Laptop Troubles (batteries...)

[emzy]

Hi everyone,

So after my headphone socket giving out last week (I still haven't taken it to a shop - I'm hoping it just needs re-soldering!), I turned my laptop on this morning to be greeted by an alert saying that my battery is "nearing the end of its usable life"...

Laptop's a Dell, and the link the alert gave was to Dell batteries that cost £150... *dies*

Should I be looking at buying a new one? Or is it just a Dell scare tactic?

Are the ones on eBay worth bothering with? They're significantly cheaper. Or has anyone had any good experience with them?

Or could this just be a random one-off alert and it'll go away and everything will be fine?!