help sould i take the dell back?

Hi, couple of questions before I answer this. Do you like the laptop? Is the only problem the battery?

Dell sells a 9 cell longlife battery for about $120.00. If you have a Batteries Plus store near it is should be less than $100.00. Either way you are going to be spending more $$$ on this system. Believe it or not you may be able to find a NEW laptop with better features for just a little more than curing your battery problem. If it were me, I would take the Dell back to where I bought it and tell them to either replace the battery with a NEW one of refund my money. Then use that refund to buy a NEW laptop.

Second option is to wear the ball and chain, use the power adapter always and sacrafice mobility.

The Inspiron 1525 is a laptop from 2008. It contains a specific 6 cell battery which should last about 2.5-3.5 hrs. With it being used, the battery may not be new. The battery could have sustained many "charges" with the previous user. The more charges a laptop battery endures creates less amount of battery life for the user.

The only thing you can do is buy another battery which may run up from 50-100 dollars. However, i recommend you change your laptop's settings to power saver mode and reduce the screen's brightness to save battery life. You should get an extra half hour by doing this if not more.

If your mom is willing to pay more for a laptop, then go ahead to get a better laptop. It'll be a better investment for the future. A laptop that old will struggle once you start using it more and the requirements of some of the apps will be higher. And since it doesn't even last 2 hours... that laptop should be selling less. Lasting less than 2 hours is far below standards.

Well it should say on the box how long its supposed to last but i dont think thats long enough. Call customer support then bring it back. Dont demand ur money back! Demand a new one.