Which Laptop battery is better and how long does each one last?

Question

I have an option on a Dell INPSPIRON 1501,

6 Cell, 56Whr Lithium Ion Primary Battery
9 Cell, 85Whr Lithium Ion Primary Battery (extra £12)

How long can i use the laptop fully charged between the two batterys? Also does the 9 cell last longer in the long run?

Thanks in advance!

I will be using it for games and watching dvds and listening to music and browsing internet. As well as doing Graphics design on Photoshop.

Answer 1

For £12, I myself would pay the extra.

The way the battery works is each cell produces a voltage, the cells are then connected in series to increase the voltage to bring the battery up to the correct voltage, another bank of cells is then wired in parallel with the other bank to add extra capacity. In this case the 9 cell battery will give you a third more running time than the 6 cell pack. In theory anyway. The overall workable life of the 9 cell battery may be slightly longer than the 6 cell pack as well.

A 9 cell pack will obliviously take longer to run down. Say you drain the 6 cell pack every time, the 9 cell pack would only be 2 thirds empty. Over the years that extra third you always have left will add up to maybe 20 or so extra charges. Laptop batteries control which cells are being drained and by how much so they 'switch' the cells over eliminating the memory effect and increasing battery life. Also, lithium batteries do not like deep discharging/recharging, so the 9 cell battery may be a better choice if you plan to run games and do graphic editing.

Put simply - pay the extra, for £12 it's worth it, especially as you will be doing some energy intensive work!

Answer 2

It is hard to answer your guestion exactly. The reason is how you have power management set up on your computer, and finally, how much you have it running full tilt with various processes. If, for instance, you are listening to mp3s on a disk, running the CD/DVD drive will really zap the batteries down fast.
Having said the above, the six cell will probably run you about 3-4 hours under regular type use, the nine cell a good 4-6.
So between them, figure at least seven hours of running time.
I have had laptops over the years, and the above is based on general experience.

Answer 3

Lithium ion battery existence is better prolonged if consistently charged and discharged yet hardly ever if ever completely discharged. attempt to save it contained in the better ranges (70-100%). in case you do go away it plugged in for all time, get rid of the battery and save it in a funky dry position (not a warmth dry position).