My trusty laptop has worked flawlessly for many years, but in the last few weeks the battery has steeply declined to hold a charge, and discharges rapidly, especially as it reaches 30%.

The laptop is great, so i thought i'd order a replacement battery. A friend gave me the name of a company that sells batteries that are about one-third cheaper than the OEM batteries. I thought i'd give it a go.

Battery arrives, and, upon inspection, one of the mounting clips has broken. I thought, not to worry, it's still got all the others. The specification on the label matches the old device, so I go ahead and remove the old battery. It was relatively easy to remove. The old battery is exactly 6-years old, so it's done well, imho.

Placing the new battery in position, I notice that two of the screw mounting points aren't quite right, and are about 2mm out of position. This means three mounting points are not going to work. I also notice that beside each screw mounting point there is a hole which should sit over a spigot on the chassis. I can get one to fit, but the other required a slight forcing into position. The screw mounting points don't seem 100% solid, which meant I was able to make that tweak.

I also noticed the new battery is slightly lighter in weight, although, i'm aware that battery technology has improved over the years, i'm hopeful it's the improvement, and not a sub-standard battery.

OK, well, I know what you're thinking, I should have paid the extra for the OEM version.

The battery is currently under test and i'll have to wait until the calibration is finished to make sure it's a good one.