T or R series, help me decide!

I am considering getting an IBM Thinkpad as my first notebook. Battery life is the most important aspect to me.

I noticed that on the T series laptop, they have an "Ultrabay Slim" drive where I could be able to add a second battery, thus doubling my battery life!

I saw this on the R series as well, but then the web page said in order to use anything on the Ultraybay on the R series notebook I would need to buy some Dock II monstrosity to attatch to the laptop that costs like $500!

Is this the only way to extend battery life on the R series without that stupid dock? I'd rather have the R series because I don't have much money to spend.

Also, if IBMs are not the best notebooks as far as battery life is concerned, would someone please offer me any suggestions?

Thanks a lot!

 

You certainly don't need a dock, and that would defeat the purpose of greater battery life!

From the ibm website:

"The ThinkPad Ultrabay Slim Li Polymer Battery is 9.5 mm high and is designed to fit neatly in the ThinkPad Ultrabay Slim bay on ThinkPad T40 Series Notebooks and the Ultrabay Enhanced Media bay of the R50 Series Notebooks. The ThinkPad Ultrabay Slim Li Polymer Battery can be used in combination with either the ThinkPad T40/41/42 or ThinkPad R50 standard or high capacity system batteries to provide you with the power needed to stay unplugged longer." (emphasis added)

So there you go - the R50 doesn't have an Ultrabay 'Slim', but it appears to fit. Not sure how? On the IBM website, put a R50 into your shopping cart, then under the options on the Customise page, you'll find the Slim battery listed, and according to the help above, it apparently fits in.

I'm planning to get one myself. Battery life on my R50 started out at 4.5 hours. Now it seems to be around 4 hours, but I've been using wireless recently, and I'm not being nice to the battery by letting it run down fully before charging it up again. But second battery would be ideal.

I'm not sure about other brands. Anyway, you'd wanna call IBM to confirm. And let me know if you get it and how it is!

 

Hi Javyn,
I just got the R40 a couple of months ago from newegg and am very happy with it.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=34-146-021&depa=0
I get easily get 6 hours of life from the built in battery, 3.5-4 hours if watching DVDs. You can buy an extra battery that fits into the bay that holds the CD/RW, it costs about $110

Jack

 

wow great thanks for the info guys. looks though if i want to have the second battery, i need to yank out my cdrom drive, there's only 1 bay on these things right?


Also, the faster the processor gets, will the worse the battery life be? If I were to opt for a used P3 or P2 Thinkpad would I get a longer or shorter batt life do you guys think? Also, do the older ones have the ability to add the second ultrabay slim battery?

 

If your really trying for long battery life you dont' really want the cd drive in anyway since that uses a lot of power, thus loosing it while you try to obtain max battery life isn't too bad.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

there's only 1 bay on these things right?

Yes. Take out the optical drive, put the battery in.

Also, the faster the processor gets, will the worse the battery life be?

Not really. The processors only vary by a few hundred mhz, it doesn't make much difference to performance or battery life. But slow speed = less power draw.

If I were to opt for a used P3 or P2 Thinkpad would I get a longer or shorter batt life do you guys think?

You'd think it would be longer but no. They get faster but also smaller and more efficient, so you end up not really getting much better battery life than a few years ago.

do the older ones have the ability to add the second ultrabay slim battery?

Probably not Ultrabay Slim, it might be Ultrabay Enhanced or Ultrabay 2000 on the older/bigger models. So you might need to buy off ebay or something.

 

Another option, is the high capacity battery for the T41's (and even the R50's, iirc). Although it sticks out the back a little, it provides an extra 2 hours (or so) onto the battery life.