Dell Adamo battery not user-replaceable, says bearer of harsh truths
By Laura June 
posted March 23rd 2009 6:07PM
posted March 23rd 2009 6:07PM
Possibly not surprising, but certainly to be filed under "subtly disappointing" is the news that has just recently been confirmed: Adamo's battery is not able to be replaced by the user. No fun, you say? Well, it is, of course, replaceable, should the need arise, it just has to be sent into Dell for the procedure, though we don't yet know how much the company is going to charge for all that. Guess if you have to get a new juice pack for your laptop your "lifestyle" will have to be temporarily put on hold, huh?
You spelled "subtly" wrong. I know that it looks weird, but there is no "e."
Anybody need this particular "issue" to convince themselves to not get that $2000 POS, they deserve the Adamo.
What a piece of shit. Honestly. The one thing that might pull some of the Air-naysayers. I could see them justifying this if they could guarantee "8+ hours" of battery life using the 17" Pro technique, but they didn't even do that.
I"m genuinely just curious as to why having a replaceable battery is such an issue. I have a laptop with a removable battery but I've never once had to replace it let alone remove it. I use it as my primary machine and If it needs recharging I find an outlet and recharge. There's usually an outlet in any structure in the developed world. What kind of jobs are so crucial that require one to be without access to an electrical outlet?
I totally ageee. Not only do all the structures have power outlets but any car is also capable of providing charge, heck I see homeless people charging their gear from random public outlets.
The only place is potentially a hiking trip and if u need ur laptop out there I suspect u are there for professional reasons and probably have a team and a generator. Even a lone photographer would return to camp to upload images and check them, then that's what 30min work.
Further I want to know how these alleged carriers of multiple batteries charge them. Mostly they must be in the device or (like my camera) is a single slot external charger. So they have a servant swapping each battery during the night so they all are ready in the morning? Or perhaps they wake up every 2-4 hrs and swap batteries. Or maybe they buy as many laptops as they need batteries and have them in a rack just to act as chargers. Wow these Engadget posters are so rich they can afford servants or to buy 3 or 4 laptops just to use as chargers...
...or maybe they are speaking crap. Yeah....
thats why you get at home service, what a group of wankers
IMO Dell Adamo = Fail... get the Lenovo X301 instead.
Wow, this is just as stupid as Apple doing this. They are soo totally copying the wrong aspects of Apple.
Overpriced. Piece. Of. Shit. Period.
They'll not see my money for this.
Dell, you already have a better spec-ed thin-n-light notebook, complete with removable battery. It's called the Latitude E4200.
I've always had this take on devices like this. Somebody put it together, I bet I can take it apart.
If it has a battery, and you can find the cells to replace it, you can replace the battery.
The problem with LiOn batts is that unless you want them to explode, you better find a matched set...
Too bad.. Guess the Adamo is dead out of the water.. Gesh.. I know I didnt buy a Laptop w/ a battery I cant replace.. And there is no way I would..!!
Dell better cover battery replacement in its warrenty AND give you a minimum of one replacement after the warrenty is up.
You are all REALLY over-reacting over this battery thing. Dell doesn't put warranty stickers on there machines, and actually typically let you download the service manual.
I would bet you have to remove the keyboard (maybe) and then the baseplate, if they didn't make the baseplate removable by itself. It would take someone with half a brain 10 minutes to go to support.dell.com, type in the service tag, and find the service manual. Another 10 minutes to find a screwdriver and take off the keyboard and baseplate, then 10 more to put it back together. That's 30 minutes every few years, at worst.
How difficult is it to replace a macbook air battery?
Crap... Their. I can't edit a post either.. lol
And where would you acquire such a battery? Have you any knowledge of dell's past behaviour? This isn't the first time they made life difficult for people, not by far, and they are quite adept at it.
If you have the money to blow on this dumb thing anyway then you can afford to have it repaired or replaced. Doesn't dell have those insane warranties available where they will replace the laptop no matter if the damage is your fault or not?
Thats awesome, especially when your laptop locks up and you unplug the power and its still frozen and you start to hit your head repeatedly against your desk until you black out and then come back to consciousness and the laptop is still frozen. AWESOME.
