Posted 03/15/10 at 09:59:01 AM by Paul Lilly

One of the biggest gripes with Apple's handheld products is that you can't swap out the battery yourself, at least not easily. So what happens if you're out-of-warranty iPad tablet stops holding a charge?

"If your iPad requires service due to the battery's diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee," Apple states in its FAQ section.

The service costs $105.95 ($99 plus $6.95 for shipping) and is subject to local tax. But put another way, should your battery die for good, a Benjamin gets you a 'new' (likely refurbished, and scratch-free) iPad.

Apple points out that your replacement iPad won't retain any of your personal data.

"Before you submit your iPad for service, it is important to sync your iPad with iTunes to back up your contacts, calendars, email account settings, bookmarks, apps, etc. Apple is not responsible for the loss of information when servicing your iPad," Apple warns.

The other caveat is that your iPad has be to be in working order. In other words, if you spill your coffee all over your iPad or otherwise kill the unit by trying to open it yourself, Apple's not going to replace it.

Thoughts on the policy? Hit the jump and sound off!

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Posted 08/18/09 at 06:44:28 PM by Andy Salisbury

If you’ve got a Lenovo laptop with a battery that’s providing sub-par performance, you just might be eligible for a free replacement.

The batteries in question don’t present any fire or safety hazard, so there’s no reason to worry about your health – the folks at Lenovo are simply looking to make nice. “Irreparable damage” and “battery cannot be charged” error messages from the Power Manager or Message Center are the main indicators that you have a bad battery.

If you’re not sure, but you have a ThinkPad R60, R61, T60 or T61 with battery FRU part numbers 42T4546, 42T4566 or 92P1141, and/or a model X60 or X61, with battery part numbers 42T4550, 42T4567, 42T4568, 92P1169, 92P1173, 93P5028 or 93P5030, it’s suggested that you should run the Battery Diagnostic Tool (available here), to find out if you need to swap it out

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Posted 03/24/09 at 04:00:44 PM by Andy Salisbury

Dell’s Adamo is one sexy notebook, featuring an impressively thin form factor that allows its users to bring it with them just about where they want. But, along with all that good news we’ve got some bad to report – the battery isn’t replaceable by the user.

Following in the footsteps left by Apple’s 17-inch MacBook Pro, the un-removable battery can only be replaced if sent to Dell. There’s no word yet on just how much this procedure will cost as of yet.

Unfortunate news, to be true, but we can’t say that it completely surprises us. You don’t get a notebook this thin without losing some of the usual advantages.

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Posted 12/30/08 at 04:08:37 PM by Mark Edward Soper

As we reported earlier this year, Nvidia GeForce 8M series mobile GPUs have seen an abnormally high failure rate . VR-Zone  and The Inquirer report that Nvidia has a solution for its OEM laptop partners: buy their new mobile GPUs instead.

The old GPU is known as the NB8E-SE, and is used, according to VR-Zone, in notebooks running the GeForce 8700M GT, 8800M GS, and GeForce 9650M GS. The new GPU, the NB8E-SET (aka the G84-751) uses Hitachi underfill packaging for more reliability.

If you're in the market for a new Nvidia-powered notebook computer, it's worth finding out from the laptop maker if they've switched to the new GPU already. However, what should you do if your new (or not-so-new) notebook has one of the old-design GPUs onboard?

To find out what your options are, join us after the jump.

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Posted 02/28/07 at 01:38:44 PM by Michael Brown

Thanks to Apple’s ubiquitous advertising, you can walk around town with wires hanging out of your ears without getting strange looks from passersby. Etymotic Research’s ety8 Bluetooth earphones shorten the wires, but these anything-but-discreet earbuds are guaranteed to draw a few sets of eyeballs your way.

Click Read More for more. 

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