OK, the cost of a new factory replacement battery for my laptop is half the price of buying a new laptop. So, I am looking for recommendations on a good source for a laptop battery. If you feel uncomfortable posting it publicly, just PM me with your preferred vendor.

PROMISE: I promise not hold anyone "responsible" for the decision I make in regards to a vendor.

I also understand that none, or most, of you are not affiliated with any of the companies.

I thank you in advance.

my brother swears by newegg (formerly Gateway). I got a new laptop battery last year and was actually surprised at how cheap they had become. Hope something works out for you.

+1 on newegg.com too. Good vendor, great shipping. I recently purchased a hard drive from newegg.com, and a hard drive enclosure from Amazon. The HD was on my doorstep in about 1 day, the enclosure took a week. Both offered free shipping. I was shopping price, and Amazon had a slightly lower one on the enclosure - I should have figured in the latency of receiving things from Amazon. I would have been totally satisfied to have both the HD and enclosure on my doorstep the next day. Next time I'll remember that. That's the kind of service I expect from newegg.

on the laptop battery, make double sure your OEM battery is specifically designed for the make / model of your laptop. I've seen (at least on Dell laptops) the wrong battery dropped in and suddenly experiencing electrical-related issues during shutdown, power issues etc. It can't be good for an aging laptop.

usual disclaimer - no affiliation with newegg, amazon etc

Newegg has done very well by me over the years. So has Frys.com.

I would not recommend an aftermarket battery for a laptop. I haven't seen a single one that worked as well as the original. You're probably better off buying a new laptop.

Seems like newegg is pretty obvious. Personally, I used amazon for my last battery, and simply found one with the best ratings (and a significant number of them; 5 star doesn't mean crap if there is 1 rating).
As for OEM vs aftermarket, personally I had no problem getting the aftermarket battery, and it has worked fine for me so far. Its not rocket science, and there isn't anything the OEM's do that others can't figure out. Everybody is using the same cells, and it isn't complicated electronics. The only real difference is quality control. So long as there are enough ratings (>100), they are high, and the distribution is normal (more 5 star than 4, more 4 than 3,...,more 2 than 1; If there are more 1 star than 2/3/4, then that would usually indicate a problem) I'll consider that decent enough QC.

I got mine here...

http://www.pacificbattery.com/laptop.html

Thanks for the help everyone.