Inspiron 9300 Video/Battery Question

I have an Inspiron 9300 with the Geforce Go 6800 graphics card. With a fresh battery, the laptop only gets about 100 minutes of idle battery life (less if playing games). Since I don't play many games on the laptop, I'm considering downgrading the graphics card in order to improve the battery life.

Is this possible to do? I'm aware that this would void my warranty. What choices do I have for battery-friendly graphics cards? I really only need to display websites in the native 1900x1200 resolution. I think the ati x300 would work in this laptop. Are all of these cards the same, or do I need to buy a special version for the 9300 (assuming I can even change this out myself)?

Lastly, I've heard that having the battery in the laptop while it is plugged in as well for prolonged periods of time will slowly kill the battery. Is there any truth to this? I'm guessing there is, as the battery that came with my laptop two years ago now only gives me 15 minutes of battery life! (luckily, it was recalled and now I have a fresh battery).

Thanks for your insights!

 

It may be possible to do. The 9300 should have been sold with some slower graphics card, but I'm not too sure of what it was. If that is the case, then yes, you can purchase one of those cards, and replace it with the one you alrealy have. A BIOS update may be required to recognise the new card, however. Bear in mind, the battery run time incease, won't be all that much, and personally, I don't see it as a financially good idea. You also loose the graphical power of the Go 6800, which you never know may need.

Leaving the battery in the notebook does damage it, but not a great deal. Remember, Li-Ion batteries degrade over time, and there is nothing you can do about this, as you have experienced with your old battery. You an remove the batery, and run the notebook on AC power, however, it defeats the whole point in having a battery. Also, if you keep the battery in the notebook, you always have a backup power supply, just incase the power goes out.

 

you could, but you would be better off just getting a new battery, laptop cards are expensive, even lower end models, the only way you could go to an intel soloution would be with a motherboard upgrade, and thats expensive as well, what are your powermizer option set to on the card? makes sure they are set to max battery life and not performance, you might want to just try and sell your current machine and buy one that more suits your needs

http://impactcomputers.com/dellpart...9300-parts-internal-parts-and-assemblies.html

the cards for your system are towards the bottom of that page

you HAVE to use a dell branded card specific to your particular model

 

The X300 was sold with the 9300 and that could work. However I think you would be better off with a second battery. As the downgrade your talking about would quite expnsive. Also Check out Chrisyano's battery guide http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91846, its very informative.