M11x R1 battery replacement :(

I know this has been discussed.. but I was wondering if anyone found any updated information on less-than-180$ battery replacements for the R1 M11x? I'm quite sad as just the other day I was telling my buddy how much I loved my M11x that I've had since March 2010 (it runs skyrim GREAT!). This has been by far my favorite piece of technology... but now I have a problem!

Unfortunately, just over the past few days, I believe the battery is on it's last legs. I will have around 30-40% left and then all of the sudden it will start flashing that it needs to be plugged in... and it seems to be getting progressively worse. I thought eh... 80 bucks or so, no biggie.. only to find out that a new battery is almost 200 bucks? That's absolutely ridiculous...

I'm not sure what to do now... do I really want to invest 200 bucks into an almost 2 year old laptop? I love this thing, but man that's quite a price for a new battery.... has anybody been able to find anything cheaper? Do I just say screw it and use what little juice this thing has left then get an R3 down the line? Such a tough decision

 

I would wait it out. If you want some improvement and consider yourself a risk taker you might consider a used one or a cheaper refurb.

 

I'm pretty worried about getting a refurb... has anybody had any luck with them?

Another problem with all of this is how am I going to sell this thing to somebody with a crap battery? Real cheap I guess Maybe Ill keep it, get a new one, and hook this thing up to the TV as a permanent TV computer. God knows it's HDMI port has seen a lot of time already, it's used to it

 

I have a refurb R1 and it's been awesome. My plan is: when the battery gives out I'll get an R3 and figure out some other thing to do with this one. Like maybe use it as a TV computer like you say.

Or hope that somebody starts selling cheaper batteries.

 

Sorry for being a noob(My R3 hasn't arrived yet.) ,but doesn't Dell replace the batteries if your under warranty?

 

Batteries have a 1 year warranty only

 

I just purchased a new laptop, and I was trying to decide what to do with my R1 M11x. Using it as a dedicated home theater PC isn't a half bad idea.

My battery is still working like a champ. I'm surprised at how well it's held up. Still getting 6 hours on integrated graphics, 2 and 1/2 on discrete.

 

Yeah man, mine worked like that as well! 6 hrs on integrated and about 2.5 on the nvidia GPU... until just one day it started doing this. I got about 2 hours today until it hit about 40% and then immediately to 7%. sucks Granted, I use this thing every single day... I would bring it to work without the power cord and just drain the battery, then charge it when I got home.


As for warranty.. yeah it's only a year, and unfortunately I've had mine since March 2010 so it's over with


I love using this thing on the TV, and I think if I picked up a wireless mouse\keyboard, it would work wonderfully as a dedicated HTPC. Assuming it wouldn't explode from being on 24/7 and on the nvidia graphics card Having such a tiny little laptop hidden somewhere in the living room would be quite nice I think!

 

Anyone know how much warranty costs? If it was the same price as a technician then you should definantly go for Dell

 

just bought the replacement battery from http://www.cheap-laptop-batteries.com.au/dell/alienware-m11x-battery.htm and they have 10% christmas discount as well...all up $118 shipped to australia

 

I love using this thing on the TV, and I think if I picked up a wireless mouse\keyboard, it would work wonderfully as a dedicated HTPC. Assuming it wouldn't explode from being on 24/7 and on the nvidia graphics card Having such a tiny little laptop hidden somewhere in the living room would be quite nice I think![/QUOTE]

I've been using my M11x as my cable cutting htpc for over a year, 24/7, with only infrequent shutdowns for cleaning or updates. No issues so far. I run the battery down and fully charge monthly, then deplete the battery to 50%- ish and disable battery charging for another month. I still take it on trips and get good battery life, though I haven't actually timed it lately.

2 helpful items for htpc use:
- The lenovo n5902 backlit remote is great for one handed surfing operation and the occasional typing task.
- The logitech ps3 bluetooth keyboard I already owned works great w/the m11x, but has low spousal approval when left on the coffee table.
- I use a cheap lenovo netbook cooling pad to help keep the M11x fan from going full turbo all the time, but it is noticeably too noisy after less than a year so I need to find another.

Side note: Win8 dev has universal wow appeal on a plasma and works pretty well as htpc, once you get familiar with the interface. MPC, VLC , Hulu, Netflix and network flash sites have no compatibility issues. It also seems to manage memory more efficiently, although I never had any problems with 4 gigs in 7.

 

Glad to hear it Clockwork. I actually just pulled the trigger on an R3 with the 60$ off and 100$ discount code... got the i5 with 6gb ram, everything else base. Ended up being 950$ along with 12mo no interest\financing on my dell perferred account.

Impulse buy!

Looks like my current box, which now gets literally 5 minutes of battery (6hrs to 5min in about 2 weeks!!), is the new HTPC

 

Get a logitech dinovo mini, its the perfect htpc remote.

 

Nice to know. AND it's just over the ditch for me too.

Think last I checked my battery was down on original by around 15%.
Coming up 2 years in March. ♪♫ Happy birthday M11xR1. ♪♫

Still seems to have around 4-5(guesstimate) hours so I'm not rumbling....to much.

 

Why don't you guys disable charging?I read somewhere on the forums that was an option in the BIOS

 

I disable charging from the BIOS battery is still charging.Do you know why?

 

wrong thread

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/518585-fn-f2-dsable-battery-charging-works.html