Should I keep my old battery?

[wordmunger]

So the old iBook battery was down to about an hour per charge, and I bought a new battery from Newer Technologies (advertised as 7 percent longer battery life). Newer offers a $19 rebate if you send in the old battery. Now, I've bought new batteries before, and I've never, EVER used the old battery as a backup. It's just too much of a pain to keep it charged -- you have to constantly be swapping out batteries, and whenever you do that, the date and time get messed up, which messes up iCal, yadda yadda.

BUT, if my new battery failed it wouldn't be such a terrible thing to have the old battery around -- not as a day-to-day backup, but as a worst-case-scenario backup.

BUT part of the reason I justified buying the Newer battery is the rebate program.

So, what does the MR community think? Should I send in the old battery, or keep it around, "just in case"?

 

[CoMpX]

I think it would be worth more in value if you turned it in for the rebate program. By the time you need the backup anyway, the old battery will probably have lost even more of its capacity.

 

[nbs2]

I have a couple questions.

I assume the battery has a 1 year warranty or something like that. I was wondering how it works. Will they send a replacement and you return the defective? Or do you have to send in the defective and they mail you a new one? If the former, then send it in now. If the latter, then I have one more question.

How soon do you have to send the battery in? I'd wait as long as you can - no sense in sending in what you know is functional (albeit old) and risking a defective battery that stops working in a week or so.

 

[Seasought]

So, what does the MR community think? Should I send in the old battery, or keep it around, "just in case"?

Give the old battery the punt and take advantage of your rebate.

 

[wordmunger]

I have a couple questions.

I assume the battery has a 1 year warranty or something like that. I was wondering how it works. Will they send a replacement and you return the defective? Or do you have to send in the defective and they mail you a new one? If the former, then send it in now. If the latter, then I have one more question.

How soon do you have to send the battery in? I'd wait as long as you can - no sense in sending in what you know is functional (albeit old) and risking a defective battery that stops working in a week or so.

All good points. I think you've answered my question -- though indirectly. I have other computers I can use if this one dies, so if the battery fails, I think I'd survive for a week or so until I get a replacement battery. So I think I'll go ahead and send the old battery in -- since the innards will be recycled, not only do I make money, but I'm doing the best thing for the environment.