I’m in the midst of resurrecting a moribund laptop. While it’s “not quite dead yet,” in the Monty Python sense, this horse has been ridden hard and put up wet too many times. Well, okay … it hasn’t really been put up wet, but it has lived a tough life. Lots of things need to be fixed, starting with the laptop’s battery. Which begs the question … where do you buy your laptop batteries?

Yes indeed, I’m looking for recommendations …

The battery is at the top of the list, closely followed by the internal power board and external power supply/cable. It seems that we have an unfortunate habit of breaking the prong off the power cable here at Rancho Indebto. (It’s happened three times in the past four years.) This last time took the cake–the prong is hopelessly jammed inside the laptop’s power receptacle.

In addition to the the power situation, the keyboard is in the midst of shedding its keys. And then there’s the case … hey, it’s only cosmetically cracked. (Nothing that duct tape wouldn’t solve.)

The first “we’ll just send it off to the depot 2000 miles away and fix everything” quote came in at approximately $800. Eight hundred dollars. Yow. And that didn’t even include a replacement battery. Now you know why I’ve been looking at cheap laptops.

When I brought up the fact that an equivalent refurbished laptop would easily cost $100 less, the technician kindly suggested that he might order the specific parts and have them replaced them right there in the store.

Then I came up with the fantastic idea to live with the cracked case. The tab was halved.

I’m now looking at a total bill of $400 and change, including a new OEM laptop battery. But I’m thinking that I might be able to save a bit more–perhaps fifty bucks–by going with an after market laptop battery, rather than a factory unit … am I asking for trouble?