Need more runtime on a T61 14" wide

[ocellaris]

Cliff notes:
-Want more runtime over the standard 4 cell
-$100 Ultrabay battery
or
-$140 7 cell battery

I ordered a T61 14" wide with the 4 cell battery so the battery would not stick out and because I am frequently close to an outlet. In outside use, there will be times when I want to get more runtime out of the laptop however I do not need 5+ hours or anything of continuous power. I can pickup an Ultrabay Advanced Battery for $100 or pickup a 7 cell battery that sticks out the back for $140.

The Ultrabay battery looked like the best solution for me since I almost never use optical drive, however I was not happy to read that the Ultrabay batteries get drained down very low before switching over to the main battery. Still, looks convenient to have a battery just slide into the bay like that. I would obviously get more runtime out of a the 7 cell however I would have to power down for a battery switch, and it costs more.

So for the people who have used Thinkpads, were you happy with the Ultrabay batteries? Or is just buying an extra primary battery the better solution? I would love to hear some feedback from people who have been in similar situations.

[zhenya]

I have all 3 batteries for my z61t, and while in theory, the ultrabay battery should be the better option (as I too rarely use my optical drive), the fact that it gets drained 100% before changing to the main battery means that the lifespan of the ultrabay battery is very short. In 18 months or so of ownership, I'm on my second ultrabay battery. The first one was down to 60% of original capacity after just 3 months (and replaced under warranty), and the second one is now nearing just 40%, making it almost useless to carry the extra weight. This is a major design flaw that Lenovo continues to refuse to deal with.

[SHoTTa35]

i dunno, tough choice but i think i'd get the 7 cell. The 7 cell i think still provides more runtime than the combo of 4 and UB. Even tho you said you don't need 5hrs of runtime (you wont get that anyways, even with the 7 cell ) i'd still get it because it's better to have it and not need it than need it and don't have it.

[ocellaris]

Right after reading zheny's post I ordered the Ultrabay battery. If Lenovo will replace it under warranty I am not horribly worried about it for the first year. And later when I pick up another primary battery, I can swap batteries without powering down

[pianowizard]

See if making the desktop background all black increases runtime. I started doing that recently on all of my computers, not to improve runtime (I rarely use laptops on battery) but to increase the life span of the LCDs, but in theory it should help with the runtime as well.

[atekant]

See if making the desktop background all black increases runtime. I started doing that recently on all of my computers, not to improve runtime but to increase the life span of the LCDs

I think the opposite might be true for LCD life. Isn't the relaxed state of an LCD "open", that is, white? And the little Ds struggle hard to block the light?

[pianowizard]

I think the opposite might be true for LCD life.

I just did an experiment. With a black background, Battery Maximiser showed a steady-state power consumption of 16.0 W on my R50p. With a white background, it became 16.6 W.

[Volker]

First of all, the power usage differences for black vs. white on lcds are marginal. "Open" lcd (=white) should use marginally less power. However, some manufacturers dim the backlight when displaying mostly dark colors, thus over-compensating the extra power used to twist the LC.

Dimming the backlight extends the CCFL lifetime. Though you could have done the dimming by hand, too.

As for the ultrabay vs. extra battery, the 7 cell battery stores a lot more energy than the ultrabay battery. Exactly how long you need your computer to run?

[pianowizard]

Dimming the backlight extends the CCFL lifetime. Though you could have done the dimming by hand, too.

The nice thing about using a black background is that you are dimming just the background, not the icons or application windows.

[whizkid]

I just did an experiment. With a black background, Battery Maximiser showed a steady-state power consumption of 16.0 W on my R50p. With a white background, it became 16.6 W.

That's brilliant! I'm going to give that a try. I'd be curious how different displays fare: XGA, SXGA+, UXGA, WSXGpdqmz, etc.