might buy an Ultra bay and 9cell battery

I'm thinking of getting an Ultra bay for my new t420, and a 9 cell battery.

Sometimes I feel regret cuz I ddin't buy the 9cell from the start.
However, I feel that the prices for both are a rip off, what do you think?

 

Yep, they're both expensive. A few things to keep in mind:

1.- The T420 UltraBay is not the same as the previous UltraBay Slim 9.5mm standard. It is 12.7mm, so the Lenovo UltraBay will not fit well. There are, however, third-party caddies that fit properly, and may be cheaper.

2.- Batteries lose capacity naturally as they age, even if they are not used. I'd suggest against buying an additional battery now if your 6-cell is just going to sit there collecting dust, unless the 6-cell does not meet your off-the-grid usage needs. Buy the 9-cell when you need it (and when it possibly will become cheaper in the future). eBay is a good place to look for batteries if you are so inclined: just be careful of "non-genuine" batteries.

 

THanks for the reply. Any suggestions for after-market bays?

 

An Ultra Bay what?? You mean the HDD adapter? 'Cos if you mean the battery it's incompatible.

 

In the Lenovo Outlet website, they have refurbished 9-cell battery for around $80 I think. They have ~50 quantity in stock, so might want to check that out. Third-party batteries may have inconsistencies; not worth saving that 30 or so dollars when it may negatively impact your ~$1000 system.

 

I meant Ultra Bay for HDD.

 

Now, that's something I really wish we had here. In Sweden, 3rd party aftermarket 9-cells go for about $100, whereas the genuine ones cost $200-250. Refurbished ones are nowhere to be found. =(

 

So, would you recomend 3rd party hdd bays or go with Lenovo's?

 

Well... See, I ordered my W510 and Intel X25-M 80gb SSD along with it. I also ordered the genuine lenovo ultrabay hdd caddy. As you might know, there is that little gap because the height of the ultrabay and that of W510's space are different. So, I ordered a taller 3rd party hdd caddy off eBay for around $20.

When I was using the genuine Lenovo caddy, the hdd had no problems being recognized. However, my W510 wouldn't even recognize the 3rd party caddy. I see that others did not have the problem(which is why I bit the bullet in the first place), but I ended up just throwing mine out.

IMO, the smal price difference outweighs the risk.

 

Not only the price diff, but the gap, which a problem, plus I don't want to fill it with styrofoam or whatever..

 

This may be off topic, but there is another option you might want to consider.
You can buy a 80gb Intel 310 msata SSD and stick it next to your memory slot in the WWAN slot. Its performance is comparable to that of X25-M series, and you won't have to compromise your optical drive for that.
80GB is ~$190 in Newegg(not in stock yet, but expected on Monday), which is not bad considering that ultrabay + 80gb SSD may be close to $190 anyway. AND you get to keep your DVD+RW drive!

 

I have a 3rd party HDD-caddy for my Ultrabase (for the X200) - works great! Don't know if it helps you, but just thought I'd share my experience

 

I plan on getting the Ultrabase Series 3, 2nd hard drive adapter, and DVD multireader within a few months. I plan to get all that from Lenovo. I plan on buying a 2nd 7mm SATA hard drive from a 3rd party.

For the time being, I bought a cheapo external USB Ultrabay caddy that I can use with my legacy hard drives and DVD multireader from my T42. Only $18.99 shipped (USA). Can't quickly swap drives with it though. Have to disassemble it to swap the drive. It does work, as I have used it already. Has 2 USB cables, one for power and one for data.

eBay.com.sg: External USB enclosure for 9.5 IBM THINKPAD optical DVD (item 360265021199 end time May 17, 2011 12:22:29 SGT)

EDIT: Please do not buy the above from ebay for using with current SATA Ultrabay devices. It will not work for that. I believe there are other similar devices for SATA available.

 

Never risk your invaluable data

 

you can get genuine lenovo batteries for the T420 on the cheap on amazon. the 9 cell (55++) can be purchased for 100 plus shipping from the sellers. 120 from amazon itself. Not expensive at all...especially one that will get you 10 hours on a single charge.

 

I think you pay for what you get. One buys a computers and later ask's how much it cost, fiuratively.

Renee