Dell 6/9 cell batteries

A 9-cell dell battery costs like $159 on the dell website. Are there any other vendors that sell dell compatible 9 cell batteries? When purchasing an Inspiron 1x20, you can upgrade from a 6-cell to a 9-cell for $49. Is it worth the upgrade there or later on? I want the 9 cell. The question is whether upgrade at time of purchase or during an aftermarket upgrade with the goal of saving as money by avoiding Dell's inflated pricings? Can I return the 6-cell to Dell for a refund after I get the 9 cell at the cheapest seller?

 

I never trust aftermarket batteries.

Just spend the money now...batteries aren't returnable since they're a "wear item". Imagine buying a set of tires for your car, driving 20,000 miles, then saying, "Actually I'd like the better ones now."

 

I am not talking about second-hand used batteries. I want to know if there are other places to purchase a brand new battery that is compatible with a Dell Inspiron 1x20. If you buy from Dell directly, it is expensive. But if you buy the same item at another online retailer, you can get it cheaper.

 

If it's only a $49 upgrade, do it now. You are not going to find a compatible battery for that price.

 

In a few months there should be plenty of genuine dell batteries for the new Inspiron models on ebay. Search for the batteries for the outgoing Inspiron models, there are tons of legit ones that go for half of what Dell retails them for.

 

do any of you guys know the difference in terms of how much juice the 6/9 cells have?

all the reviews (in my case the 1420) have 9cells and they say over 3hours in a dvd drain test. what could you expect from a 6 cell? half of that? or more?

 

3 hours divided by 9 cells is 0.33333333/per cell
0.33333333 times 6 cells is 2 hours
9 cells is 50% more than 6 cells, 2x1.5=3 hours

 

Dang! I get over 3 hours in my 1 1/2 yr old Toshiba 6 cell battery.

 

i don't think it works that way. that math isn't hard, but dell/one of the reviewers advertises that the 9 cell is x2 the 6 cell.

and blondie the time the batteries last is based on a dvd drain test. normal usage the 9 cell would give more than 4hours easily

 

I'm not an expert on batteries, but my guess is that it does work that way and Dell is lying. I would expect that a 9 cell would get you about 50% longer life. If it is different from that, it would be less, not more. You simply can't expect to increase the battery by 50% and get 100% improvement.

 

Dell 9-cell batteries have a 85WHr (watt hour) capacity and the 6-cells are 56WHr. That's 51% higher capacity, and that's how much longer a 9-cell will last compared to the 6-cell. You can't get around that, if it's the same notebook it'll have the same rate of power consumption when tested properly, a new battery can't automagically reduce the amount of power the notebook requires to run.

Whoever said the 9-cell could last twice as long is either lying, didn't test with the same settings and usage patterns, or used entirely different notebooks with different specs (i.e. 6-cell battery on the e1705 with the 7900gs video card vs. a 9-cell on a e1405 with integrated graphics).