New Battery for 15" PowerBook - Apple vs. Third-Party

[ghoti]

My gf is using a 15" PB that's about three years old now. It's working great except for the battery. When looking at the reviews in the Apple Store, it seems that nobody is happy with the battery, and some recommend third-party batteries. Looking around I found a few, one even made by Duracell (with the bunny, remember? :D).

So if you've bought a battery for a 15" PB within the last year or so, can you tell me a) was it from Apple or third-party (and if the latter, which specifically?), and b) how happy are you with it/what battery life do you get? My gf's PB's battery is down to about 2/3 capacity and she gets a bit over an hour of use out of it, sometimes close to two. She's hoping to get at least three hours with a new battery.

[Brad]

I've read only good things about batteries from Newer Tech.

http://www.newertech.com/products/pbg4_batt_al15.php

Granted, I don't own one myself.

[Kyros]

I have had some weird experiences with Newertech - my dad has had 3 of them that arrived worthless, or died within months (12 inch powerbook ones), but my mom got one that's working fine (g3 snow iBook), and my girlfriend bought one that lasted about 2 years (titanium powerbook) (longer than I've seen any modern battery last). One thing that was consistent was that none of them came with the advertised battery boost. Even the good ones were about 10 percent weaker than advertised (but still better than Apple's).

[iDorf]

Great results with my ol' G3 iBook Newertech batteries.

[Boomerangmacuser]

I got an after-market battery for my g4 iBook and I'm happy with it. It may not have as much life as an Apple original but hey, it's not like this thing has 5 more years in it either.

[psmith2.0]

I've read only good things about batteries from Newer Tech.

http://www.newertech.com/products/pbg4_batt_al15.php

Granted, I don't own one myself.

This is the one I got in September, and it's been okay. I had to recently recalibrate it to get rid of an odd reading, but that's been the only thing. I get a solid 3.5 hours unplugged with it.

[drewprops]

Thanks for this thread everyone, it's time for a new batt for my book.
I'm pretty sure that I bought my 'book in early '05, which means that it has lasted over three years, which is satisfactory. I've been tempted to go NewerTech myself.... wonder why they promise so much more capacity if they don't actually provide it.... might it need some conditioning to get to the promised level?

[kieran]

. Looking around I found a few, one even made by Duracell (with the bunny, remember? :D)..

Nothing to add. Just this.

http://nxtbot.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/energizer-bunny.jpg


Strangely, I feel as if I've posted something about this before.

Yup, Here's the thread. (http://forums.applenova.com/showthread.php?t=28048&highlight=energizer+bunny)