Thinkpads Forum

Hi Guys,

First off I'd like to say 'Hi' and thanks to all how have been posted. I got a cheap second hand X60 a few months ago and have been lurking and leeching as much knowledge as I can out of these forums ever since.

I love my little X60, I've upgraded the RAM and fitted an SSD and it runs Windows 7 brilliantly.

However, it's time for me to face the reality of buying cheap second hand laptops - Battery life.

I bought the X60 to carry with me to meetings (without having to lug a charger) and to use on the train on business trips. Unfortunately the battery life is proving to be a problem with that.

I'm looking for a replacement battery in the UK, all I can find is Lenovo batteries which cost more than the machine&RAM&SSD combined, or 3rd party ones which I have no faith in.

I'd be happy to get about 3 hours continuous battery life out of my X60, currently I'm getting about 90 mins.

Can any kind soul out there help me out with the answers to these questions (I have had a search on here, but found no conclusive answers).

1) What is the max batery life I could expect out of my X60? (Centrino/Win7/SSD.Wifi On).
2) What is the cheapest way to get to about 3 hours battery life?
3) Can anybody recommend a reliable seller of 3rd party batteries who sell to the UK?
4) Can anybody recommend a reliable seller of good used Lenovo batteries who sell to the UK?

I've looked on the marketplace forum and it seems to be mostly US based folk on there.

Thanks in advance,

Pedd

I get pretty much exactly 4 hours on my X60 tablet (Core 2 Duo L7400, Windows 7, SSD, WiFi on (Intel 6300), 5/7 ~ 7/7 screen brightness) from a "new old stock" Lenovo 8-cell battery. The 8-cell battery for regular X60 have slightly larger capacity than the tablet battery, so you should be able to get a solid 4 hours from a good battery.

As for sellers, there are a few members here who regularly have new and used Lenovo batteries for sale, so you should check out the Marketplace section of this forum. However, most of them are located in the US, and the shipping cost may be higher than normal because of a recent ban by US Postal Service for shipping Li-ion batteries.
For 3rd-party batteries, I have bought from battdepot.com once, and the quality seems good.

I have an X60s with an official Lenovo extended battery, type 22++ (5.2Ah 75Wh) FRU 42T4776, ASM 92P1174 (AKA 40Y7003).
With W7 and a 32GB SSD in it I get over 8 hours out of 1 charge!
IMHO it pays to get an official battery.
But I see the prices in the UK are rather over the top!

Since May 2012 we are no longer allowed to ship batteries out of the USA, see http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=104014
There are quite a few UK members on this forum. Place a WTB (Want To Buy) ad in our Marketplace forum.
Or get yours perhaps from the continent?
On www.ebay.de search for "batterie ibm x60" and see prices around €30-40 for knockoffs.

RealBlackStuff, what about courier services like UPS, FedEx and others?

Way too costly I would expect.
I live in the countryside, far away from such amenities as a Fedex or UPS shop.
Their pickup charges alone already kill any deal for me, let alone shipping abroad!
Anybody interested, go look up prices at the Fedex and UPS websites, personally I can't be bothered.

Many thanks for the quick responses guys - I'll check out battdepot.com and maybe put a WTB on the market.

Thanks again!

Just go on e-bay-you can buy one for £15-£25 delivered.

pedd, as per ibaG's reply: just fish around on eBay - I get around 45mins on my slim-line compact battery (original), but had a couple of the big (8-cell?) ones that I bought off eBay for about <£40 delivered to the UK (for two!).

And I'd agree with those times (based on my 4Gb, SSD, 2Ghz C2D X61), about 4hrs battery life with moderate power saving: reasonable screen brightness and no CPU throttling... theoretically I think it'll do about 7hrs if you dial back enough that you can watch an mpeg off a USB stick, but only just (cpu throttled and low brightness)... but I've never had to go beyond 5hrs on one battery.

Posted this over on your other thread but you might want to consider checking out eBay UK listings 110908892582 (£12.90+£3.00 for delivery) and 110898317905 (£22.50+£1.95 for delivery), as they are showing as being genuine batteries with decent enough prices IMHO.

EDIT: Those batteries should be compatible with your X60 but you should message the seller to confirm the FRU/ASM part number to check...trust but verify.