Buying a new, genuine battery for an older Thinkpad

[bugmn]

Sorry about the title, can't make it any longer. Anyway my question pretains to the battery life of new/sealed, yet old batteries made by Lenovo/IBM.

I'm planing on buying a battery for X61s, that is genuine and brand new. However I'm going to assume it's at least 3 years old most likely. I read that Li-ion batteries have a shelf life of 3 years. What does this mean? What kind of charge can I expect from such a battery?

Also, not to go too far off topic, but does anyone have experience with third party batteries? They cost a fraction of what the genuine ones cost (already at an eBay discount). But how long do they last for?

Thanks

[dr_st]

I am sure Lenovo still manufactures X61s batteries, so you can get one that's not more than a few months old if you order from them.

As far as how long batteries last - no one can tell you that, genuine or not. There is a large variability based on the cell manufacturer, and the cells themselves. On average, you may expect genuine to be a bit more reliable, but nothing is certain.

Among genuine Lenovo batteries, experience established the fact that Panasonic branded ones fare much better over time than Sanyo branded, and these in turn fare better than Sony branded.

[keithsketchley]

Be careful with p/n's. IBM Canada's web site incorrectly lists the tablet battery for the basic x41. And eBay sellers can be glib at best.

[Ogg]

I'm planing on buying a battery for X61s, that is genuine and brand new. However I'm going to assume it's at least 3 years old most likely. I read that Li-ion batteries have a shelf life of 3 years. What does this mean? What kind of charge can I expect from such a battery?

Also, not to go too far off topic, but does anyone have experience with third party batteries? They cost a fraction of what the genuine ones cost (already at an eBay discount). But how long do they last for?

I have some experience with a 3rd party battery for my T40p.

See: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 25#p622525

Basically, the 3rd party battery was already 2 years old when I bought it, but I didn't know the age until I was able to run the battery id program in the laptop. I was disappointed. The battery only lasted me 2 years. Since then, I've purchased a genuine battery direct from IBM. The above thread has full details.

Hope this helps.

[keithsketchley]

In general battery shelf life varies with chemistry.

Batteries lose charge with time, varying with chemistry.

Some battery types do not withstand sitting at a low state of charge for a long time. That's a major issue right now with the expensive battery pack in one of the pricey electric cars being marketed in the US. Even flooded lead acid batteries used in automobiles go bad if left uncharged (IIRC that is called "sulfating", may be partially reversible with special chargers.)

So while being wary of old stock in general, I'd want to check characteristics of the general chemistry (e.g Li-ion). Different manufacturers may vary within that due tweaking of chemistry.

[keithsketchley]

Third-party batteries are a gamble.

I bought one that seems to work reasonably well, so far.

But I had to open up the holes for the latches, they were incorrectly placed relative to the battery surface that limits how far it can go in the slot.