Dell batteries are le suck

I have a Dell Latitude D630 that is about a year and a half old. About 2 weeks ago, the battery decided to pretty much die. It doesn't even charge for more than 47 percent. Even then, the computer shuts down when it drops to 33 percent. Icing on the cake: The Insert, Home, Delete, "Plus", "Minus", End, Page Up, Page Down keys don't work.

Currently talking to Dell chat and they said they won't cover the battery even though I have a 3 year On Site with them. Anyone have any recommendations at this point? What do you guys think about 3rd party batteries and which ones are recommended? Is Lenovo/HP pulling off the same "Sorry, we don't do batteries older than one year"?

 

nobody covers batteries for more than a year, unless you buy a battery specific warranty extension. dell offers this.

it really depends on how you treat your battery, but most wont last longer than 2-3 years.

3rd party batteries are ok as long as you get them from a reliable source. some of the ones on ebay are dodgy.

 

As for the battery, I wouldn't recommend a third party one. It'll void your warranty for sure, but it could also cause other problems. If you're buying a battery from Ebay, be wary of words like compatible which indicates that the battery isn't genuine.

Have you ever spilled anything on the keyboard? It seems like the key failure is all in the same general area.

 

Quick update:

Dell is sending me a new keyboard! Hurray!

Dell will not give me a new battery (expected). Poop. They also won't give me a discount (even with a 3 year warranty), it is expensive ($180), and it will fail again in 18 months. Multiple poops. :[

 

Dell does not make the batteries btw, and this is industry standard for the 1 year support and usual death. You should know this as you are an official NBRreviewer...

 

Yeah, I know... I just wanted to vent. Bah!

 

Batteries are ALL hit or miss, unfortunately.

I've read that you can test your battery by disabling the warning features in your machine, so it will actually let the battery run down without shutting off the machine, then let the battery run down completely, then recharging it. I believe this recalibrates the microprocessor in the battery so it really knows when the battery is getting low.

But OTOH it is easy to believe that a battery died prematurely. My mother, daughter and I all 3 have older Dell laptops, and my battery is the only one still going strong. I bought a new battery for my daughter on ebay. I picked a seller that had a lot of good feedback, and a good stated return policy, bought the battery, and will take my chances. It has been working OK for the past 5 months.