[ale] [OT] Laptop Battery Worth It?

[Raylynn Knight]

Bought my MacBook used 2 years ago.  It's still going strong and the only reason I upgraded from the PowerBook was the declining support from both Apple and the major Linux distros for the PowerPC chipset.  

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 11, 2011, at 2:46 PM, Rich Faulkner <rfaulkner at 34thprs.org> wrote:

> +1 on this.  
> 
> My Acer is at least 5-years old and still clocking along just fine (save
> the battery).  I'll milk it for all it's worth and them some.  But
> that's just me.
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, 2011-07-11 at 14:13 -0400, The Don Lachlan wrote:
>> On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 01:31:19PM -0400, Greg Clifton wrote:
>>> I am TOTALLY in Kinney's (spelled it right this time ;-) camp on this issue.
>>> Esp. if you are having display issues (could be your CCFT tubes failing or
>>> more likely the inverter). If you spend $ on a battery and then the display
>>> goes and you spend $ on that and then the motherboard goes and you can't get
>>> parts. My mantra "Better, Faster, Cheaper each Iteration" especially applies
>>> to notebooks/laptops. You can get some really decent machines for $400$800
>>> now.
>>> Shop Newegg, Tiger Direct, gotapex.com and dealnews.com for the best deals,
>>> but not necessarily in that order.
>> 
>> So $400-800 every three years? Not for me. I've lived quite happily running
>> on older machines. I'm typing this now on a PIII/650. Archaic? Absurd? It
>> fits the need (though it isn't my main system).
>> 
>> If the laptop works for his needs and $150 buys another year, even your
>> numbers support replacing the battery.
>> 
>> I'm hesitant to buy generic/off-brand components and unless I found strong
>> reviews of the 3rd party battery, I'd personally go with the branded
>> battery. It's more expensive but far less so than replacing the entire
>> laptop.
>> 
>> -L
>> 
>>> On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 11:47 AM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> With few exceptions, laptops are not engineered for use beyond about 3
>>>> years. A student will use/depend on that laptop so I would get a new laptop
>>>> and not replace the battery.
>>>> On Jul 11, 2011 11:25 AM, "David Tomaschik" <david at systemoverlord.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> I have a 4 year old System 76 laptop (Core 2 Duo, 15.4" screen, etc.).
>>>>> The battery life on the original battery is now < 45 minutes, which
>>>>> makes it fairly useless away from an outlet. I'm going to be
>>>>> returning to school for a M.S. this fall, and would like something
>>>>> that works in class.
>>>>> 
>>>>> A new battery would be ~$150 shipped from System 76. 3rd party
>>>>> suppliers from eBay can be had for about $75. The laptop is in mostly
>>>>> good condition, though the screen occasionally flickers, but closing
>>>>> and reopening the screen has fixed it thus far. (I've tried reseating
>>>>> the video ribbon cable, but the problem persists.)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Does it seem reasonable to spend $75-$150 on this laptop, or is it
>>>>> throwing money away? Does anyone have experience with 3rd party
>>>>> battery suppliers on eBay they'd like to share?
>>>>> 
>>>>> --
>>>>> David Tomaschik, RHCE, LPIC-1
>>>>> System Administrator/Open Source Advocate
>>>>> OpenPGP: 0x5DEA789B
>>>>> http://systemoverlord.com
>>>>> david at systemoverlord.com
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