After about one month past the first anniversary of my Dell XPS m1530, the Dell battery that came with my computer (85Wh, 9-cell Li-ion) stopped charging, or, when it did charge, would only hold the charge for a few minutes. This was a sudden change, not the usual gradual decline in capacity over a number of years as I have experienced with other laptops. Not great, since although the computer has a few years of warranty left, Dell only gives the battery one year. I looked into getting another Dell battery from Dell, but found it to be very expensive, and that a lot of people were having similar experiences with their Dell batteries shortly after the one year mark.
After a lot of searching, I found this third party battery on Amazon, which cost less than half the price of the Dell battery. This battery has been working great so far. If I have future problems in a year I will be sure to return to provide an update.
A few things to note about the dimensions of this battery. It is not as long as my old Dell battery (10-7/8 inch vs 12-1/2 inch). Both batteries raise the computer when installed, but the new battery raises the computer about 1/8 inch less than the old Dell battery. Finally, this new battery extends out the back of the laptop by about 1/2 inch, whereas the old Dell battery did not extend past the back of the laptop at all. I never noticed that the new battery extended past the back until I tried to put my laptop in my backpack and it would not fit in the laptop sleeve.
Update 12/2010:
I have been using this battery for about 20 months now and I have not had any problems, well, except I think one of the rubber feet came off a few months ago, but I just pressed it back in place and it has not bothered me since. I have not performed any formal testing of how long it holds a charge, but my gut feeling is that it is still acceptable, since I do not worry about it if I have to do some work and I cannot plug into an outlet. Overall it is still doing much better than my original Dell battery. Li-ion Battery For Dell XPS M1530 series replace RU006 RU033 RN894 GP975 TK330 312-0664 series Ac Laptop Notebook Main Battery [ 7200mAh 9 Cells]
I bought this because the 6 cell battery for my M1530 didn't last quite as long as I would like. I received the product 5 business days after ordering in good packaging with a special bag to protect the battery. Took out my old battery and put this one in and it worked right away. Came 50% charged and now at high performance I can get a good 3 - 3.5 hours out of it; I can get much more by setting Vista to balanced or power saver. BE AWARE THAT THIS BATTERY RAISES THE BACK OF YOUR LAPTOP WHEN INSTALLED. Only con that doesn't really matter is that the seller did not notify me when the battery was shipped or provide me with a tracking number but I still got it in decent time. Also this battery is much cheaper than buying it from Dell.
Purchased this about 2 years after the purchase of my M1530. Went to Dell's website and was not about to spend one hundred and fifty five bucks. Got it in about 3 days, the packaging was professional and I was impressed. I have the 8600M GT and the 1440x900 screen, and on power saver with a few notches of brightness lower than the highest setting, the battery lasted almost 5 hours on the first charge. The battery itself is no bigger than the dell 9 cell. If you are skeptical about purchasing a third party battery, simply do not be, at least from AGPtek.
Bought this because my original Dell XPS M1530 laptop battery would not charge. It would get stuck at 1% and wouldn't show as charging in Vista system tray (or BIOS) even when plugged in. It would say "Charging" for a split second when unplugged and plugged back in, then revert to "Idle". Updated the BIOS to revision A09 as recommended by one fix guide, no joy. It showed "Primary battery not installed" in BIOS. Original battery still showed 100% health by using the tester button, oddly enough.
As a result, I bought and switched to this battery. Received it from power_direct through Amazon. Plugged it in, and it was recognized. The laptop charges this one just fine. I guess it was a problem with the original Dell battery or motherboard incompatibility. (Battery DRM/planned obsolescence?) If anyone else reads this and is in the same situation, get a generic like this, not another Dell battery! Also you can't see it in the pictures, but it does have a battery tester strip on the bottom that works similarly to the Dell ones, minus the "battery health" secondary function.
ONE WARNING: Mine did NOT come in a proper box or with any certificates of authenticity, manual, papers - nothing. (Got it from power_direct here at Amazon.) It just came in an antistatic bag inside a standard Amazon.com box. Also, the battery sticker was completely different - it wasn't AGPtek, it was plain and looked like the second picture above. No serial number sticker or anything. It merely made mention of being "Made in China" (for those who care) and some other minor details. It did seem new and unopened.
Also, it sticks out a heck of a lot more than the old 6-cell I had, but this is a battery BAR instead of a PACK so that is to be expected. It increases airflow on the bottom air vents, but it can get annoying (and uncomfortable) if you are used to a slim profile battery. Also, the long thin end hangs out quite a bit, doesn't latch into anything, and can wiggle a bit as a result - a bit unnerving. I'd recommend you stick to a small 6-cell battery unless you really need the extra battery life. A wall outlet isn't that far away most of the time anyway.
In terms of battery performance, I am still running through the initial charge/discharge break-in period so can't say much. If I mention the price it may be censored, but this seemed to be one of the better values for the buck at the time of writing. - Laptop Battery - Dell - Laptop - Laptop Batteries'
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