Im currently refurbishing my wife's old Dell D430 laptop so my daughter can use it for school. I have replaced her business copy of Vista with Linux Mint 11 and chopped out the old Broadcom wifi card with an Intel Pro one (Mint recognises it straight off the bat). However the battery (Dell GG386) is old and faulty. It currently gives only 45 minutes on a full charge. Subsequently I am looking to replace that as well. Has any body used any third party laptop batteries and can the be deemed as safe and reliable? Any help would be much appreciated.
My parents have replaced their Dell batteries with 3rd party ones several times over the years, and they tend to be hit and miss (though more hit than miss of late). Just make sure if you do buy one you check the returns policy/go via a reputable retailer so you know if it is duff you will get a refund. I've taken a look on amazon, but there aren't any batteries there with reviews. This may be worth a punt, as it is fulfilled by amazon?
Be sure that you have the proper drivers. My laptop with Windows 7 has 10 hours of battery life, but under Linux, only ave 3 hours and half (no power saving features worked). Lithium based battery like is reduces over time, whether you use it or not (it ages, due to oxidation that occurs over time... of course, not at the same rate). Also, heat accelerates this aging process. It is best to keep the battery cool. On average, a laptop battery last about a year and half to 2 years based on usage and care, after which the battery, while still works, provides insufficient power, based on a person usage (unless you got exactly what you need the first time in picking the battery size/laptop, then after the first 6 month or year it won't fit your needs at all). Also, keeping at full charge all the time or at too low level for long periods of time, also damages the battery in some way. The best thing you can do, is to look for genuine batteries. But be sure to call Dell, and negotiate a price for your battery first. Just to get an idea how much you can get the battery. Then look on the web. In my case, for my laptop (Dell Latitude), the battery was (a year ago), 130$ on Dell with free shipping, and on eBay genuine battery where 100$ (plus 15$ shipping). So for 15$ difference, I decided to take no chance and just get directly from Dell, and get a fresh battery, not one that was siting for month on a shelf, aging.
Cheers guys. Given the Amazon route a go for now as on the Dell site the batteries are still very expensive. I was unaware of the issue with Linux and battery life regards power saving and will have to try and deal with that as part of my next challenge.
