Bought a refurb'd Dell laptop from Dell Financial

[mrsilv04]

Looks like the battery in the laptop is marginal... not a huge surprise.

I sent Dell Financial Services an email, and they responded in 6 (six) minutes. Wow. Gotta give them some credit there.

They warranty a battery to provide 1.5 hours of use. I'm under that.

They don't have any batteries on hand to send me as a replacement. However, they've offered a $50 credit to me, for me to purchase my own replacement battery.

So.... the question. Who has had any luck with aftermarket laptop batteries, and where did you get it?

Although Dell stated that they cannot recommend them, they provided this:
http://www.discountelectronics.com/product?product_id=16387&product_model=262

 

[Hermann]

If you have a Micro Center around your area, they have a store brand of laptop batteries. Was there today to do a return, and saw hundreds of them. Sorry, didn't notice the price.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04

So.... the question. Who has had any luck with aftermarket laptop batteries, and where did you get it?





I bought an extra capacity TechOrbitz battery for my Dell Latitude e5500 through Amazon a little over a month ago. It sticks 3/4 of an inch out the back of the laptop, which I was aware of, and which is not a factor for me.

It was recognized and charges just as the original battery. It was under 40$ delivered.

I've cycled it a couple dozen times so far, usually get about 3.5 hours out of it.

 

[Vikas]

So, effectively you got a laptop with a marginal battery for $125! Man, I am jealous!!

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
So, effectively you got a laptop with a marginal battery for $125! Man, I am jealous!!


...with a licensed copy of Win 7 Business, and the reinstall DVD.

 

[mrsilv04]

Of course, Dell doesn't want to give me a new battery... their batteries retail at $109 each.

They want me to get something aftermarket... for less than 1/2 the price.

 

[sleddriver]

Wow...that's a sweat deal. I'll have to look into that. Last year a neighbor gave me two Dell B130 Inspirons his girls had so clogged with junk. I wiped the HD and reinstalled XP and they're much better, but they have the old Intel onboard graphics. Still much faster than the old Dell LT I've been using for astronomy all these years.

IMHO, what you did is the smart way to buy!

 

[mrsilv04]

For kicks and giggles, I'm running the battery through a couple of full charge/discharge cycles.

I charge it all the way to 100%, unplug it, run it to less than 20%, log out and plug back in, and then don't unplug until it is back to 100%... and repeat.

It seems to be helping.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: sxg6
Good deal for the price. Do you know what resolution the screen is?


Two were available:

According to the build sheet on mine, it has a 1440x900 WXGA+ LED display, and it is fantastic.

There is also a cheaper 1280x800 display that was available on this model.

 

[bmwjohn]

I look on the financial services website and prices somewhat higher than $175, even with that one day deal on Got Apex. Did you go auction or e-bay? $125 - 175 is my go point as I don't need a laptop and my 2008/9 purchase of a mainstream lenovo for $1k was a big failure and died long ago - screen/power supply/HD?/other problems several years ago.Thanks.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: bmwjohn
I look on the financial services website and prices somewhat higher than $175, even with that one day deal on Got Apex. Did you go auction or e-bay? $125 - 175 is my go point as I don't need a laptop and my 2008/9 purchase of a mainstream lenovo for $1k was a big failure and died long ago - screen/power supply/HD?/other problems several years ago.Thanks.


I went through eBay, and just got lucky at that price.

Some on eBay are rated as "A" quality, and some are rated as "B" quality. The site states that, of course, the "B" units show more wear. Mine was an "A".

Some have Win 7 Business, most have Vista Business, and a few I've seen actually have XP Business. It all depends on whatever the Microsoft license sticker shows underneath the battery. Whatever was originally installed by Dell is what they re-install. A reinstall DVD is provided.

You also have to be careful and watch the optical drives as well... some have CD-RW, some have DVD-ROM, and some have DVD-RW. Mine has a DVD-RW.

I went through and looked at the specs on all of them, and saved to my wish list the ones that interested me. And then you have to watch them, all the way to the final seconds. The one I ended up with was not one of the ones that I *really* wanted, but when the clock ran out, I was at $175, and I was on top.

For that price, I'd learn to like it. And I have.

Dell also has the last generation of laptops on there as well, such as the D630 models. However, those are really getting some age on them. They're cheaper, but older.

There's also a Dell website, where you can re-install the factory imaged software. It allows you to pick and choose. It is free, and allows you to reinstall such programs as the DVD viewing and DVD burning software.

 

[mrsilv04]

This one specs out really close to mine. Smaller hard drive.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Latitude-E6...=item4850e265bd

 

[mrsilv04]

And *BLAM*... the trail for my new laptop battery goes cold at a USPS Sorting facility about 150 miles from my home, over two days ago.

It is no wonder that the USPS is in trouble...

The shipping label fell off.... yeah, that's it.