Sheet Batteries and Heat

I've been waiting on the x130e, but it seems to be in limbo for a release date to the public.

I've also considered upping the budget to get something with maximum battery life.

Since then, I've been looking at the Lenovo X220, and the Sony Vaio S, because both can use "sheet" batteries, which appear to give some pretty incredible battery life.

My only concern is, if I drop $1,000-$1,500 on one of these, will the sheet battery just cause heat issues? It's important that the laptop isn't re-starting due to heat, and while I don't plan on using it for any gaming, I'm all too familiar with hearing complaints about laptops overheating and losing unsaved data.

I see a lot of reviews purely discussing battery life, and some complaints about the x220 (without the sheet battery) getting very hot even without extreme use, but I can't find any real world tests discussing if they hit a shutdown temperature because the sheet is attached.

If I went with either model, my intention is that it would be attached at all times.

Again, I wouldn't be using it for gaming, but CAD programs would come into play.

Thank you,

--bb

//EDIT: As a side note, would a higher end i7 run cooler than an i5, or produce significantly battery life?

 

The Thinkpad X130e was delayed due to greater-than-expected demand from education-sector purchasers; it will be available in February.

You shouldn't have too many heating problems with the X220's sheet battery attached. True, ventilation through the bottom will not be as good, but the majority of the X220's cooling is through the rear and side vent, which are not blocked. Can't speak for the Sony Vaio S, but I'd imagine a similar situation.

The X220 can get up to 9-10 hours on the 9-cell battery. Think about whether you'll need another (expensive) 9-cell sheet battery.

Generally, though, the X220 seems to have pretty good cooling. My dad's Core i5 X220 runs fairly cool at all times, although his usage patterns are not intensive.

If CAD is a major usage, the Thinkpad T420 (or another laptop with a workstation dedicated GPU) may be a better fit than the integrated-GPU-only X220.

Power usage for the standard-voltage Core i3, i5, and i7 CPUs are basically identical. If anything, actual tests have found that at both load and idle, power usage is i7 > i5 > i3. Again, though, the differences are minimal and aren't worth worrying about. Buy an i7 if you truly need the (small) boost in processing power that the i7 has over the i5 (and even the i3).

 

You can find the X220 slice battery for 170-220 depending on where you buy it. On LIGHT LIGHT browsing (SSD, i3) you'll hit 20+ hours. Even watching a movie, you should easily be able to hit 14+ hours.

 

Thank you both.

I guess I'll have to try to decide on the Lenovo screen, or the Sony weight. They both seem solid;if they won't be overheating to shutdown points.

I really would like to have 10 hours of hard usage, at maximum brightness, with CAD applications, as long as they won't reboot during the time.

I've been carrying about 12lbs of laptop recently, so dropping it to 5 or less will be nice, but in all honesty, if they had a 10 lb battery for my laptop, I'd be ok with that as well. As long as I didn't need to plug it in, or worry about heat. Heck, if my laptop weighed 30 lbs, but never over heated, had 24 hours of battery life, and was the size of an ultraportable, I wouldn't mind the weight.

 

The Vaio SA and SC (both I have/had, respectively) work well with the sheet battery.

The sheet battery has several slim "channels" to direct airflow to the vents. I'd argue the sheet battery improves cooling and useability of the laptop, since the primary air intake is on the bottom of the laptop (among other factors of useage).

However, if it's 10 hours of useage you are looking for, the Vaio SA and SC (and likely the middleground SB) are NOT for you. I get ~7:30 hours of heavy office/web use out of it with the sheet battery (admittedly, I have the battery care function enabled to cap battery charge on both batteries at 80%), but that's only on the IGP.

So I'd not bet on it having a solid 10 hours. In addition... the sheet battery makes the okay SA a fat pig. Otherwise, I'm sticking with this laptop due to it actually having a sheet battery, an okay 1600x900 13" display, and... that's it. If the Vaio Z series get's refreshed in a similar factor form as the current Z2, powered by Ivy Bridge or Trinity, I'm jumping ship.

 

Let me echo Midnightsun: consider buying two 9-cells for the Thinkpad X220. You'll spend less money and get more battery life. If you can deal with hitting hibernate and swapping in the second battery, a second 9-cell takes up less space in the bag and weighs less than the slice, which is only 6-cell.

This may sound silly, but the slice also adds the problem of looking ugly when paired with the 9-cell. The sheet battery stops flush with the edge of the laptop chassis, but the 9-cell juts out from between the sheet and the screen lid...looks sloppy, and it also makes the laptop feel very imbalanced.

See, the 9-cell creates a natural handle for the laptop, because it juts out the back. (I think the X220 with just the 9-cell looks great, but some prefer to have the battery completely flush.) Normally, it's fine to use the back of the 9-cell as a handle, because the X220 is so light. But with the weight of the slice battery, it would feel like I was going to break the thing whenever I instinctively picked it up by the 9-cell battery.

After I got my slice battery, I ended up getting the regular 6-cell too, which sits flush with the slice attached. It looks better--just thick--and there's no piece jutting out that feels like it'll break. But together it all weighs far too much for the amount of actual battery power there is. (My original 9-cell still comes along in my laptop bag, which shows how relatively light it is.)

It's still an advantage; the 6-cell + the slice afford 33% more uninterrupted battery life than the 9-cell would. But it really strikes me that a second 9-cell would make a lot of sense. (For that matter, why is the slice only a 6-cell and not a 9-cell, for how heavy it is? (Both for the X220 and Vaio S.) The Thinkpad T420 and T520 have a 9-cell slice.)

Oh yeah, and thermals? I keep the CPU turned low while on battery anyway, but the slice seems to leave ventilation unhindered.

In fact, one might argue that having the slice attached might help ventilation, in the case of having the laptop on the bed or a cloth sofa. (That's when laptops overheat. The cloth blocks the ventilation from underneath.) Keeping the slice attached would allow air to still seep in from the sides in between the laptop and the slice, wouldn't it? (It's a pretty loose seal, far from airtight.)

I haven't experienced any heat issues with the X220 from running the CPU under load. My old x100e did that, and that thing ran terribly hot to the touch.

 

I'm assuming Lenovo didn't do a 9 cell slice as the x series stuff is smaller, or it would be smaller cells to the point where it wouldn't make sense. Also realize even 14+ hours battery life is enough to last through a whole day for most people, or at least enough til you find a power source. 20+ hours have been observed on light internet browsing.

A 9 + 9 would be the logical choice, but again uninterrupted work was what Lenovo wanted, and a far cheaper choice but the prices we pay to avoid a small inconvenience. For me, I would love the 9 cell + slice as it's still relatively light weight, maybe not as thin but ultraportable doesn't mean thin always. Plus it's Sandy Bridge, coupled with an IPS screen, we have a winner. That and now I will be able to watch movies whenever I fly out to Asia (14+ hour flight).