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When purchasing a battery for your notebook computer, the first thing a consumer should look for is the reputability of the product at mind. If the product is made by the manufacturer of your laptop (i.e. Sony, Compaq, Dell, etc), you can usually be sure it is a quality product. However, many manufactures do not actually manufacturer, instead they are the brander of the product. For example, if you open up a genuineibm-thinkpad-t23-battery, you may find that the power cells inside are actually made by Toshiba, Panasonic, or a similar big name company. Sony in this case has just made the plastic case of the battery. This goes to show that the brand of the battery you are buying does not necessarily mean that the quality is superior. Many third party brands use the exact same power cells as original manufacturers. Using a third party manufacturer is often a good way to go when buying a battery, as there are usually many extra benefits. For instance, most third party batteries are much lower in price than original manufacturers’ batteries. Secondly, they usually offer a superior warranty, as they realize that in order to win the consumer’s confidence; they must stand behind their product. A one year warranty is a must. Don’t buy any battery with a warranty less than one year. Batteries have been known to die early, and a three month warranty could leave you high and dry.
The next main thing a consumer should look for is the type of ibm Thinkpad A30 battery. Batteries can be made using several chemicals. For laptops, there are four main types. They are Ni-Cad, Ni-MH, Li-Ion, and Li-Poly. There is no major manufacturer that still makes Ni-Cad laptop batteries, as they are a very old and primitive type of power. Ni-MH is newer and more advanced, but is not as good as its Li-Ion and Li-Poly counterparts. If we compare the last three types (Ni-MH, Li-Ion, Li-Poly), we find that Ni-MH batteries weigh more than the other two, but produce less current than the other two. Li-Ion and Li-Poly are the most advanced types of batteries on the market, and you should try to get one of these two types if possible. Most laptops that come with one type of battery can not use any other type of ibm-thinkpad-t21-battery, meaning that if your laptop came with a Ni-Cad, it must be replaced by another Ni-Cad. The same goes for the other types. Please note that in some cases, this does not apply. Some laptops that come with a Ni-MH battery can be replaced with a stronger Li-Ion one.
Lastly you must look at the power rating of the item you’re buying. As technology advances, so do power ratings. The battery you bought last year may be twice as strong this year, and might even be the same physical size. Batteries have two main ratings on them: Volts and Amperes. Because laptop batteries do not carry a very large amount of power when compared to larger batteries such as car batteries, most companies show their ratings with Volts and Milliamperes. One thousand Milliamperes equals 1 Ampere. When buying a battery, always go for the battery with the most Milliamperes (or mAh). Batteries are also rated by Watt-Hours, perhaps the simplest rating of all. This is found by multiplying the Volts and the Amperes together. We will now show you an example of finding the Watt-Hours for our example battery.
Our example battery is 14.4 Volts, 3600mAh
(remember that 3600mAh is equal to 3.6 Amperes).
14.4 x 3.6 = 51.84
This battery has 51.84 Watt-Hours. The term Watt Hour signifies the energy needed to power one watt for one hour. Thus this battery can power 51.84 watts for one hour. Suppose your laptop runs at 25.92 watts (this may be unlikely, but let’s use this just for simplicity). This ibm-thinkpad-t22-battery could power your laptop for 2 hours. People usually associate the word ‘Watts’ with light bulbs, and yes, this battery could power a 40 watt light bulb for about an hour and 18 minutes, a 60 watt light bulb for about 52 minutes, or a 100 watt light bulb for 31 minutes; it’s the same idea.
The reason we have shown you watt-hours is because oftentimes the volts and Amperes vary. For example our laptop that uses a Li-Ion 14.4 Volt, 3600mAh battery may use a NI-MH battery that is 9.6 Volts, 4000mAh. Now let’s do the math and find out which battery is stronger.
Li-Ion: 14.4 Volts x 3.6 Amperes = 51.84 Watt Hours
Ni-MH: 9.6 Volts x 4 Amperes = 38.4 Watt Hours
The Li-Ion is stronger.

Are iPods exploding all over the place? According to the Times Online, an iPod touch belonging to 11 year-old Ellie Stanborough of Liverpool, England, started hissing and emitting vapor before an explosion sent it flying ten feet into the air. When Ellie’s father, Ken, contacted Apple to ask for a refund, the company agreed, though reputedly on the condition that the Stanboroughs agreed to not talk about the incident.

That didn’t sit well with Ken Stanborough, who declined to sign the agreement and subsequently talked to the Times:

“They’re putting a life sentence on myself, my daughter and Ellie’s mum, not to say anything to anyone. If we inadvertently did say anything, no matter what, they would take litigation against us. I thought that was absolutely appalling.”

Apple, meanwhile, disputes the claim, telling British news service Sky News that the letter in question was a standard settlement agreement. It also said that Stanborough refused to send the iPod back to Apple for investigation.

This isn’t the first time that an iPod has supposedly met with a fiery fate; like many electronic devices, the iPod uses a lithium-ion battery, a technology which can present a risk of fire, especially if the battery is damaged. In 2006, a number of laptop vendors, including Dell and Hitachi, recalled batteries manufactured by electronics giant Sony, which were known to be susceptible to overheating. Apple itself has issued battery recalls several times in the past, most notably in 1995 with the infamous PowerBook 5300 series, but also in more recent years.

In 2008, the government of Japan asked Apple to investigate a sparking iPod nano; Apple attributed the problem to faulty batteries. A recent investigation by Seattle news station KIRO revealed 800 pages of information on iPod fire mishaps documented by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, though it only listed 15 distinct incidents. In March of this year, an Ohio woman filed suit against Apple claiming that her son’s iPod touch exploded in his pants.

Of course, part of the reason that the iPod is so prominent in this kind of case is its overwhelming popularity: the device is almost eight years old, and Apple’s sold more than 150 million iPods in the last two years alone. Even a single batch of flawed batteries could have huge repercussions. In addition, the trend towards miniaturization of devices means that electronics manufacturers and battery makers are trying to pack more and more power into smaller spaces.

Any electronic device is imperfect and subject to problems; that doesn’t mean Apple doesn’t need to hold its suppliers to high manufacturing standards. But it isn’t surprising that Apple wants to keep a lid on the negative PR that can come out of a situation like this—no manufacturer would be thrilled to say its products catch on fire, even if it’s a one-in-a-million occurrence. It’s also likely that the company investigates such claims to try and figure out the root cause of the problem and, if necessary, issue recalls. It’s most certainly not a good situation, but the other alternative leads to panic and accusations, which are usually counterproductive.

Long-term, the solution may be to move away from lithium-ion batteries as power sources. That’s an expensive proposition and one that requires a large investment into research and development, especially since it’s been the predominant battery technology for consumer electronics devices for over a decade. Apple’s certainly put a lot of work into battery technology for its most recent line of laptops, and while it understandably doesn’t say anything about reduced fire or explosion risk, one would hope that’s part of the package.