After several days of accidentally unplugging my battery-dead laptop (knocking away the power cord, unplugging the wrong cable, etc.), I ordered a new battery. My laptop is still usable without a battery. I just have to put it into hibernation before moving it around. Power interruptions could result in hard disk corruption, though, and I’d rather not have to deal with two broken components.

I decided to order an official battery from Lenovo.com instead of taking a risk on a third-party battery. It wasn’t cheap, but I figured that investing in tools is worth it. I regularly set aside money for tools and opportunities, so I used that.

I ordered the new battery for full price. When I remembered that IBM has an employee purchase program with Lenovo, I crossed my fingers and sent Lenovo an e-mail to ask if I could cancel my previous order. They cancelled it for me, and I reordered it for about $30 less. Never hurts to ask!

I was thinking about the new Lenovo X220 tablet, too. I really like my X61 tablet. The X220 promises a faster processor, higher resolution, and a much longer battery life. I think I can get away without that for now, though. Waiting for used X220s to turn up on Craigslist or similar sites could really reduce my costs. (Hmm, maybe I can ask work about my laptop refresh cycle…)

My battery arrived today. I’m really glad I can unplug my laptop and move it from room to room now. Yay! =)

2011-04-03 Sun 08:32