Adding a second battery

When looking at the customization of the z70va, I was wondering about the following option:

http://www.canadasys.com/laptopasus.htm

Does adding this second battery in the optical bay a good idea? How much of an additional battery life do you get overall? Since this 2nd battery is being put into the optical bay, does that mean the dvd drive will have to be taken out? Is it better just to get a 2nd seperate battery?

This is gonna be my first notebook purchase, and I'll be using it for about 4-5 hours in class, and I'm pretty sure I'll be away from an electrical outlet.

 

My Z70Va on main battery barely lasts 4 hours with the screen brightness lowered to 6/15 and CPU undervolted to 0.7v so you'll probably need another battery.

The optical bay battery has a smaller capacity as it's only a 6-cell. I forget the exact number but I believe it's about 60-65% the capacity of the main 8-cell battery. You have to take out the optical drive when using it. Not really that big a deal, I've been using the traveler's drawer in place of the optical drive when i take my laptop to class.

Getting a second main battery means you would have to shut down, flip over the laptop and swap batteries. It'll also be something extra to lug around but you get more battery life.

 

Don't you find that the traveler's drawer makes the computer/keyboard rattle when you type? That's the main reason I don't use it..

Adding the second battery should get your computer up to ~7 hours of battery life with moderate computing (i.e no gaming)

 

I think the modular battery is a six cell battery on the Z70va so theoretically you should get an additional 75% time. So if the main battery goes four hours the optical battery should add another three hours.

 

See? ~7 hours My estimate was quite correct
:asus:

 

i haven't had anything in both my asus laptops (a stupid hole in teh side of the laptop, cuz both times i thought i'd get a travelers drawer, but i guess that ONLY comes with the m6 series) and there is no rattle to report. I've heard if you put something thin under the keyboard, it works well (like a piece of tape stuck to itself).

 

You are a mathematical genuis. Why aren't you at MIT?

 

Thanks everyone for the input.

 

Funny you say that...
I messed up my SATs... my girlfriend and I (now my ex-girlfriend) had a big fight the night BEFORE I took the SAT... and man... that really put a huge strain on my studying abilities. We didn't resolve the fight until after the exam... too late to make a difference in my SAT score.

Other than that...if my SAT score was about ~100 points higher, I could have gone to an ivy league school. I didn't want to settle for just any ol' American college, so I decided to stay in Vancouver and go to UBC.

 

Better weather in BC anyway.

 

The drawer is a bit loose, but I don't get rattling when typing. It does make some rattling noises when I pick it up and move it around though. I may stop using it, don't think I notice any weight difference compared to the optical drive.