where to buy new battery for Lenovo Thinkpad E450

March 26, 2022 8:18 PM

I"m having my Lenovo Thinkpad E450 repaired (needs new fan); it also needs a new battery but the repair place says they can't get one from their usual suppliers (the battery is starting to swell). I see I can buy a new one online myself. Should I do this? Will a battery stated as "new" on ebay or Amazon really be new? Or should I look someplace else (eg NewEgg)?
posted by DMelanogaster to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

If the item's fulfilled by Amazon, you can get it in a few days, and it's usually covered by Amazon's return policy if it doesn't work out. But you pay for that convenience in terms of higher prices. The one I saw is like $53, and is NOT shipped by Amazon, so it's probably shipped from China.

When it comes to eBay, you have to read the details. Often, the listing is for someone in China, and they'll ship it to you, no problem but it takes 3 weeks to get to you. But you generally pay a LOT less. Like HALF of what you see on Amazon. Like $23 with $4 S&H

Newegg nowadays is often like Amazon, as Newegg also do listings of third-party merchants, so unless it's stocked and sold by Newegg (which it won't be) it's really no different than eBay or Amazon. Prices I saw are in the 40's.

As they all probably come from China, you may as well order now from eBay and hope it'll be here in 3 weeks.
posted by kschang at 8:42 PM on March 26, 2022 [2 favorites]

Will a battery stated as "new" on ebay or Amazon really be new?

not guaranteed. I bought a "new" battery for my Yoga 2 on eBay and received one which quite obviously was removed from someone else's laptop (the little seals over the security screws were broken).
posted by Old Kentucky Shark at 9:43 PM on March 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Use a website such as fakespot.com to review any Amazon sellers. You can quickly weed out the bogus offers.
posted by blob at 10:13 PM on March 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

I would check out the "batteries-are-us" sites on the internet. I bought a battery for a GPS unit that was 1/3 the price of the Garmin one. It was just a bit different in size and I had to shim it in place with a piece of cardboard, but otherwise it's been fine. I dont know if they do laptop batteries, though.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:07 AM on March 27, 2022

Best answer: Ifixit is a reputable company and I trust their supply chains.
posted by ropeladder at 5:30 AM on March 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

Will a battery stated as "new" on ebay or Amazon really be new?

In my experience there's a significant chance it will be counterfeit and potentially made from used cells.
posted by Candleman at 7:13 AM on March 27, 2022 [1 favorite]