Thinking of X61: Totally confused about battery life

Hi! My current laptop is a behemoth 6kg laptop replacement, and i'm looking forward to getting a new laptop. My requirements are that it's lightweight, 4mb L2 cache, 2gb ram, and battery that will last for a long time (my current laptop doesn't last more than an hour ...)

the X61s seems to fit the bill. It's definitely light, and anything above the T7200 will give me the 4mb L2 cache. My main concern now is the battery life and power usage.

a) Will the L7xxx (17W) series consume less power than the T7xxx (34W) series because it's at a lower wattage? Would it really matter in the long run?
b) when i get to the power section, i get a list like this:

ThinkPad Advanced Ultrabay Battery (+$125)
ThinkPad X60 Series 4 Cell Enhanced Capacity Battery (+$152)
ThinkPad X60 Series 8 Cell High Capacity Battery (+$179)
ThinkPad X60 Series Extended Life Battery (+$179)

According to Lenovo, the X61 is going to ship with an 8 Cell Lithium-Ion. Is this different from the 8 Cell High Capacity Battery listed here? Also according to Lenovo, the Extended Life battery cannot be used in or with the ThinkPad X6 UltraBase ... so are these my only configurations:

1) 8 Cell Lithium-Ion (normal) OR
2) 8 Cell High Capacity Battery

WITH

3) Extended Life Battery
4) Advanced Ultrabay Battery (and the bay)

so would i be correct in assuming that at most, i can only have two batteries at a time?

thank you for your time

 

Yes, Low-Voltage CPU will consume less power, but not by a whole lot. The Low-Voltage CPU is only available on the X61s and not on the X61.

I suggest the X61s because it's lighter, produces less heat, and has longer battery life (+30 minutes). You also get an option to choose the UltraLight display which is brighter and lighter than the normal display.

I'm assuming you're custom-configuring this on the US site. I only see the 4 cell slim line, 4 cell enhanced battery, and the 8 cell high capacity battery. The x61s comes standard with a 4 cell slim line battery. This battery holds the least charge out of all of them. I would recomend the the 8 cell high capacity battery for the longest battery life.

I believe you can also buy an UltraBay and install another battery on top of it. However, this will make the laptop heavier and bulkier, which defeats the whole purpose of being an ultraportable. Personally, I think the X61s with a 8 cell high capacity battery life is more than enough. It should last you roughly 7 hours with the LCD set to a low brightness level.

 

There is only one X6x series 8-cell battery, even if the terminology is different.

The "Extended Life Battery" snaps onto the bottom of the X6x, essentially replacing the Ultrabase.

 

It's tough to work with on the lowest screen setting at least is was for me. There's no reason you can't get six plus hours using the eight cell provided the screens about half brightness or less.

 

Sorry, i guess i should've mentioned this before my post. I'm looking at the canadian Lenovo site.

really, wow. i'm not sure if i'd be able to get that. All i see on the list are X61's, and not X61s (lol, that sentence is probably confusing)

sorry, i'm looking at the Canadian site, and it just says: 8 Cell Lithium-Ion. the footnote doesn't say anything important at all any guesses as to whether this is the 8 cell slim (does that even exist?) or the 8 cell enhanced?

i'm considering getting the UltraBay anyways. It'll make it bulkier and heavier only if i carry it around. My optical drive on my current laptop is pretty unreliable, and i find that i don't use it more than 3, 4 times a week, and usually at home rummaging through my backups. 7 hours sounds a lot better than "less than an hour" .. for sure

 

No such thing as a 8 cell slim line. The 4 cell slim line is only available for the X61s, and apparently the Canadian Lenovo site doesn't have the X61s model.

Basically you have 4 battery options for the X61.
1. 4 cell battery
2. 8 cell battery
3. extended life battery (goes on the bottom of the ThinkPad rather than the back, kind of like a dock.)
4. UltraBay battery (requires an UltraBay)

I believe you can't have the extended life battery and have the UltraBay attached at the same time. Also, the UltraBay battery uses the same slot as the optical drive, which means you can't have both on at the same time.

 

The UltraBay battery (if you get the 9 cell one) slaps on a good 3 to 4 hours of battery life, really worth it.

But the 8 cell normal battery, I guess is fine, since you can always rely on the UltraBay battery for battery power.