T4X battery availability

[makai]

Hi all,

Been awhile since I posted!

I've been searching around ebay, newegg, etc... and it looks like replacement batteries are getting scarce... at least OEMs. I've found a lot of non-oems for sale though.

Question... are we gonna be left wanting for real IBM batteries soon?

Anyone know of, or have experience with good non-oem replacements? Any recommendations?

Aloha!!!

[gator]

I dont think we'll run out of T4x batteries in the next 2 years ... lots of people still use T4x series laptops. Heck, lenovo outlet still sells T2x batteries!

[Aroc]

I still see them on Lenovo's website (Products > Accessories & upgrades > Batteries & Power > Batteries - ThinkPad R50/T40 Series > ), HERE'S A DIRECT LINK to the 6-cell. The price is a tad unattractive, though. I also believe the larger resellers like CDW still have both OEM 6-cells and 9-cells, at prices near MSRP (truthfully, they've always been that price with them). Inexpensive (e.g., $60) OEM batteries on the other hand seen to be as scarce as a unicorn ...

Plus, you really want to make sure you're getting fresh 2007_or_later stock for two reasons: 1. Li-Ion degrades with age and 2. prior battery recalls.

i'm looking to go with freshbattery.com (I have no affliation with them) next time I'm going to replace my battery. they seem reputable. the price is OK, but not comparable to the cheap OEMs we've grown accustomed to.

Happy hunting!

Aroc

[meat]

I found a thread and googled the panasonic part number and came up with a bunch of places that sell them including Amazon.com

I do not know how old they are.

If the listing includes the actual battery FRU, you can easily tell the manufacturer. From the 26xx series T43 HMM:

6 cell battery - Sanyo 92P1087
6 cell battery - Sony 92P1089
6 cell battery - Panasonic 92P1091
9 cell battery - Sanyo 92P1077
9 cell battery - Sony 92P1073
9 cell battery - Panasonic 92P1069

(sorry for lack of tabs - (WYS in preview pane INWYG)

[makai]

Yah, I already looked at the Lenovo site earlier and saw they only had the 6-cell battery. I guess they discontinued the 9-cell? I sure don't feel like paying $159 for a 6-cell!

I've been searching everywhere for OEM batteries and have yet to find some (besides Lenovo). A while back, newegg used to sell the OEM 9-cells ($99), but now even they only carry 3rd party.

meat... I did read that thread and checked ebay for the numbers. I found some listed, but they too were non-oem branded. I really think we're going to be out of luck very, very, soon!

Anyone else have experience with non-oems they can recommend?

Aloha!

[makai]

I just checked the newegg site again and what I thought were 3rd party is actually LENOVO batteries!!!

They don't have the Panasonic, but they do have the stock 9-cell.

[Stan]

ThinkPad support in the UK is pretty dire. The official Lenovo site directs us to partners that, apart from one, have no accessory support for models prior to the T60.

On eBay UK there is very little evidence of batteries for sale that are not “replacements” from China and Hong Kong. The only OEM batteries for sale seem to be second hand.

I get the impression that Lenovo wants to sell laptops in the UK and provide only short- term support. If that’s the case, I may have to re-think my commitment to buying a new ThinkPad in the future.

I just hope those dodgy Chinese batteries are of passable quality, as they may be the only fish in the pond for us in the UK soon. Granted, we could try to import from the US, but the import duty would be crippling.

Not a good situation.

Lenovo UK seems to be no better than Acer, or any other supermarket brand, from what I’ve seen. Perhaps Lenovo prefers its market to be CONUS based rather than international these days?

Bring back IBM.

[makai]

I agree... looking at the US side of things.

I have to be fair though and say Lenovo has been good with support, tech-wise, but I have a feeling this is because they are still on the heels of IBM.

I've watched the battery situation for a while now and I am truly concerned with what will happen a year down the road. I've noticed the trend of disappearing OEMs, thus my post. My thinkpads are running really great and I don't forsee having to upgrade even a year from now. However, should I be stuck with only 3rd party batteries, I'm sure I will be forced to upgrade. And, Just like you, I may have to rethink Thinkpads. It's really too bad because I believe Thinkpads have been the best laptops I've ever owned... bar none!

Yup, a sad situation!

[losmeme]

I looked at the NewEgg T40 9-cell battery. It seems to be a good deal at just over $100. But look closer, the fourth and fifth pictures show two totally different things.

The fourth picture is of a genuine IBM OEM battery, the fifth picture is of a knockoff. (Look carefully at the labels in each of the photos.)

Additionally, the typeface used for the word OPTION on the cover of the users guide pictured is not standard IBM format.

Wonder which one NewEgg ships out? I haven't had good experience with NewEgg on things just such as this one. Has anyone ordered this from NewEgg, and was it an actual OEM?

[losmeme]

True to form, I contacted NewEgg about the descrepancy:

Item#:N82E16834998903

Message: In the five pictures you show for this product, the last two do not show the same item. Picture four shows a genuine IBM OEM battery (as evidenced by the label) Picture five shows a non-genuine knock-off battery (again, look carefully at the label) Many ThinkPad techs warn against using anything other than an original, OEM IBM branded battery, as the circuitry is sub-par to the original which can cause laptop failure. Can you explain why the two pictures of different products? Can you guarantee that this item is in fact a genuine, IBM produced replacement battery? Thanks for the response



And here is their response:

Subject: Newegg.com - >(Mail #19022008463753)*

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Newegg.

Unfortunately, we do not have certified sales nor tech support. I also don't want to cause any type of inconvenience. I would recommend to contact the manufacturer for confirmation prior to purchasing,. I do apologize for the inconvenience.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit our FAQs page. If you still need assistance, please feel free to email me directly and I will be happy to assist you.

Thank you,

Evy Hernandez

[makai]

You're right about the label. The response from newegg seems vague to the point of not taking responsibility for what they're selling. Not to bang on newegg, I've always had good experiences with them. Fast shipping, no problems with anything I ever bought.

Has anyone ordered this from NewEgg, and was it an actual OEM?

I did purchase a 9 cell from newegg about 1.5 years ago for $99 (can't say it was the same model though). The battery I received was a true OEM IBM battery. Label was as seen in photo #4.

The battery, however, didn't last that long as it must have been on the shelf for a while... I never bothered to check the date. Since it was sold as new with a 1yr manufacturing warranty, I called IBM, and they sent me a replacement. The one they sent was recycled and had about 45 cycles on it. I told them that I would test it, and get back with them. I did, and the battery wasn't even as good as the one it replaced. Long story short, IBM replaced the battery with a brand new one... 0 cycles.

Woes to the battery situation! Oh well, what can you do, right!? In my field, we refer to this as "obselecence" and "vanishing vendor item". Things like this tend to go skyward in terms of cost as they vanish!!!

[Mitchell]

Quite a few of us (forum members) have had very good success buying batteries from pcsurplusonline.com on ebay.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... arch&fgtp=

Of the dozen or so T4x batteries I've purchased, most were still factory sealed, while the rest had cycle counts of less than 20. The price is right....

Mitchell
ps: who is not in anyway affiliated with pcsurplusonline.com. Just a happy customer

[makai]

Thanks for the info Mitchell! I will keep this vendor in mind.

Personally, I have a particular ebay vendor that I buy all my laptop batteries from (portablecomponents), however, he is out of IBMs at the moment. The two 9-cell batteries I bought from him were Genuine OEMs and were brand new in the box... date codes always current year. Perhaps I'll email him and ask for availability.