sucky battery life?

Question

so- i got this dell computer- inspiron series- and it has not been a year yet- about 11 months, and the computer's battery-life has gone. what shud i do? do i need to buy a new one- or wud dell replace it? what shud i do? new batteries are expensive

Answer 1

Dell should replace it. I think that you should try replacing it by dell with a warranty. If not, it looks as though the battery is really gone bad. Mine is the same way, but my laptop is extremely old though.

Answer 2

Check the warranty fine print to see if the battery is covered. Even if it's not you may be able to complain to enough departments at Dell to get a new one. Also check to see if your battery is on the recall list. LOTS of laptop batteries have been recalled the past two years.

If that fails check eBay for a replacement. You can often find new original Dell batteries for half the price quoted on Dell's website. I bought a new longer life battery for my Inspiron 9300 for about $70 with shipping. Exact same part from Dell was $130+ shipping at the time. Just be sure to buy from someone with a very good feedback rating and make sure it's a real Dell battery and not a generic replacement.

Answer 3

Dell batteries, like those of ALL notebook mfgrs, are warranted for 1 year and that's all you should expect it to last, even though with CARE (and a bit of luck), you can squeeze three to four years out of a battery. Just like a cell phone battery, notebook batteries wear out. All experienced notebook users know you must have realistic expectations for the length of time for your unit and how youre using it. When you purchaced your battery, did you buy a 4, 6, 9, 12 cell battery. The more cells the longer your battery length per charge. If you purchaced a 4 or 6 cell battery, youre going to get less time per charge than if you bought a 9 or 12 cell. Most mfgrs give you a choice of battery size.

When you say "sucky battery life", what do you mean in terms of minutes, the % of screen brightness and resolution, what aps youre running. If youre a server in a P2P environment or youre editing music or video or youre playing a game, youre obviously going to get less battery life than if youre editing a word doc. Wifi obviously uses more battery power than nic. Running a notebook as a dvd or cd player obviously uses tons of battery because it's turning an optical drive. If youre using alot of Vmem, youre going to cause alot of read/writes to your HD.This is the same for ALL batteries. If theres anything that we learned from last years recall, it's that Toshiba, Apple, Sony, Compaq and HP all use the same battery sourcers.

I have heard of GREAT sucess taking OEM battery packs to places that replace the cells into the plastic OEM casing. Places like batteries plus, but check your local yellow pages. The new cells have higher mAHrs and can be replaced for less than the cost of a whole battery. I'm been running my 3 year old Sony on a hacked battery pack for over a year now and I get longer life. Call your Mfgr with your serial number and they can verify the length of your warranty if you registered. If it's under a year, ask for a new battery. Also you can maximize your battery life by creating different power saving profiles for when your at school, at the coffee store and at home.