Thinkpads Forum

One thing you should always check is the battery capacity (expressed in mAh - like 6600mAh). The bigger the number the better. Battery technology is always improving and there may well be batteries with higher capacity than the original had. But often the Manufacturer's battery replacement is the same capacity as the original, even though higher capacity generic's are available. Several years ago I bought a replacement battery for a Toshiba on eBAy. It was much cheaper than a genuine Toshiba battery and had nearly twice the capacity (meaning the laptop would run nearly twice as long on it). I would not hesitate to buy again from one of the big sellers on eBay.

An earlier post gives several reasons to only buy the original manufacturer's battery. I disagree with much of what it says and still believe you can be perfectly safe with a MAJOR seller on eBay (I'm not talking about individuals selling one or a few items). Here's why:

1) Look at the picture of the battery in the ad. Usually you can see the CE mark on the battery. This means the product has been tested and meets all directives of the European Common Market, which are usually even stricter than U.S. standards. The battery you buy should look exactly like the picture, including the CE mark. If not, send it back. If in doubt whether the battery carries the CE mark you can always email the seller and ask. My experience is these sellers always respond quickly to product questions.

2) The seller I looked at on eBay stated the battery cells were manufactured in Japan, same as Toshiba.

3) These large eBay dealers sell a huge volume, and like any business they are very sensitive to word-of-mouth reports affecting their business. If they were selling shoddy goods it would show up quickly in their eBay feedback. It doesn't. They are buying and selling in large quantity from reputable battery manufacturers (possibly the same ones who make Toshiba's batteries!). They are able to sell at a much lower price because they don't have Toshiba's marketing costs, there are fewer middle-men in the sales stream, and they are not supporting any brick-and-mortar sales fronts.

4) The previous poster said you might get a recalled product. I can't imagine how. In anyone has a battery under recall, they're going to turn it in and get a new one, not try to sell it on at a discount. And certainly you can't think that Toshiba is going to recall defective batteries and then resell them elsewhere? That would be commercial suicide.

5) And finally, every article I have ever read about a laptop battery fire has been about an original manufacturer's battery, not a generic. So why should you feel safer with the original?

Heck, I realize you might still feel better with the manufacturer's brand name battery, and, if so, then do buy it by all means. I just want to be sure you have all the points of view before making a decision.

eosme wrote:i'm in the market for one as well. i have a 6 cell and the battery life just not long enough. i'm only able to get 3.5-4hrs tops out of it when i drop CPU all the way down to the lowest speed and LCD dimmed out.

let us know how it goes for you.

moucon wrote:Here's my .02. Unless it's an authentic Lenovo/IBM battery - it will be junk. I've tried any number of replacement batteries and they were all useless. A couple actually smoked and nearly caught fire. This stuff is offshore junk thrown together out of who-knows-what parts. Don't waste your money- buy a real IBM/Lenovo battery.

after getting it, the thinkpad doesn't recognize it creating a number of alerts of not being authentic. The readings on the battery life is also all over the place, including the health of the battery.... knowing this first hand, i would lean on getting a authentic battery, it's worth paying that little extra more. thanks for your comments.