Laptop batteries from Ebay?! What's the consensus?

Not all batteries are made equal and even the Lenovo official ones crap on you.

If you want no fuss, buy official since the warranty will cover your ass. But of course you'll still be inconvinienced by the process.

eBay is always hit or miss on batteries since you have no way of knowing who manufactured it but if you get lucky you'll find a knockoff that's made by same factory or parts as Lenovo's. My general rule is if it tries to look like the original it's shit

Or just buy used 75% capacity. Those thing will last for a year or too in moderate usage.

But what about older laptops. You either grab a chink one or recell what you have...

Expect slightly below average. They'll last ~1.5 years rather than 2+.

They don't explode soon enough to if that's what you have in mind. I got generic replacements from China and they worked out well so far after 3 years. I just wish it burst into flame so I can retire the junk of heap, but it doesn't.

I still have my t60 chink battery from eBay. It's still holding 50% something juice after 3 years although I only use it when I code and it's been awhile.

Recelling might be better but I can't be bothered.

My original t61 one from '08 died out, so I was forced to replace it senpai. I hope it wont hit the fan after 20 cycles. 1 month delivery time ;_;

Housefire.

Die

fine if the capacity is reasonable like within 10% of original one

If it's like 3-5x the capacity of the OEM one in the same size then no don't buy it

All 5 of my ThinkPads have chink cells and I haven't noticed an issue with any of them

The specs are the same within 50 mAh of the factory.

I just received a fake t420 battery. Has a real looking label but arrived in a generic box with a generic user manual. Doesn't work at all. Luckily the chinaman refunded me right away so I'm not even gonna send it back.

I got a knockoff macbook battery a few years back and it almost exploded. My laptop started lifting off the table as the battery puffed out and crackled and snapped. I grabbed a bottle cap, twisted the battery release with it and threw the fucker out the window! Any longer and it would have burst, blowing hydrogen and carbon dust everywhere and possibly igniting as the lithium heats up and oxidises.

ill pass on a little word of advice which i have gained as experience: dont buy el cheapo dell batteries because dell is a fucker and put their little old chips in there so that they wont work. bloody bastards. but i have had some luck with other ones so its up to you. i would say do a little research before buying cheap third party batteries.

then probably fine, end of the day it's just all 18650 batteries

life span over years might be less but normally it's just those bs ones that are like double the factory one in the same 4 cell or whatever size

If you wanna be hardcore. Crack open your dead battery pack, replace the cells with fresh 18650s.

crack it open and see how much sand you got

Big brand 3rd party is generally better than OEM.

You think Lenovo doesn't just source the cheapest Chink shitcells they can get away with?
They can sell any accessory for 4 times its worth just by slapping a familiar brandname sticker onto it.

Actual battery brands rely purely on their battery quality to keep their business open.
Their customers will scrutinize them and test their products against OEM and other suppliers.

You sure it wasn't a genuine Apple battery?

>buy official since the warranty will cover your ass.

Warranty on batteries is usually just 1 year since it's considered a consumption good.
Warranty on the laptop most likely ran out before you replace the battery.

If your original batteries dies within 2 years you might consider buying a new original......but then you just had a shit experience with an original and the laptop maker might be tricking you into buying replacement batteries by making them fail sooner than necessary (though it could also just be bad luck).

>his laptop has batteries
my macbook doesn't have this problem.

Thats the biggest pain, you could end up cracking the plastic trying to wedge it open.
Truth

Ive bought both mobile and laptop batteries off ebay and most are fake or near-death. The good mobile battery i got not only claimed to be OEM but had a real photo of the oem container (and shiny sticker) sitting on a desk. I encourage you to try them but go through a portal like ebay so you can insist on a refund if it doesnt arrive within a month, or if it doesnt hold a full normal OEM charge.

I got fucked. Use at your own risk