The lesson to be learned here is to only purchase replacement batteries from the company that manufactured the computer. Non-branded batteries are more likely to cut corners on safety features. It is true that generic batteries are much cheaper than genuine batteries and, in most cases, are safe and work as expected. However, when batteries fail, they can do so in a very dangerous manner.
The accessory market is fine, I use an aftermarket battery in my HP laptop. If you buy batteries that don't come directly from the manufacturer, never buy one that claims to be original. Instead, opt for brands such as Nohon or Greencell that advertise themselves as different from the original. I have never had any issues with them and I change the batteries daily.
I believe that OEMs make batteries for certain laptops at once, so they only last until they are sold. This type of battery would lie to the operating system about how much charge it actually has and the laptop would shut down completely with a battery life of around 60%. It turns out that many sites sell replacement batteries for the ThinkPad R50; the same battery works with ThinkPad T40 series laptops. So I was wondering if I should go for an aftermarket replacement? Could it provide a better product than the OEM? Are there any risks to the laptop itself? None of the manufacturers said that the aftermarket batteries were dangerous, but they highlighted that their batteries were designed and manufactured specifically for their equipment.
For every Dell laptop I have owned, I have changed the original battery after a year or two because it can no longer hold more than 30% of a charge. We spent another 6 months and the same thing happens again, except that I no longer have a warranty and, even if I did, replacing the batteries every 6 months doesn't make sense. Then there's the R50 replacement battery sold by Laptop Battery Express, which has a larger capacity but weighs 0.2 ounces.Two come from Laptops for Less, two from Laptop Battery Express and one battery from Apple Inc. I set out to find out if replacement batteries from the aftermarket are a good deal, safe and reliable, or a dangerous fraud.
I asked several major laptop manufacturers if they think aftermarket batteries are dangerous to use and if using them invalidates laptop warranties. Aside from a few minor aesthetic differences, for example, the plastic of an R50 replacement had a slightly different shade of black and wasn't as bright as the original. I couldn't tell them apart from the manufacturer's batteries.If aftermarket batteries aren't as good as OEM batteries, then I bought a defective laptop since the OEM battery lasts for 6 months. In fact, the MacBook Pro battery that Laptop Battery Express sent me was actually an Apple-branded battery with all its markings, including a serial number.
Leave Reply