Lenovo's internal + external battery setup is awful

The dual battery like a great idea, but there are some significant downsides and how Lenovo has executed it.

-The T420s/T430s had 44Wh energy capacity, but did it with a single battery that's pretty compact. There are two batteries in the T440/T440s to achieve marginally higher capacity, but the combined size is significantly larger than that single battery. Why? Cost-cutting?

-Running costs are doubled. Before when capacity decreased due to wear you replaced the battery. Now, you have to replace two. I go through 350+ cycles on my batteries a year, and will be facing replacing these half-way through the second year at the latest. This is a big deal.

-All or nothing capacity. I appreciate having 3-cell and 6-cell options, but the only options are having 5-6hrs life or having a huge lump sticking out the bottom. As someone who's almost always on battery power and puts/pulls the notebook from a bag several times a day, neither really works. 5-6hrs from the 3-cell isn't going to cut it, and dealing with that 6-cell monstrosity isn't a pleasant prospect either. Carrying two 3-cell batteries would leave me having to replace three batteries when they wear out, and that's still only 9hrs battery life being optimistic. Where's the reasonably sized option of a 47Wh external battery? There's 47Wh 6-cell offered in France, but I'm told it's the same size as the 72Wh one.

With not one but two T440s' on the way, I'm reconsidering the 13" MBP that gives 10hrs with ease in a 3.5 lb package. Which has a battery that will go 1000 cycles before going to 80% capacity.

 

For the extendend battery on the old models didn't it drain the bay battery last?

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It only seems so. The T430s had a significant thicker (and larger) chassis. In the end the difference is really minor I think. Of course one small 6-cell battery is smaller than two small 3-cells, because of the additonal space of the battery casing.

According to Lenovo, the Internal battery will hold out significantly longer than the External Battery, it is rated for 1000 cycles like the Macbook batteries. We will see how the hold up to Lenovo´s claims.

If you are still worried, you can buy an extra warranty for the Internal battery, so if the internal battery is defect, Lenovo will replace it for one time. The warranty is actually cheaper than a new Internal battery.

 

I'm on the road, so I can't look at any of our T410-T430 batteries to directly compare, but my sense is that only the form factor of the battery has changed. The new 3-cell replaceable battery is much much slimmer and lighter than the old 6-cells from those machines. It's wider because the T440s is a much thinner unit overall. I think that if Lenovo crammed 6-cells into this unit the overall weight would be the same. Holding them side by side, I suspect the stand-alone 3-cell weighs less than my iPhone 5s. It's really light.

I do agree that it'd be nice to have some option between the slim 3-cell and the extra bulky 6-cell. If they made the 47Whr model have a much less noticeable bump, at 1/3 less weight, that might be an appealing option.

All in all, to me this is just what we get when we absolutely insist on user-replaceable batteries. If Lenovo were to have fit a permanent battery inside the casing, the complaints would have been deafening here. Yet the reality is, had they done that, they probably could have fit 70+ Whr inside the chassis, and while not user-replaceable, everyone would be getting 9+ hours of battery life in the same form factor and weight at the 5-6 hour unit we have today. I'd take that tradeoff.

An idea just occurred to me that could allow people to have the best of both - have a huge internal battery that most people used, and then develop an external battery slice that uses the docking connector to mount for people who must have more capacity or the ability to hot-swap.

As is, the hot-swap capability is pretty nice and seems to finally be set up to maintain battery capacity over many cycles. The default settings for the old ultra-bay batteries used to be to drain that battery totally dead, and as a result, we'd see those batteries losing half their capacity in as little as a year. With the power bridge system they are being switched over at 5%. We'll see if that's good enough to maintain capacity over time...

 

That's interesting, the internal battery isn't covered by the standards laptop warranty like the other internal parts??

 

IIRC batteries are only covered for the first year, as with most manufacturers. Dell does offer 3 year warranty battery but you have to buy that battery, and boy is it $$$.

 

That's a nice theory. You must not forget, however, that we are talking about PC manufacturers in the ultrabook era here -- they are all obsessed about thin and light above anything else. If the battery was all-internal, they would probably shave another 1.5mm off the height, but keep the battery at 46Wh or whatever. It's moronic, but that's how they roll these days...

Don't believe me? Here's a homework for you: look around and find me a PC ultrabook with 13" screen with an internal battery at or above 60Wh. I'll be surprised if you find one; downright astonished if you find more than one.

 

Brb enjoying my 72w/h 6-cell that doesn't protrude

 

The more you follow the Intel Ultrabook design, the more compensation that Intel pays. If you copy Intel Ultrabook design, i think pretty much they pay your entire R&D cost (which is minimal since they provide you with the design). But in the long run, you pretty much just kill your own brand. Basically like selling your blood to make a living.

 

The T440s is 21mm thick, 2mm thinner than the allowed spec for a 14" model. I think they could have done 70Wh with the current thickness if they'd abandoned the removable battery.

 

Well, maybe. But in contrast, the T431s without removable battery also only has 47 Wh of battery capacity.

 

Hmm, hadn't realized the T431s had an all internal battery. We skipped from the T430s to waiting for the T440s.

Anyhow, if Lenovo couldn't fit more battery in this chassis, that doesn't speak well to them. Apple is getting a 54Whr battery into the 13" MBA.

 

Sigh, loved the T430s, Quadro NVS, large battery, Ultrabay and some trackpad buttons! Would take these anyday over a 1080p display!

 

The T430s had its own flaws (also apart from the display) - "glorification" is not neccessary or needed. The T440s is way better in almost any aspect in reality - beside the RAM maybe and the CPU (in speed, in efficiency, the T440s wins clearly). Most people just don´t need a DVD drive anymore, and the TrackPad-buttons are not needed either (some may think they need them, but the new TrackPads works as well once you get used to it).

Well, Apple saves a lot of room for the battery by soldering everything on the logicboard and glueing down the battery - the MBA also can´t take 2.5" HDDs / SSDs, which also takes a lot of room.

 

? The T430s had a 44Whr battery just like the previous couple generations.

The T440p still gives you most of what you want.

I don't personally see the need for an ultrabay in an ultrabook these days. Everything we used them for has been superceded - extra battery? Check. Plenty more battery life available in the T440s than the predecessors ever gave us. DVD drive? I use it once or twice a year. Why should I carry it around every day? Extra drive? 1TB internal SSD's are now affordable. I'm glad they got rid of it.

 

i haven't used an optical drive in a while. T430s battery life is pretty much next to nil, a 6 cells battery only last about 4 hrs on average, which is almost as bad as my T60 with the 6 cells battery.