Q: I have an aging B130 Dell notebook that is in need of a new battery, since these things go at over $130 and only last a year I may as well go ahead and get a new notebook. I can get by with just a basic model, nothing special, any suggestions about notebooks that have a longer battery life than one year?
A: i would probably recommend purchasing a specially configured laptop, possibly from HP. you can choose a different battery than the standard one, and your choice would have good battery life on a single charge and should have a long life span as well. if you're looking for budget, go with an AMD chipset, but if you have money to burn, go with an Intel processor. Dell and HP make excellent laptops, with Toshiba not far behind. in my experience, Toshiba laptops are far more expensive than Dell OR HP though. I know that you can configure a laptop from HP and choose a different battery, but i'm not sure about online configurations with Dell. Most in-store laptops, unless you're willing to spend a good bit of money, will come with a 6- or 8-cell battery, which has decent life, but won't last all that well through the years.