With the battery being such an integral component of a notebook computer, the cost of the laptop battery can have a noticeable effect on the cost of the entire notebook.

Reuters reports that Dell announced this week that there was a shortage of laptop batteries because in part of a fire at a major laptop battery manufacturer - LG Chem.

Dell also admitted that prices for laptop batteries sold separately from a notebook system have gone up because of the shortage. LG Chem, one of the leading makers of batteries for laptops, had a fire in its Ochang plant on March 3. Dell says that it is working with other vendors to obtain batteries in an attempt to stave the shortage and prevent price increases for new notebooks from being passed on to consumers.

Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn told Reuters,

“We sell battery packs. The prices of those battery packs for people ordering extra batteries have gone up.”

However, Blackburn didn’t comment on the amount of the price increase.

Dell isn’t the only PC maker looking at laptop battery shortages; Hewlett Packard is feeling the same pinch. Hewlett-Packard spokesperson Mike Hockey said,

“The full extent of the impact to Hewlett Packard and other OEMs is still being determined. We are aggressively working within the battery cell industry to secure additional supply of battery cells.”

Source: DailyTech.com

Dell laptop battery stores:

• JustLaptopBatteries.com
• LaptopPartsWorld.com
• HQBatteries.com

There are many ways to go about buying laptops now-a-days. Pretty much what this means is that many different people buy used laptops. Whenever you go to buy a used laptop, one of the main things that you are going to worry about is the quality of the battery. Testing laptop batteries is one of the best things that you can do before you buy a laptop, and if you are not able to you should test it as soon as you get it. If a laptop has a bad battery that does not mean that you should not get it (because you can just buy a new one). But it’s good to know if you are going to need to get a new one or not.

There are many different ways of testing laptop batteries. If you look around online you will see that many different people test their batteries in many different ways. However, either way you choose to test your battery, you want to have something running. Many people think that they can just turn on the laptop and let it sit there. Then after a hour or so they come back and see if the laptop is still on. This is not testing your laptop battery. You have to have the computer running something, and it helps if it’s using the CD-ROM drive as well. The more things that it has going on it at once will let you see if the computer can hold a charge. After testing the computer you will be able to make a good choice on whether you would like to keep the battery that you have or if you are going to need a new one. Please keep in mind if you buy a new computer you should aways fully charge the battery first before using the computer. Otherwise you could damage the laptop battery.

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Toshiba has issued its second recall in a month of Sony laptop batteries that could overheat and burst into flames.

The latest recall, announced Thursday by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, affects about 1,400 notebooks. The models include the Toshiba Satellite A100 and A105, and the Toshiba Tecra A7, which sell for as little as $680.

The recall stemmed from three reports outside of the United States of laptop batteries overheating. No injuries were reported, but the CPSC is advising laptop computer owners to run the systems on AC power and send the batteries back to Toshiba for replacements at no charge.

Toshiba in July recalled 10,000 batteries in Toshiba Satellite and Toshiba Tecra laptops. The company reported in June that a Sony laptop battery was responsible for at least two notebooks bursting into flames. The CPSC has listed 16 reports of Sony lithium-ion notebook batteries overheating.

Apple, Dell, Lenovo, Gateway, and Acer America also have issued recalls of the faulty rechargeable batteries. The global effort started last year when power sources used in notebooks from several manufacturers began showing defects and overheating. Sony last year recalled 9.6 million batteries, making it the largest recall ever in the computer industry.

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Toshiba said Thursday it will recall lithium-ion notebook battery packs made by Sony Corp.

Up to 5,100 battery packs are defective, but the recall will include 10,000 laptop batteries, as that is the size of the manufacturing lot involved, spokesmen from the companies said.

The recall is unrelated to the much bigger recall of Sony-made li-ion batteries last year.

A Toshiba spokesman said the recall would affect 10 different notebook models sold worldwide. He said the company knew of three separate incidents where the laptop battery packs had overheated and damaged notebooks, and all three came from the lot in question.

A Sony spokesman said all of the batteries involved had come from the same lot the company made in December 2005, and so the companies had decided to recall all batteries from that lot.

He said Sony was still investigating the cause of the problem, but that it was limited to that specific lot.

Both companies expect the financial impact from the recall to be minimal

News source: MarketWatch.com