If you’ve ever shopped for a secondary or replacement battery for your laptop, you know they can cost a small fortune. And if your system is more than 18 months old, its battery is probably well-worn and in need of replacing. Should you buy a brand-name power pack, or opt for a less-expensive, but potentially risky, aftermarket alternative?
Computerworld’s Brian Nadel put on his reporter’s hat and went shopping for off-brand batteries (Cheap laptop batteries: Good deal or risky business?), which he then put to the test in various laptops. The results?
Without a doubt, aftermarket batteries are a good way to replace a dead battery without spending a lot of money. Despite costing $20 to $70 less, the aftermarket replacements proved to be just as good and reliable as the originals in my tests.
Sounds like good news to me. The article offers lots of interesting info on the subject of laptop batteries, so it’s definitely worth a read — especially if you manage a fleet of aging notebooks and need to start shopping for replacement batteries. Meanwhile, if you’ve ever purchased an aftermarket battery, hit the Comments and let us know how it went. Photo by Computerworld.
