They are really quite sturdy. I bought mine a few years ago for a few hundred, as I just needed a cheap laptop for school, and this fit the bill perfectly. Anyway, if you want the batteries, send me a message, I can be flexible with the price, if need be.
Unfortuntely my parents use it to surf the internet infront of the TV (can you tell we're American?) and I dont think they'd take kindly to parting with it. Is there a big market for the M700 or something?