Question on Dell 9300 laptop

[AgentZap]

I have an older Dell laptop, 8100 series I believe, and it allows you to place two batteries inside it at the same time by not using one of the drive bays. It is really handy cause it increases your on the go battery life. Does anyone know if this is possible to do with the 9300?

 

[6000SUX]

Nope, it doesn't IIRC. You can easily check for yourself by going to the Dell website, clicking on the tech specs for the machine, and noting whether it claims support for a modular battery. If it doesn't, there's no modular battery support.

This is a major failing in the design of the 9300.

Here's a quick link:
9300 tech specs

 

[SouthPaW1227]

No, it doesn't

But the 9-cell optional battery lets me get 3-4 hours of usage w/ 3/4 brightness, WiFi on, no optical drive usage.

That's pretty freakin' good for a 17" notebook w/ a GeForce 6800go inside. Mine's a 2.0Ghz, steepstep processor.

 

[6000SUX]

Originally posted by: SouthPaW1227
No, it doesn't

But the 9-cell optional battery lets me get 3-4 hours of usage w/ 3/4 brightness, WiFi on, no optical drive usage.

That's pretty freakin' good for a 17" notebook w/ a GeForce 6800go inside. Mine's a 2.0Ghz, steepstep processor.

Not too bad, but not awesome. My Inspiron 8100 and 8200 both get around five hours of battery life with the modular batteries in, and they're around five and three years old respectively. They're godawful heavy, but still, you'd expect them to do much worse than a new machine.

In the end, I think that you get what you pay for; sometimes your money goes for a bigger screen and better graphics (and mobile graphics are getting to be less of the power drains they used to be), and sometimes people who need it choose battery life as a primary feature. For instance, the Fujitsu Lifebook S6231 is a very nice all-around notebook that features 8.5 hours of battery life with the modular battery in and is under 4 pounds at stock, but of course it's not for gaming...