Questions about R400 ultrabay Battery and Travel Cover

Hello:

I am looking to take out the DVD drive from my R400 and replace it either with a Ultra Bay Battery or a Travel Cover. Obviously, the Ultra Bay battery would be my first preference but it depends on the cost because I will be buying a T430 by the end of the month. My question is as follows:

In the Service Manual there are two versions of the Travel Cover and both related (unless I am reading this incorrectly) to the R400. One, bearing the FRU number 44C0690 is 9.5mm applies to model numbers (or Product numbers) like 6473-CTO, xxE, xxJ etc. There is a whole list of these.

The other FRU number is 44C0692 which relates to model numbers like 7447 CTO etc. Again, there is a list of these. My R400 bears the number 7447 A26 (as it appears in the ThinkVantage Toolbox). Should I therefore be getting the second FRU?

My second question relates to the Ultrabay Battery. From what I see there are two kinds - ThinkPad Advanced Ultrabay Battery II (FRU 43R9250) which is said to be compatible with the R400 (among others). But the Lenovo site mentions another FRU namely 43R8891 which is also listed as being applicable to the R400 (among others). Here is the link to the relevant Lenovo page.

So, which one should I be ordering? And, in this connection, one last question - how long does this ultrabay battery add to the overall battery time?

Thanks in advance.

 

the R400 have a 12.7 mm drive bay, the 9.5 mm travel cover won't be something you should go for.

 

Hey...thanks. Good to hear from you after a long while. How are you doing?

So, I'll opt for the second FRU as per the Manual.

And, what about the Ultrabay battery?

As you have noticed, I am again in the market for a ThinkPad. This time it's going to be a T series - the T430. And, I am going to get it by the end of the month!!!!

 

i am not a big user of ultrabay batteries for couple of reasons:

1. They cost as much as a 9 cells, but only offer a fraction of battery time (3 cells).

2. You can set charge threshold on them, so they always charge to full or discharge fully, which increases battery wear.

3. They are always used up first, which also increases battery wear.

So this is one reason why i don't use them.

The T430 is a nice machine, make sure to get the HD+ LCD.

 

Absolutely. The HD+ option is the one I am going to pick. For the R400, I understand the points you made about the battery. I will take your advice and go for the travel cover or whatever it is called - the 12.7mm version - bearing FRU number 44C0692

 

Another HD in an adapter isn't all that much heavier than the battery, but if power consumption is why the DVD had to go...

 

Well, after I get the T430, the R400 will remain desk bound - so weight will not really be an issue. Ditto for the battery. So, maybe the HDD in the adapter would be the way to go. The main reason why the DVD drive has to go is because periodically it wakes up and makes noises which I find disconcerting and distracting. That being said, I turned it off the other day via the Power Manager and through Win 7 and it has not activated itself. So, in that sense the problem, I am guessing, has taken care of itself. The HDD in the bay will only help in increasing the capacity of the R400, which is a machine I would not give away - I like it too much. The only upgrades I would make - eventually is to swap out the primary HDD into a 7200rpm drive instead of the 5400 rpm drive that it has currently. I still don't think the SSD option is a value for money proposition for me today. For me it is still too expensive.

 

Unless your work requires huge application suites and virtual machines, you can typically fit Windows + applications within a 25GB footprint. A 32GB SSD can still make a perceptible difference in OS booting and app launching.

 

I look at my current C: and find that it is around 46 GB, which includes the OS and other applications - and this is with a clean install. I don't have any docs, music or other kinds of media files on the drive.