Latitude D630 battery complaints

I have for months considered purchasing a latitude d630. Honestly, every single site reviewing this laptop model has received it extremely positively, namely this site, and the user reviews on Dell's website. I have worked with/seen Dell latitudes for a long time, and I would recommend Latitude to anyone for unrivaled durability, stability, quality parts, and very substantial battery longevity.

I currently have a latitude d600, which has recently cracked/snapped on the actual metal frame beneaththe left hinge! This obviously may be expensive, or absurd to repair, as in the long run, a beefier laptop will be necessary as I go to College (UCCS!) this fall. Not just because I'm going to college, but aiming for a degree in computer science, which makes this decision and the need for more power important.

The kicker? Though the reviews on the D630 are extremely positive all over the web, the battery reviews are very negative, with claims that the D630's 6-cell and 9-cell batteries are terrible, fail within a year, or otherwise lose charge capacity rapidly and become paperweights.

Are there many D630 owners that experience terrible problems with D630 batteries? Or are all these reviews/complaints totally unjustified? Thanks for the information, sorry for a long and turbulent post

 

I know the battery on my second-hand D620 was a piece of junk. The machine probably wasn't more than one or two years old and the battery had about thirty minutes on it. Given that the D630 can accept D620 batteries...

At any rate, the metal frame on the D600 isn't too difficult to replace. It does require you to take apart the entire laptop (about 20 to 30 pieces total?), but he frame itself is quite cheap and the entire replacement process will probably only take you about an hour or two.

I've done it a couple dozen times myself; I'd say the only tricky bit is that Dell doesn't tell you how to remove the motherboard from the metal frame. But this shouldn't be too difficult to figure out on your own...

 

Given that d620 batteries are compatible with d630 batteries is the whole point. How do I know that the battery I have is of good quality, and not "repackaged" and sold for the d630?

My main concern is that I may have to replace the battery every 6 months. Not a good deal. Any latitude d630 owners hear? Please speak up and tell me your experiences.

If I can't get enough help here, I will go for plan b: consider a Latitude e6400, which is newer and about the same price, if buying from Dell's outlet store.

 

we have about 30 D620's and D630's and the batteries have been ok. Some have failed, but they are used on and off of battery every day and have made it a couple of years before failing.

 

I would strongly recommend plan b. The E6400 is more powerful but also more power efficient. If you opt for a P series CPU and Intel integrated graphics then 6 hours using a new 6 cell battery is achievable. After 9 months my E6400's battery is only showing about 5% wear, which is very good.

John

 

There's not much you can do about that unless you buy new (prices for the D630 are very reasonable right now)

My D620 is over two years now, and still on the original battery. Battery life has decreased, but it is still very much usable. Battery issues are common with laptops. A typical battery will last about a year, depending on usage patterns.

I would recommend the D630 over he E6400. D-series parts and accessories are plentiful (not to mention cheaper) should you ever need to replace something.

 

I have a D630 with the 9-cell battery. When I first got the machine in 07, i experienced a defective battery issue within a few months. Luckily, Dell support was awesome and cross-shipped me a new 9-cell. This battery is working great, it's lived a hard life being used everyday in college courses and I still get about 4 hours out of it. When the battery was new, I got about 6, but it's wearing down normally so i'm fine with 4 hours.

I guess it's kind of a luck of the draw.... In any rate, when my current 9-cell runs out, I do plan to get another just because the long run time is one reason why I chose a D630 back when it was current.

 

Hey, thank you everyone for the support. I've recently dug deep into research with Google, and found pretty strong results. People's experience with the D630 seem to be extremely inconsistent. I've read of many issues regarding problems with charging the battery, and having to replace the motherboard. Battery problems, especially with the D630, are numerous. Failure rates are very high. Many other people have problems with this model of laptop overheating to an extreme high. Video card issues are very inconsistent, and the nvidia NVS 135m card seems to bake itself to a crisp often.

There. I've finished my rant. I just want to avoid a lot of potential headache. Thank you , Robin24k, for your suggestion. It's a tough choice to make, being that the D630 looks more aesthetically pleasing in general, and that the E6400 seems to be far more positively consistent. Kudos to Robin24k and booboo12 who have a D630 that is reliable.

I think that I'm ready to decide that the E6400 will be a better choice for me. (Even though it's great that some of you guys have the expertise, time, patience, and the wallet to be much more forgiving than I am with their laptops when a problem rears its ugly head, and would suggest the other laptop)

Thanks again. This forum is awesome. I think I'll stick around more.

 

No prob. The nVidia thing, to be fair, has affected a whole bunch of laptops, not just ones from Dell. As for the overheating, I have integrated graphics so I really don't know. In any case, the e6400 is a solid computer and I'm sure that you'll be happy with it. Try looking on NBR for the review of it. There's better photos of it here than on Dell's site and it might look a bit better for ya.

Hope to see you around more as well!

Ricky

 

Had a D20 along with the rest of the company having it or a D30. Many batteries started dying around the same time. If they didn't die, like mine I got a whopping 20 minutes of battery life on a full charge.

Otherwise it was a great machine, I went Dell because of when I quit.. just ordered a M4400 yesterday w/ the battery warranty. I once bought Toshiba which were good as well.