IBM T-series options - new battery, buy an AC adapter, or what?

[simms]

I use my T40 on a daily basis and do not bring the AC adapter with me to school. I plug my AC adapter in my dock, and recharge when I get home.

I have a 6-cell that I bought from eBay that only holds about 36.75Wh - I can just BARELY get through a school day if I have minimium screen brightness, disable wireless at every chance I get, and don't play any movies/videos. The battery ends up getting to about 10% or less on a daily basis so I may be overusing the life of the battery.

I could charge up at school during the midday to fuel up my T40, but that would require me to take off and plug in my AC everyday into my dock and bring it with me to school. And I don't really want to reach the back of my desk, plug it in, remove, etc.

OR, I could buy a new 6-cell from eBay that would probably just last me 4 hours, I would probably use the battery to about 25% by the end of the day..

OR, I could buy a 9-cell but I would rather not have the extra weight...and the extra 1-inch sticking out may make the laptop too big to fit in my backpack, or at least make it more difficult to put in/take out.

I can get another AC charger for around $30, a new 6-cell for $60, and a new 9-cell around $100 on eBay.

What would you do?

 

[Wuzup101]

I'd get the extra 6 cell battery off of e-bay and keep both charged 🙂

 

[ultimatebob]

9 cell batteries rock. After getting one of those, I was able to extend the battery life on my Thinkpad by another hour and a half.

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: Wuzup101
I'd get the extra 6 cell battery off of e-bay and keep both charged 🙂

That means I have to swap out the batteries everyday so that they're both charged.

 

[Wuzup101]

Originally posted by: simms

Originally posted by: Wuzup101
I'd get the extra 6 cell battery off of e-bay and keep both charged 🙂

That means I have to swap out the batteries everyday so that they're both charged.

To be honest I would have said definitely go with the 9cell battery (or perhaps a bay battery if you can get one and don't need to take your optical drive with you). But, you stated that it probably wouldn't fit in your bag??? If you can manage to squeeze that sucker in there that's the rout I'd go. If not both the extra 6 cell or an extra AC adapter would work. Personally I just bring my AC adapter onto campus with me... not a big deal reaching behind the desk... Perhaps you could get a little extension cord that allows you to plug it in in an easier to reach location?

 

[Ionizer86]

Undervolt laptop for more battery life on existing hardware 🙂

 

[ValuedCustomer]

9-cell - it will be a pain to remove and put in, and heavy, but no more worries about battery life!

First of all, it's not "a pain" to put in and it's not that much heavier. Secondly, once it's in, why take it out? you'll get 5-6 hours of life out of it depending on what you're doing and how you take care of it. - I love my 9-cell. I can prolly count on one hand how many times I've had to break out my 6-cell backup.

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: Ionizer86
Undervolt laptop for more battery life on existing hardware 🙂

Already done, ATItool has modded the GPU, RMClock on the CPU, and TPfancontrol for complete silence. :heart:

Bought an AC Adapter for $10+handling fees. 😀

 

[aigomorla]

id seriously still concider getting a 9 cell. And if your battery cant even hold a 2 hour charge u could try reconditioning the battery. Sometimes and i stress sometimes it works and could give u an extra 45min. Also, most t series with the 9 cell battery at lowest power settings last 6-7 hours easily. Mine goes about 9 hours because i disabled all the file cacheing so my hard drive bearly tweeks unless i load up something.

Also the 9-cell does not weigh that much more. And it doesnt stick out that much more either. I cant think of anything more useful then that extra charge on my thinkpad.

 

[Busithoth]

I'd plunk down for an Ultrabay Slim battery to replace the optical drive.

second choice would be getting a 9-cell battery.

 

[Tarrant64]

I'm going to vote for the 9-cell, or even what Busithoth said, buy one of those Ultrabay Slim batteries if you can find one, and use that.

If you rnot using the optical drive, might as well make some use of it, right?