Thinkpad battery

[eddief]

My older Thinkpad T41 needs a new battery. Are all batteries of equal quality; like any one for $35 new from ebay? Or do you have advice on this topic that could be helpful spending my hard earned money?

[bagochips3]

I got a 2nd battery for my first Thinkpad (a22p) from eBay. The eBay battery didn't hold a charge nearly as well as the factory battery (same model #, etc, so they should have been the same). I don't know why the eBay battery had issues (refurbished?), but when I bought my current Thinkpad (T42p), I just got a 2nd battery from IBM. I didn't even consider eBay; it just wasn't worth the risk to me.

IBM has great warranty service, too. Not sure if Lenovo is still as good, but it's something else to consider. Personally, I rather spend a few extra bucks to know that if the part fails, the manufacturer will swap it for a new one easily. Warrant replacements don't happen all that often, but I've had RAM (Thinkpad) and a motherboard (HP) fail on me in the last few years and getting them replaced free under warranty with shipping taken care of was sweet.

[Pete Serotta]

Lenovo is still as good on the warranty. My wife was working for the IBM PC company and now works for Lenovo. PC Connection is a company that I use to deal with a lot. I would give them a call and see price and options.

[rnhood]

I would also recommend getting the battery from IBM. Paying a bit more should not be of concern since batteries do not have to be replaced often. With IBM (Lenova), you will be getting current technology (such as Lithium) and it will be new. Buying from ebay, well who knows how old the battery will be. And, the older batteries (especially Nicad) suffered from memory issues.

[martinrjensen]

I got a battery from a third party vendor in Las Vegas one time when my battery in my T41 died. It was a RayoVac battery and it worked fine and lasted forever. I have found that cheap batteries are one thing I shy away from on eBay. They may make it to fit, but they just don't last. Same goes for Camera batteries.

[Jeff Weir]

Take a look at www.sterlingtek.com. They might have what you need.
I use their camera batteries all the time and they've been GREAT

[Don49]

It's been awhile, but I bought a NOS IBM brand battery for my T41 off eBay. It was in the proper IBM factory sealed package, but didn't hold a charge much longer than the failing battery I was replacing. I would avoid an older battery, new or not. How old is too old, I don't really know.

[eddief]

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/153513-1/cheap_laptop_batteries_good_deal_or_risky.html