noticed, battery technology has improved in 8 years. What you want to look for pretty simple;
    - make sure it looks the same, or you know why (extra batteries for "extended" use) it doesn't.
    - make sure they say it's compatible with your laptop model
    - Then all you really care about is the mAh rating. That tells you how much charge it holds. All 3 of the ones you linked list 7800mAh. As long as that is equal to or more than your current battery, find the one with decent reviews that is cheapest (i.e. no reason to buy Duracell!)

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    Colossus in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

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    Default Re: Laptop battery

    I'm going to disagree about the third party batteries there. In my experience, they rarely have the listed capacity. They'll probably be better than what you have, don't get me wrong, but you won't be back to the battery life you had when the laptop was new.

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    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    NecromancerGuy

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    Default Re: Laptop battery

    Quote Originally Posted by factotum View Post
    I'm going to disagree about the third party batteries there. In my experience, they rarely have the listed capacity. They'll probably be better than what you have, don't get me wrong, but you won't be back to the battery life you had when the laptop was new.
    Maybe, but I've never been disappointed and I've certainly never actually tested one. But, I also wouldn't expect a battery to last as long on and 'established' computer that has a hundred running background applications as a 'clean' new one :)

    But also consider, at a 1/3 the cost, do you care if you only get 95% of the listed mAh?
    Last edited by LordEntrails; 2019-09-10 at 07:16 PM.

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    Colossus in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

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    Default Re: Laptop battery

    Quote Originally Posted by LordEntrails View Post
    But also consider, at a 1/3 the cost, do you care if you only get 95% of the listed mAh?
    If it was 95% I wouldn't care, but "50% if you're very lucky" is far more likely.

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    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Erloas's Avatar

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    Default Re: Laptop battery

    The short answer is a battery is a battery and Dell (or anyone else) doesn't have any secret technology in theirs.
    That said, bad products are really easy to pass off with no real way to check before. It is very possible 3rd party batteries are coming off the same assembly line as the Dell batteries but no way of knowing which ones those are.
    I don't know battery manufacturers to know which are good and bad but I'm sure there are legitimate reviews around, you might have to check other websites though and not rely on Amazon reviews. (or any other retailers' general user reviews)
    Even then I would look more at the brand than one specific battery, because any given battery isn't going to have that many sales. Especially with most reviews either being the best thing ever or the most horrible thing ever.

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    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    NecromancerGuy

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    Default Re: Laptop battery

    Quote Originally Posted by factotum View Post
    If it was 95% I wouldn't care, but "50% if you're very lucky" is far more likely.
    I will say that since I used to running a CBT training center and regularly had to buy replacement batteries, 50% is not my experience with the 40-50 replacement batteries I've bought over the last two decade. I'm sure it's possible, but as Erloas points out, if you do a little bit of research and find a decent company, you shouldn't have any problems. And as I said originally, don't just buy the cheapest, buy the cheapest that has decent reviews.
    Last edited by LordEntrails; 2019-09-13 at 01:05 PM.

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    Pixie in the Playground
     
    Beholder

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    Default Re: Laptop battery

    Quote Originally Posted by LordEntrails View Post
    I will say that since I used to running a CBT training center and regularly had to buy replacement batteries, 50% is not my experience with the 40-50 replacement batteries I've bought over the last two decade. I'm sure it's possible, but as Erloas points out, if you do a little bit of research and find a decent company, you shouldn't have any problems. And as I said originally, don't just buy the cheapest, buy the cheapest that has decent reviews.
    Fully agree

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