Laptop batteries

[CelticWhisper]

My HP Probook 4310s is steadily declining in the battery-life department and I'm looking at possibly acquiring a second battery. True to form for OEMs, HP charges exorbitant prices and I've at least looked at third-party batteries.

Having never actually purchased a secondary laptop battery before, I'm not sure if this is a mind-bogglingly stupid idea or not.

So - do I stay with OEM for fear of frying the laptop or are aftermarket batteries a safe bet? The laptop is out of warranty, if that matters.

If aftermarket batteries are an okay way to go, does anyone know of any particularly good brands?

[Astra.Xtreme]

If you're not opposed to eBay, you can get OEM batteries on there for pretty cheap if you get lucky. I've done that plenty of times.

You can also get the chinese knock-off batteries for about $10. They will work, but will obviously degrade in quality quite quickly. I wouldn't recommend that route unless you are on a really limited budget.

[CelticWhisper]

Will try Ebay - not really opposed to it, no.

What about this one:

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=217537390&sellerid=25505856

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

I don't think aftermarket batteries will be much of a problem, especially if you can get them for much cheaper. As long as they're the correct voltage and have a decent amp-hour rating... you should be fine.