T61 Expansion slot and battery type questions

I need help in configurating T61 machine, can somebody help explaining what is express card / media card / smart card?

System expansion slots Help me decide
- PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot
- PC Card Slot & Media Card Slot
- PC Card Slot & Smart Card Slot

For battery type, what's the performance difference between these batteries? How much longer will the 6 cell or 7 cell battery comes out from the base of the laptop?

Battery type:
- 4 cell Li-Ion Battery
- 6 cell Li-Ion Battery
- 7 cell Li-Ion Battery

 

Holy crap, I was about to ask the same battery question. Here is what I know:

4 cell does not stick out the back and yields a 9.3 inch depth
6 cell sticks out the back and yields a 10.2 inch depth

How far does the 7 cell stick out?

 

I would also be very interested to know the difference in the various slot configurations.

Anyone?

 

What do you want to know?

I want a 54-cell battery that sticks out really far, but can run for days.

 

Yes, I am also very curious on the details of the media card reader and the battery options. Nothing on Lenovo's site, what happened to "click here for details". leaving it to us to guess...

 

Well I just called lenovo for the 2nd time with a little more luck, at least I think.

Here is what I was told about the batteries

Length Width Appx. Usage
4 cell 8.14" 1.57" 3.6 Hours
6 cell 8.81" 2.51" 5.5 Hours
7 cell 8.81" 2.51" 6.4 Hours

I don't understand how the 6 and 7 cell could be the same exact dimensions but that was what he told me it said in his computer. If I get the 7 cell I figure I'd get at least 3.5 hours of usage time which is acceptable. I just don't want it sticking out more than an inch.

 

Well, it doesn't look like it sticks out an inch. Those battery life numbers are probably over exaggerated. Early benchmarks are showing ~2 hours with a DVD test with the 6 cell. Not too good at all... :S

 

All those early tests are also running the nvidia graphics card which some have said really drains the battery. Those systems are mostly running the t7700 processors too, which I'm sure uses more of the battery than the t7300 processor and intel x3100 graphics card I'd be getting it with.

Obviously I don't expect to get the usage times they give you, but I don't expect them to be off by more than 3 hours. All I really need from my laptop is around 3-3.5 hours of usage time without plugging it in. I expect to get that from the 7 cell battery.

This is gonna be my first laptop so I'm pretty new to all this stuff. If you are getting around 2 hrs with a dvd test, how long would you be getting with regular stuff like interent browsing, ms office, email..etc?

 

yeah those times seem to be a bit high, I ordered one the other day with the intel graphics, and a 7 cell, I'm hoping for over 3 hours. That pcmag review was using the nvidia and also the fastest processor. Also who knows maybe they just had a poor battery.

 

They told me (I called yesterday):

4 cell Li-Ion Battery 3-4 hrs.
6 cell Li-Ion Battery [add $20.00] 5-6 hrs.
7 cell Li-Ion Battery [add $40.00] 6-7 hrs.

 

Probably the same as the 6 cell - 10.2 inch.
The 4 cell is probably a 3.6V / 2600 mAh 18650 type Li-Ion configured as a "flat pack" - see the link (but only four cells, not six)



The 6 and 7 cell are probaly configured as "offset brick" - see the link:



so their overall dimensions with the housing wont change.

The more important factor is that these cells may be all connected in parallel, otherwise I do not see how this will work so you have now one battery with 3,6 Volts nominal.

If this is true you wont be able to use any of your old batteries, chargers, etc.

 

Anybody knows how heavy each of these three types of batteries is? The other thing is that I could not find is if the 5lbs minimum weight includes the optical drive or not. Does any body know?

 

So Andrew, have you been able to get your hands on the T61? How's battery life (aside from DVDs...).