Push and hold power button. Laptops had this since, I don't know, at least a decade.
The torrent of negative comments on the first page is not surprising. Lots of screaming with not much substance. If we remove all those people who have never bought a second battery in their life, 90% of those comments would be gone. The rest is outraged that they now have to send in their laptop instead of ... requesting a battery to be sent to them. Huge huge outrage!! Outrage!! It's very upsetting, I know. But consider the benefits for a moment: Larger battery in the same form factor.
I am writing this on a 17" full featured laptop that lasts 7 hours on battery. As a result, I don't need a power adapter in my backpack and therefore carry just as much weight as I did before with my 15" laptop + power adapter.
Non-user replaceable FTW.
I also have an iPhone and while I am so, so sad that I can't buy a new battery for it, the original battery is still as good as it was, and come to think of it I have never bought a 2nd battery for any of my cellphones before even though those had user-replaceable batteries.
You've never had to replace a battery on your laptop/phone.
I guess that applies to every single person. Really, what were we thinking, making all this ruckus?
The simple fact is batteries are considered a consumable and are not covered by most warranties. While it's true that in most cases these batteries can be expected to last for most if not all of the usable lifetime of the product, they can be known to fail after a short period of time, and as such, must be user replacable.
This is not just my opinion - the EU are considering legislation to prevent the sale of electronic products with non-user replacable batteries. Whatever benefits there might be, it carries the risk of a seriously diminished experience for the end user, and while the majority of people may never encounter these problems, who wants to be one of the few that does?
What I'm surprised about is how light the comments are over here compared with the hate-fest that the iHaters unleashed in the 17'' inch MacBook Pro's post. Geez, oh well. I just don't see what the big deal is one way or another. I've been using my laptop since 2006, I'm still using the same battery and I've always found a power source for my power adaptor when my battery is low on power.
User replaceable batteries seem pretty crucial for a number of reasons, not just the obvious one. I mean, how safe is it to upgrade your hdd or ram or etc. with the battery connected?! I suppose Dell requires that NO upgrade be done by the user, which is ridiculous. This IS becoming a trend, and it blows.
Blame Apple.
I notice that a lot of people confuse the possibility of owning two batteries and swapping them (which doesn't work with the built-in batteries) with the ability to replace a broken battery (which does work).
50% more capacity for the minor inconvenience of having the swap done at the service center = win
Solution: Just buy an extension cord: http://thetechnexus.com/archives/315
What percentage of people actually have two batteries for their laptop anyways? Also, carrying a second battery negates the whole point of having a super light laptop! So whats the problem folks?
Guys, super slim laptops are a small category of laptops (pun intended). The non-removable battery is a trade-off. If you don't like it, get any one of the other 99% of laptops on the market.
Sometimes less is more. This is something that nerds can't wrap their head around.
BTW, going on almost 2 years with my original iPhone. Battery holding up fine. Never once have I wished for a replaceable battery.... and never once have I heard someone in the real world wish for one either. I think the market has spoken. Otherwise Dell wouldn't be following.
I got to play with an Adamo yesterday, it's a pretty nice machine but being heavier, slower, and more expensive than a MacBook Air is really kind of a deal-breaker.
The battery *IS* replaceable, you just need a special tool to do it. And access to a replacement battery, which I don't think Dell is going to be selling separately, but if you have warranty coverage I think they will send someone out to do it for you after you pay for the battery.
Oh oh, look at me, I am such a victim, I do not have a screwdriver, I have no way of opening up a freaking laptop enclosure. This is ignorant. In the last month of your warranty, you call Dell and claim short battery life. A Dell technician will come to your house, open your Adamo on his little anti-static mat and replace the battery in front of your eyes. And you will see how he does it and next time, when you're out of warranty, you get that battery from eBay and get the job done yourself, like everybody else.
Great, so when the battery fails at 12 months and 1 week you have to pay $400 to get it replaced, sounds great.
Not to mention that Dell batteries are among the worst of any laptop maker.
I used to work for Dell and I can't count how many Latitude and XPS batteries I replaced in the 18 months I was with them. Most were mid-warranty period or just past the measly 1 year.
Get over it. This "trend" won't spill onto your 500 dollar Latitude. If you don't like it don't buy it.