Maximum PC

I bought a Dell XPS m1530 to replace my Inspiron E1505. I bought it at the Outlet Store, which means it "may contain a combination of new, refurbished and previously used parts." Little did I know this was short-hand for "crappy battery." I can imagine that Outlet laptops may display some "battery wear" (as reported by innumerable utilities that can show mWh information from a battery's control circuits), but this one is for the record books.

The battery arrived showing 4.1% wear. I find this acceptable given that this is not a "brand-new" product. I used the laptop in class once (unplugged) and suddenly it's at 10% wear. Another stint in class brings it to 38.6% wear. In fact, it shut off just as class was ending! For those keeping track at home, the battery degraded by 34.5% over two uses! The degradations are not an error in the software--run-time decreased noticeably each cycle.

Needless to say, I wasn't very happy. Yes, this is an XPS. Yes, this is a six-cell battery. NO, it shouldn't start to die after a whopping two uses and two weeks of ownership.

Dell Technical Support (XPS Premium support) said that the run-time (ultimately a little more than an hour) was "normal" but I could also replace the battery, seemingly no-questions-asked under the one-year hardware warranty. The last time I tried this with my E1505, I had to escalate up twice because the reps kept claiming my battery life was "normal." (Long story short: In the last month of the warranty, the battery life plummeted from five hours with Windows XP to less than one and a half, still with Windows XP, creating a process in which the laptop's power indicator would drain normally to about 45% then suddenly drop to 5%, resulting in the system shutting down).

I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to fight about the battery for my XPS.

Now, the question remains, Dell did say this replacement would be "refurbished." I hope it isn't as bad as the battery that this computer shipped with, but we'll have to wait and see.

My mom bought a new xps m1530. it would last about 1 hr 45 min new on the battery with vista. 2 years later, it lasts about 15 min.

They don't make batteries like they used to. my compaq nc6000 has a battery dated to 2004 in the bios, but still gets 2 1/2 hrs in ubuntu.





Ted

I'd appreciate them sending the correct battery... The battery at the top is the one my computer shipped with (56Wh and rounded). The bottom battery is what they sent me initially (53Wh and square).

It took another day for them to finally come through with a battery I could use. This battery works the way I expect. Despite using the wireless or wired internet for research and typing, the corrected battery lasted about 2.5 hours. My guess is under a "class" load (occasionally typing notes, wireless off, sitting idle otherwise w/background processes terminated) this machine could last for 3 or more hours.

Moral of the story: Dell does it right, eventually.