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Owners of laptops with very cheap aftermarket batteries, is it worth the discount?

A recent trip to the dumpster netted me a couple of old laptops (from around 2012). The batteries are completely flat and will not take a charge. I plan on using them as beater computers around the house, so battery life doesn't really matter but would be nice to have. The cheapest no-name batteries available for them are about $15 each. A used OEM battery with about 75% health is a dollar more.

For those who bought the cheapest aftermarket battery, was it worth it? Were the batteries surprisingly good or am I better off with a used but original one?

13 comments
  • I'm always wary of aftermarket stuff just because poor quality cells can sometimes catch fire for no reason at all.

  • I've used some non-OEM expanded cell batteries back in the netbook days and they worked okay for about two years before drastically losing their ability to hold a charge. I'd recommend just sticking to OEM parts with proper electrical certifications just to help lower the chance of thermal runaways or things like that.

  • Not laptop but I resuscitated a digital camera of 2008 (canon sd1000 / ixus 70). I had lost the charger long ago, so I bought a new one with an extra battery sporting 1300mah (the original was 860mah). Well the original still holds twice as long as this supposedly recent battery... I didn't buy the cheapest, went for the one with most stars

13 comments