Thinkpads Forum

We have a retreat in the countryside that runs exclusively on solar/battery power.

I'm looking to replace an aging T60 that simply draws too much power.

Have read reviews that suggest the T420 is less thirsty than the T430.

Is this accurate? If so, can any quantify the difference, assuming I'm using a 1600x900 screen and nVidia graphics?

First, practicality. I imagine that your retreat needs to power a lot of stuff which is way more hungry than a laptop. Probably by like two orders of magnitude. If so, whatever minor differences may exist between the two laptops (single watts, tops), they are too small to be significant and not worth dwelling on.

Second, theory. Look for Notebookcheck.net reviews on the two models. They always have a section dedicated to power consumption measurements.

You must have a Kill-A-Watt: http://www.p3international.com/products/p4400.html
What does it tell you?

In a like situation, I would consider partitioning the computer tasks between the laptop and a tablet. Use the laptop only when the task demands it. An Android tablet can be paired with mouse and keyboard. Office suites exist. When not charging, power consumption of a 10" tablet is around 3 watts.

precip9 wrote:You must have a Kill-A-Watt: http://www.p3international.com/products/p4400.html
What does it tell you?

In a like situation, I would consider partitioning the computer tasks between the laptop and a tablet. Use the laptop only when the task demands it. An Android tablet can be paired with mouse and keyboard. Office suites exist. When not charging, power consumption of a 10" tablet is around 3 watts.

Have the Kill-A-Watt; don't have the T420 and T430.

For personal sanity, compatibility with the world that pays the bills and the need to actually type and compose volumes, this will be a Microsoft-only Thinkpad environment, regardless of the potential and even occasionally superior merits of Linux and Cupertino. Thanks for the suggestions.

We actually were given a brand-new MBP, which addressed the power consumption issue (averaging 15 W/H) - but after a couple days of the Jobs Experience, we sent it back, as there was temptation to put it on the chopping block and play Paul Bunyan, or re-enact the final "PC LOAD Letter" scene from Office Space.

dr_st wrote:First, practicality. I imagine that your retreat needs to power a lot of stuff which is way more hungry than a laptop. Probably by like two orders of magnitude. to power consumption measurements.

A reasonable assumption, but not applicable in this case. The refrigerator, stove and heaters run on propane, and share a separate hard-wired battery system with the tiny demand water-pump. There is no TV, satellite, coffee maker, microwave, toaster, space heater, air conditioning or laser printer.

Interior lighting is minimalist LED, and the structure is not only extremely well-insulated, it is designed to maximize natural heating and cooling.

The laptop is the sole power hog.


The overriding vote was cast yesterday, in favor of "order now, and worry about power later", so we're going with a T530. If the power system can't keep up, we'll be augmenting the battery bank ($$$).


I'm planning to buy a second 9-cell battery, which I intend to charge externally.

Am I correct to infer that the battery "security" chip only affects acceptance in the T530, not the charging mechanism?

elray wrote: Am I correct to infer that the battery "security" chip only affects acceptance in the T530, not the charging mechanism?

Since you said you're going with... it sounds too late to intervene! but the chipped batteries are a big issue. As I understand it, a non-genuine battery will run the laptop, but will not charge in it. Does this differ with an external charger? I don't know.

But for power consumption, there actually is a generation, just after your T60, that was exceptional, in the sense of beating the generation that immediately followed. It is found in the T400/500; the next generation, the first of the I#'s, actually consumed more power. I do not know how it compares to the T530, but there is an interesting advantage for your situation:

For laptops prior to the advent of chipping, 3rd party batteries off eBay exist that, contrary to prejudice, work very well, and cost around $22-$25, compared to ~150 for a Lenovo product. Because they are manufactured with less sophisticated equipment, a 3rd party battery has about 10% less capacity than the Lenovo equivalent, but the cost is about 1/6. The 10% difference in capacity is approximately equal to the deterioration of a fully charged battery in 18 months at room temperature. You could do what I did: stockpile these batteries, and pick up some external chargers. Ten batteries might last you a stay. Or, if you have occasional access to a generator, charge them all up at once.

If you decide to go that route, I can point you to vendors I've bought from that provide a good product. There are differences. The negative opinions about 3rd party batteries are due to the inability of eBayers to differentiate between suppliers.

I owned a T420 at my last job and at my new job I have a T430s. The T420 with the 9200 mAh 9-cell and NVidia Optimus was unbelievable. I went on a 4-day thanksgiving vacation and forgot to bring my charging cable. I was fine, though, because the battery lasted 8+ hours and I wasn't in the hotel room long enough to discharge it over the 4-day trip.

The T430s with an ultrabay battery is ... not nearly as hot, it dies in about 6 hours after only 2 months of usage ...

If you get an proper 7800 mAh battery for a T60 (avoid the 6600 mAh ones) and get a 2500 mAh ultrabay battery, you should get very close to 7 hours of usage in the early life of these batteries, I don't know what's going wrong with your T60 but with the right equipment it should last the better part of a day ...

When I go on overseas plane trips I always carry 2x 9-cell batteries and an ultrabay battery. For most of my laptops (T42/p's), this gives me about 10 hours of run time so that I don't run out of juice while on the airplane. For the T60 you should be able to get an extra 9-cell battery for about $35 on EBay. You run with only the 9-cell battery in the laptop, and install the ultrabay battery only when you are doing a hot-swap of the 9-cell battery. If you wait too long or kill the ultrabay battery, you have to hibernate to change batteries ...