nupower replacement battery for albook?

[pna]

Hi all,

I'm in the market for a replacement battery for my 1.25 ghz albook (still under applecare). I've seen references to the nupower replacement batteries, which promise on the order of 11% longer battery life (per charge), and seen a few reviews which indicate that this claim is pretty much true. What I've been surprised about is that I barely see a mention of them in these forums. I've done a number of searches, and only turned up one or two brief mentions of the batteries for the powerbooks, most of them were about the ipod replacement batteries.

Can anyone tell me if they've used these replacement batteries for a powerbook, and how well they worked out? Is there a reason that more people don't use them?

Thanks so much for any input.

nupower battery

 

[highberry]

i just replaced the battery in my 18month old 15" powerbook with a NuPower battery and it seems to be working fine. the old battery was not lasting more that 15 minutes. the NuPower battery seems to last 2-3 hours depending on usage.

are powerbook batteries covered under applecare? if so, i should see if i could get a replacement for the original and use it as a back-up.

Bob

 

[pna]

are powerbook batteries covered under applecare? if so, i should see if i could get a replacement for the original and use it as a back-up.

Bob

2-3 hours is pretty typical for a new battery, even from apple. I've tended to get a bit more than 3 if I make all of the settings conservative. My tibook 800 was closer to 4, so it's a little frustrating to have taken a step backwards in battery life. And yes, I've read/done all of the suggestions apple has posted for increasing battery life.

Applecare doesn't cover batteries that are aging normally, but if you're down to 15 minutes of charge after just 18 months, that actually sounds defective and like something they'd probably cover. If you've recalibrated it and still only get 15 minutes ( I can't imagine it making *that* much of a difference, but the apple techs will ask you if you've done it), you really should inquire about getting it replaced under warranty.

 

[pna]

Wow -- really no one else here can comment on the nupower batteries? They're the exact same price as the apple ones, with a promise of longer life. But I'd guess that if that claim were true, more people here would buy or talk about them.

Anyone? Nupower replacement batteries for powerbooks? Valid claims of 11% more life (20-25 minutes I'd guess) and longer lifespan at the same price? Too risky to go with a non-apple product for a second battery?

Thanks for any thoughts...

 

[pna]

I just thought I'd report back with my experiences with the nupower battery I bought from OWC.

The first one that I got had a burned out LED on the battery life display. After following all of their instructions and many charge/discharge sessions, it would finally give about 3:10 of working battery life. My new one from apple gives me about 3:20 or 3:25 of real time. Hmm.

They say it's defective, and ship me a new one. The new one only lasts for a bit under three hours.

Long story short, I'm returning it for a refund. Not too impressed with the life I actually got from these things vs. the promise of their advertising. Total cost: $10 in return shipping, and a lot of wasted time fussing.

has anyone had experiences with these things that actually lived up to their claims???

 

[tuartboy]

I just thought I'd report back with my experiences with the nupower battery I bought from OWC.

The first one that I got had a burned out LED on the battery life display. After following all of their instructions and many charge/discharge sessions, it would finally give about 3:10 of working battery life. My new one from apple gives me about 3:20 or 3:25 of real time. Hmm.

They say it's defective, and ship me a new one. The new one only lasts for a bit under three hours.

Long story short, I'm returning it for a refund. Not too impressed with the life I actually got from these things vs. the promise of their advertising. Total cost: $10 in return shipping, and a lot of wasted time fussing.

has anyone had experiences with these things that actually lived up to their claims???

Sorry for your burn. The ipod units have such a good rep...

Thanks, though, for trying out something new and letting us all know how it went. I know I was thinking about getting a battery from them down the road, but may now reconsider.

Hope things go well on your return.

 

[livingfortoday]

I just got one of the NuPower batteries last week for my Ti Powerbook, actually, and it seems to be working ok. I can't comment on how many hours it lasts, because I haven't used it that much yet, but after running iBatt, it shows me that it's got the full capacity that OWC said it would, and I actually bought this used off of eBay! So I'm pretty happy with my purchase, you may have just gotten a bum battery.

 

[tuartboy]

I just got one of the NuPower batteries last week for my Ti Powerbook, actually, and it seems to be working ok. I can't comment on how many hours it lasts, because I haven't used it that much yet, but after running iBatt, it shows me that it's got the full capacity that OWC said it would, and I actually bought this used off of eBay! So I'm pretty happy with my purchase, you may have just gotten a bum battery.

looks like you can change your sig then

 

[pna]

I just got one of the NuPower batteries last week for my Ti Powerbook, actually, and it seems to be working ok. I can't comment on how many hours it lasts, because I haven't used it that much yet, but after running iBatt, it shows me that it's got the full capacity that OWC said it would, and I actually bought this used off of eBay! So I'm pretty happy with my purchase, you may have just gotten a bum battery.

Maybe so, but if I got a bum battery, I got two of them in a row. iBatt rated it as a C, even after it was fully broken in. Of course, iBatt gave my new Apple battery an A- when new after broken in, and only a month later rates it a B+...
Glad to hear that your battery for the tiBook is good, though. The tiBook I used for a while was identical to the one in your sig, and even when the battery was a year old, got around 4 hours of battery life. It's too bad to take a step backwards with the alBook.

 

[tuartboy]

had this powerbook battery for 3 months now and i take it off the wall for a couple hours a day, every day.

iBatt rated it A- !!!

I was wondering why I still had 4+ hours of charge...

Hmm... says I've only used up 40 cycles of charge though. thought i used it more than that.