Want a spare battery for your HP Mini-Note? You’d better have $200 or so to spare, because HP is charging $191 for a spare/replacement 6-cell 55Wh battery. Yep, a single battery will cost you almost 2/5ths the price of the cheapest Mini-Note laptop.
There was a fire in a major battery manufacturing plant earlier this year which has affected the global supply of laptop batteries. But it’s not clear whether it’s also affecting the prices for these batteries, especially since HP is accepting orders but doesn’t actually have the batteries in stock yet. In other words, I see no evidence that HP will lower the prices for spare batteries later.
The moral of this story: If you want the higher capacity 6-cell battery, spring for a more expensive computer configuration up front, because adding a battery down the road is just going to make your wallet cry. Well, until cheaper knockoff batteries start showing up eBay anyway.
[via MiniNote User]