Ultrabay Slim battery capacity (08K8190)?

[ricerocket]

Hey guys...I'm new. Good informative forum you've got here.

I just put my order in for a T43 CTO, 2686-E6U. Came out to ~$1270 and change as the educational price (and $88 tax ). Comes with 14" SXGA+, ATI x300 w/ 64 MB, Pentium M 750 1.86 GHz, 512 MB PC4200 (current free upgrade promotion), the el-cheapo $8.50 2200BG wireless mPCI card, 9 cell battery, 40 GB 5400 rpm HD, and CD/DVD reader (no writer). It was basically the cheapest 14" SXGA+ T series I could find (the 15" chassis didn't really fit my tastes).

Anyways, how much benefit will the Ultrabay slim battery provide? Anyone have any numbers? I have a T23 right now and since I rarely used the optical drive, I replaced it with a Ultrabay 2000 battery, and it provides ~38 Wh on top of the system battery which gives ~47 Wh, totalling around 85 Wh (or around 4 hrs run time ). But since dimensionally the Ultrabay Slim battery is smaller, I wouldn't expect the same amount of capacity...although the lower consumption of the Pentium M chips should help it to do more with less power. So, yeah, anyone have some technical data and also some real world figures? Thanks.

[christopher_wolf]

It should add on about 2-2.5 Hours..Also, have you looked at the Hi Capacity 9-Cell Battery?

[ricerocket]

I saw it on the Lenovo website, but it comes up with a 404 error when I try to click it. It's also $10 cheaper than the 9 cell lithium, which made me believe it wasn't as high a capacity, or was superceded with the current 9 cell part.

[davidspalding]

I see you already have the larger 9-cell battery, so I'm not sure why you might want to get the Ultrabay battery as well. Maybe like me you measure performance by smiles per battery-hour.

I have a T43 (P-M 760? I think so) with a stock 6-cell and the Ultrabay. In practice, the Ultrabay power gives maybe as much as 50% more power than the 6-cell battery; probably more like 35%. In practice, I've gotten about 6+ hours use out of both of them. YMMV, depending on how you configure Power Manager schemes. I like the "Power Source optimized" scheme, and saved a slightly changed version of it for my own use.

BTW, something I like about the PM is that it uses up the #2 battery first, then switches to the #1. In such an instance, you could remove the Ultrabay battery and install your CD drive. And BTW,... when you pop out the Ultrabay removal tab, the Easy Eject driver automagically stops the device and gives the okay for removal.

YMMV, but for me the price for the second battery outweighed the benefit of just getting the 9-cell. Since you have the 9-cell, I'm not sure the Ultrabay battery will wow you quite so much. It might add 2-2.5 hours of runtime, but it might only amount to a 25% increase of your runtime anyway. Is that worth the dough?

[christopher_wolf]

Good points....Combining both Ultrabay and 9-Cell simply extend out how much time you can actually work on your Thinkpad. It seems to be part of an "All-Day Computing" Strategy that IBM has. It isn't bad, but I don't really know how of how much more use you will get out of it per cost. It might really help get in that little bit of extra time you need for a Project while Mobile; yet the only places that I have been to that don't have a wall AC Socket are the inside of a car and the inside of an aircraft. I have yet once to fully deplete my 9-Cell battery on one of those little trips.

[ricerocket]

Hmm...makes sense. I do tend to deplete my current T23 down to ~0% a lot, since I'm the roaming type that doesn't want to be tethered even while at home. I'll figure out some cost analysis, but thanks for the data.

Now, just so I get this straight....are there two 9-cell batteries? One "normal" capacity, one high capacity? I see two listed on the website (FRU's 08K8197 and 92P1102), but only the URL to 92P1102 works...which is $10 more than the other one. And when I search by FRU on Google, both have the similar descriptions (about being 1/3 more powerful than the 6-cell). Any clues?

[christopher_wolf]

As far I know, there is only one 9-Cell Battery and that is High Capacity already.

[davidspalding]

Something I forgot to mention, is that for most laptops I've had, I've invested in up to 3 AC adapters rather than multiple batteries. Cheaper than batteries, usually. My usual modus operandi is to have an adapter in the home, one at the office/cubicle, and maybe one in the car/satchel for the rare occurrence when I need to plug in at a café. When I have so many options to let the laptop "sip up some power," multiple batteries haven't really been an issue.

With my T43 (which is all of about 3 weeks old now), I've found that it lasts up to 5 or 6 hours. By that time ... it REALLY IS TIME for me to close up and move along somewhere.

FWIW, at IBM, many, many people with Thinkpads had the 9-cell batteries. Standard issue. That might tell you something. Of course ... charging time at the desk BTWEEN meetings might be limited, in which case having the equivalent of a camel for battery power is a good idea. It all depends on how YOU work. "Your mileage may vary" and all that. Frankly, since you have the 9-cell in there as standard, I'd save your $ on the Ultrabay battery, which you can always buy later, and see if you can get a good price on an extra AC adapter somewhere.

[Jmmmmm]

I have the ultrabay battery (in addition to a regular battery and a 9-cell battery). I think I've seen people say the ultra bay is about 4 cells, which seems right to me. It really doesn't add very much time. I've never paid that much attention, and obviously it depends on what you're doing, but the ultrabay only adds about an hour or 1 1/2 hrs to my runtime.

If you run the 9cell down frequently out of necessity, it may help you out. But, I've found the ultrabay battery to be of limited usefulness. I really don't go without access to a plug for that many hours frequently, so I usually opt not to add the extra weight of the battery. IMO, it's a nice thing to have, but it isn't worth the money for most people. The extra ac adapter is very useful for me, though.

[JaneL]

Of course ... charging time at the desk BTWEEN meetings might be limited, in which case having the equivalent of a camel for battery power is a good idea. It all depends on how YOU work. "Your mileage may vary" and all that.

Very true about so many things.

I had one of the ultrabay batteries that I almost never used, so I gave it to my brother-in-law. He's in love with it because of the freedom it gives him at work, at home and while traveling for short periods. It's always in his TP, so he doesn't have to remember to take along an AC adaptor.

[davidspalding]

Here, I'll do a little experiment fer ya. I've got both the 6-cell and the Ultrabay batt, both charged up to 100%.

Switching Power Manager to the Maximum battery life setting, unplugging, Power Manager reports 4:18 remaining. Pop out the second battery, Power Manager estimages 2:44.

What'd I say, about 50% more? Looks right ... but I can tell you that I've worked at a cafe with Wifi and BT on, batteries only, for maybe up to 4 1/2 or 5 hours. Unlike some laptops I've used, power drain and time-remaining estimates have been linear on a Thinkpad, allowing me to run it right down to 2%/red bar/oh-#*&%-I'm-outta-power point where just hibernating uses up the last 1%. Just like the ads say. Too bad Thinkpads don't run on chai lattes.