Last time I opened one up it had all sorts of charging circuitry inside. They also have safety sensors for over heat. So there is a genuine reason why they are more expensive than the amount of plastic, cells and connectors we see. But if that extra technology is worth more than an extra £20 or so over the basic parts I doubt it.
Specialist spares for any equipment tend to be very expensive - just ask a Bukh owner /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Laptop batteries are not particularly standard, so you need to go to the cost of manufacturing and holding spares for a relatively small number of sales. These days laptops themselves are pretty well disposable so in most cases the battery will outlive the economic usefulness of the laptop.
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Luckily my employer supplies me with a laptop, I was curious to find out the price of a spare battery, £140 from Maplins. Why????
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"Why" Simple, because Maplin know that buisnesses and companies will go there for a replacement, so they lay it on,
where as a private individual would be more inclined to shop around or use ebay
There was a crtain amount of dancing about perhaps a year ago when one laptop caught fire because of a malfunctioning Lithium battery. There was a film of it on You Tube.
Partly 'cos they are highest battery technology, and partly because they don't sell many, when the battery goes your laptop is obsolete anyway! The laptop manufacturers get very good pricing, the battery manufacturers try to recover some profit through the spares perhaps?