Battery Life on T61?

I'm considering the purchase of a T61, mainly because of my moms IBM discount, but also because I hear theyre very reliable.

Anyway, likely wont buy one just yet as i'm waiting for the Centrino 2 45nm chips to release in June, but ive got a question about the battery life with the current Penryn chips.

Whats it like? What is it with 15.4 using 6 cell vs. 9 cell. And what about the 14 inch display with those same battery capacities.

I'm hoping these things can run for at least 4 or 5 hours.

 

Been discussed before. There are datasheets on Lenovo's product pages which has estimates. I would say they are about 0.5-1 hr off because they are a little too ideal. I have a T61p with a 9-cell battery and am getting roughly 5-5.5 hrs with it. Lenovo estimates I think 6 hours for my configuration.

 

How is the 4-cell battery?

I'm considering a t61 w 14.1 widescreen, integrated graphics.

I don't want any protruding battery and it seems the 4-cell is the only option then. It seems like I won't get much battery life this way.

My other choice is a Dell XPS M1330 with 6-cell battery. With the current sale at Lenovo Canada (despite long wait and ordering issues) I can get more processor and higher rez screen (non-glossy too!) for less money than the Dell, but I like some ofthe multi-media features of the Dell and longer battery life with a 6-cell (non-protruding) batt.

Any 4-cell users out there? Thanks!

 

I have the 14.1" widescreen T61 with dedicated graphics (which I now know reduces the battery life) and get as much as 3 hours on a charge -- a much shorter battery life than I'd like. And that's on a 6-cell battery. I haven't used the 4-cell, but I think there is good reason the default configurations have the 6-cell.

The 6-cell is not as obtrusive as I thought it might be. I'm wishing for a 9- or 12- cell and would avoid the 4-cell which is going to give irritatingly short battery life, I expect.