6 cell or 9 cell battery

About to order a Inspiron 1520 (will be doing it tomorrow probably), but I'm not too sure about the battery. I'm not gonna be taking it out of the house with me that much but I do want a decent battery life cos of two reasons:
1 - I'm lazy, and would prefer not to have to plug it in all the time. But more importantly, 2 - I plan on taking it to uni with me next year.

So that brings me to my question. Should I get the 6 cell or the 9 cell battery.
Obviously, the 9 cell will give better life - but its bulky, and makes the laptop heavier. Now, since (next year anyway), I'll be carrying this around campus with me (planning on going to Bath uni btw), is it a good idea to go for the portability with the 6 cell, or the battery life with the 9 cell.

I am generally used to carrying a weight on my back (I'm in sixth form right now, and my school bag can get stupidly heavy sometimes. Around 5 Kg I would say). But obviously, I don't want to be carrying extra weight about for no reason.

So how much heavier is the 9 cell battery, and how much more battery life will it give?

Thanks

ps - the laptop will be with a T7500 2.2Ghz, 8600GT, 250 GB HDD, 2GB RAM)

 

I think it's at most a half pound heavier.. I ordered mine with the 9-cell

 

You should get the 9-cell, no question. A laptop is usually about portability (and as you will be going to college next year, you'll be moving around-going to the library, bringing your laptop to class, etc) and portability means battery life is important. I will always take more battery life.

 

in all honesty, if you're not going to be needing a battery for another year (12 months), then i would be prepared to buy another battery before uni starts. regardless of whether you get a 6 or 9 cel now, it will have lost some life by then.

 

How long does the 9 cell last anyway? I have a 6cell in my vostro, and when i"m doing word processing and internet browsing, it lasts around 3-3.5 hours.

 

Thanks for the replies.

If its only half a pound (less than 0.25Kg for those like me lol), then it really wouldn't bother me.

I did actually think of getting a 6 cell now and then a 9 cell next year, but have really been put off by the prices. On the dell site, new 9 cell batteries seem to be close to £100. And I really don't know if I should trust ebay sellers, after the whole thing a little while ago about exploding batteries.

 

the 9 cells on dells are fine, IMO. i had one on my XPS m140 and never minded it one bit. the extra battery life was much appreciated, as well. i say opt for the 9 cell.

i now have an HP with a 9 cell, but it extended out the bottom, instead of the back like dells. it's annoying as heck when it's on your lap! i much prefer the battery to extend out the back.