longevity of notebooks and sorry state of batteries

[OS]

I kind of want to get a notebook, but the thing is, the battery situation for notebooks sucks. The charge doesn't last very long, the batteries have a limited charge cycle and are very expensive to replace.

I want to buy like a basic notebook that will last me 5+ years or so. It just needs to be able to check email, type and play mp3s sort of thing, but the battery thing is kind of sucky.

 

[DannyBoy]

Havn't heard of centrino no?

 

[Mill]

Batteries are around 80-120 bucks to replace. All I can say is to buy a spare at the time, or get one for cheap and keep it around. It is sad, but it is something you will have to do. Yeah, a battery will be about 10% of the purchase of the laptop, but that is the only option you have. I've heard you can run some without the battery in, and thus only use it when needed. Supposedly that will prolong the life of the battery.

 

[Platypus]

It's actually bad to buy a spare since Lithium Ion batteries start to 'die' from the moment they leave the factory. It will wear out whether you use it or not. This applies to a lot of notebook batteries.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: Mill
Batteries are around 80-120 bucks to replace. All I can say is to buy a spare at the time, or get one for cheap and keep it around. It is sad, but it is something you will have to do. Yeah, a battery will be about 10% of the purchase of the laptop, but that is the only option you have. I've heard you can run some without the battery in, and thus only use it when needed. Supposedly that will prolong the life of the battery.

Majority of laptops have that capability. Some IBM's don't - can't say which ones do and which don't - but most of them can from my experience. Battery life for a brand new laptop should run like 2 hours on average if you're not watching DVD movies or recompiling a kernel (anything CPU intensive)

 

[ElFenix]

i really wish i'd have gotten the second bay battery instead of the second main battery when i got my notebook. ah well.

i should find someone around here who is buying/just bought a 600m or d600 and paypal em to get me another battery

 

[brxndxn]

I bout my Toshiba Satellite 3000 - S304 (P3m 1ghz, 512mb ram, 16mb geforce2go) used and it came with two batteries. When I first got it, you could tell the batteries were hardly ever used. I was able to play 2 full-length dvds off one single main battery. Ever since I got my wireless card (IBM 802.11b), battery life has dropped in half. I think the wireless cards today are still huge battery hogs. I've tried three different 802.11b cards and they all hog the battery.

They really oughta have 10-hour+ batteries now. It's stupid that batteries are so damn expensive and they don't last very long.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: DannyBoy
Havn't heard of centrino no?

Exactly...some rated up to 7 hours, though I highly doubt you would actually get 7 hours im sure it would be over 5.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: CheapArse

Originally posted by: DannyBoy
Havn't heard of centrino no?

Exactly...some rated up to 7 hours, though I highly doubt you would actually get 7 hours im sure it would be over 5.

They are 5+ only with 'extended' batteries that are usually $100 upgrades. My T40 lasts abotu four hours on a normal basis, and that's with the normal battery.

 

[imported_Mike]

They are 5+ only with 'extended' batteries that are usually $100 upgrades. My T40 lasts abotu four hours on a normal basis, and that's with the normal battery.

Actually, sony's Z1 series vaios are rated up to 7 hours on the standard battery, but like I mentioned, you probably won't get close.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: CheapArse

They are 5+ only with 'extended' batteries that are usually $100 upgrades. My T40 lasts abotu four hours on a normal basis, and that's with the normal battery.

Actually, sony's Z1 series vaios are rated up to 7 hours on the standard battery, but like I mentioned, you probably won't get close.

I'm talking about real-world use. A 'test' consists of waking it up from hiberate and leaving it on, untouched, until windows hits 1% life.

 

[IGBT]

Yah..your right..friggin rip off 100.00 or more for a lousey laptop battery...

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: beer

Originally posted by: CheapArse

They are 5+ only with 'extended' batteries that are usually $100 upgrades. My T40 lasts abotu four hours on a normal basis, and that's with the normal battery.

Actually, sony's Z1 series vaios are rated up to 7 hours on the standard battery, but like I mentioned, you probably won't get close.

I'm talking about real-world use. A 'test' consists of waking it up from hiberate and leaving it on, untouched, until windows hits 1% life.

I know...thats why I keep saying rated meaning thats what sony will tell you....you'll never see that amount of battery life.

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: beer

Originally posted by: CheapArse

They are 5+ only with 'extended' batteries that are usually $100 upgrades. My T40 lasts abotu four hours on a normal basis, and that's with the normal battery.

Actually, sony's Z1 series vaios are rated up to 7 hours on the standard battery, but like I mentioned, you probably won't get close.

I'm talking about real-world use. A 'test' consists of waking it up from hiberate and leaving it on, untouched, until windows hits 1% life.

either way centrino offers a noticeable improvement in battery life.

I have done my own "tests" involving dvd playback and gaming on 3 centrino laptops and compared them to a standard vaio and my friends thinkpad, the centrino's always came out on top with at least another hour or 2 of life in them.

 

[0roo0roo]

Batteries are around 80-120 bucks to replace

not if you buy sony. pay 2-4x that much

 

[aircooled]

Spend a few more dollars on a power adapter that plugs into the car/airplane, etc...

I rarely use battery power on my thinkpad. I usually have it plugged into something...