This is a common complaint, and my experience is similar. A 
manufacturer replacement battery costs more then the value of the 
laptop, and yet a third party battery is worthless. I think this is a 
combination of cheap components, and manufacturing processes, as well 
as long shelf time. A few years ago, PCWorld magazine did an article 
on this, and tested batteries from many vendors. They ended up 
recommending laptopbatteryexpress.com. I just bought an extended 
battery for my Thinkpad X41 Tablet from them. The price was twice 
what a really cheap vendor would ask but I am OK with that if it 
holds up. I thought the fit of the battery was a little off, but only 
time will tell if it lasts as long as the original Leveno battery. It 
came with the usual 1 year warrenty. At least they are a USA vendor, 
and I have known them to be around for at least a decade.

Mark Rode

>Gregg,
>I also bought one of the cheapie replacememt batteries for a Dell 
>610, and had to exchange it twice in the last 6 months.
>Paul Hachmeyer
>
>
>Hi group,
>_*Is there a better battery out there that will last more than 6-12 
>months*_. I bought a cheapy from a store on Amazon because I'd heard 
>the Dell batteries are expensive and won't last much longer but, I 
>think it was going bad by 5-6 months old.

         PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download
                     visit our download web page at:
                  http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml