How to get T510 with integrated graphics and 90W adapter

Hey everyone,

I'd like to buy a T510 with integrated graphics (since I won't be doing gaming with it), but for my own reasons, I'd prefer to be able to run it on AC power without the battery attached. After reading link1, it seems like this is only possible with the 90W adapter if one doesn't want to sacrifice performance. However, it seems like I can't choose which adapter I want when configuring the laptop on lenovo's site. It appears that if I want the 90W adapter, I have to get it in addition to the 65W one.

What I want to know is, is there any way to get the 90W adapter *instead* of the 65W one with an integrated T510? Would calling lenovo customer service help?

As an aside, I have also read link2. I understand that a number of experienced members of this forum feel that the battery won't degrade even if the Thinkpad is run on AC power with the battery in if the settings are right. While I respect your opinion, given my own experiences with laptops I am a bit skeptical about this. I'd hate for the battery to degrade without me even running on battery a lot of times. I am open to other points of view, though. If you can provide me with hard evidence that the battery won't degrade significantly after 2-3 years of running on AC power with it in, I'll be happy to stop asking about the integrated T510 with the 90W adapter .

Thanks in advance.

 

1) Maybe you should try the phone order instead and see whether that helps, in Australia you can choose the power adapters in certain models.

2) I think i said it won't degrade in significant ways, so that means it would degrade but very slowly. You do know that battery will degrade overtime even if you Don't use it? When storing batteries, it is always wise to use it every couple of months to recondition the battery anodes/cathodes to prevent any irreversible oxides buildup.

3) Sorry, but not sure what sort of experiences you have, is it with Thinkpads or with some other laptop brands? Lenovo and IBM pioneered the smart charging circuitry in their battery, which other laptop companies could not match for a while. This circuitry and software that is used on it, is designed to minimise top up charging behaviour, which decreases the battery longevity.

I think Lenovo Thinkpads is the only laptop right now that comes with manufacturer power management software and a smart charging circuit on the battery that allows you to stipulate at what level you start charging the battery and stop charging the battery.

Futhermore, most premature battery death occurs due to faulty battery cells, and not really the fault of keeping the battery in the laptop. If it is going to fail, it is going to fail, in which case it is better that it fails within warranty than 2 years down the line even when you kept the battery out of the laptop.

Also, did you evaluate the fact that the battery acts as UPS?

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Hard evidence? well i guess that is easy, find a three years old battery and post the actual charge level and design charge level. Also, battery degradation has much to do with the different batches of battery cells from different battery cell manufacturers, as it is with the charging and usage behaviour. Some batch of battery would fail within 200 cycles and some fail at 500 cycles, so will degrade significantly (and in a linear pattern) from normal usage, while others degrade very little and then just stop working all together without any prior warnings (just look around the various battery complaint posts).

Also, don't make it sound that people have some sort of benefits to gain from you by pushing you to leave the battery in. No one on this forum will get any money from any corporations or you by changing your battery usage behaviour. You are free to do whatever and whenever with your battery..

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So my advice to anyone whom wants to listen, is to set up their custom charging behaviour in their thinkvantage power management (if they care about battery longevity), whether that is start charging below 70% and stop at 95%, or other regime that suits their use pattern.

 

Thanks for this info.

My experiences come from my Acer Travelmate 8200, which I have run with the battery in for about 4 years. Its battery life has decreased from about 3 hours to an hour or less. I was unaware of this Lenovo/IBM battery technology. Thanks for telling me about it.

That was not my intention.

 

Acer laptop is known to be cheapest one available out of all the major laptop brands.. they have no quality other than been cheap. You can't really compare to them the thinkpads, different grade of machines. This is like comparing Hyundai to BMW or Benz, and then extrapolate whatever negative experience with build quality on the Hyundai to Benz or BMW cars.

 

Leaving a battery at 100% while plugged in ALL the time will certainly cause it to degrade heavily after four years. This is especially true if the notebook in question runs hot, and many Acers do.

If you properly set your charge thresholds on the T510 you should suffer only very limited degredation. In addition, you gain all the advantages of having a battery (e.g. built in UPS and grab and go capability).

If you plan on leaving it plugged in nearly ALL the time I would suggest you set charge thresholds centered around 40% (ideal long term storage charge level). Start at 30%/stop at 50%, start at 20%/stop at 60%, or something similar would be a good choice. You might also want to give it a full cycle (charge to 100%, drain to less than 10%) every month or so.

 

lead_org, I accept your point. I'm just curious how you came to this conclusion. Is it through statistics, personal experience, or something else? I'd like to know more about this so I can be better informed in the future. Thanks.

jonlumpkin, I appreciate the additional info.

 

are you referring to the Acer quote? or Thinkpad battery?

 

The Acer quote.

 

it is a known fact that Acer produces some of the cheapest laptop around, you just have to wonder through the various computer malls and compare prices of Acer with equivalent specced competitors to appreciate this fact.

Quality wise it is from various forum user experiences and personal experiences with Acer laptops at university and with those acer laptops that my friend have.

Also, you should spend some time reading through the Acer section of the Notebookreview.com forum....

You should notice that Acer doesn't offer a business grade laptop that is comparable in quality to Thinkpads Classic, Dell Latitude or HP Elitebooks. While, they have a strong presence in the cheaper end of consumer laptop market, especially in the netbooks (which are the only laptop i would consider buying from Acer).

oh there is this facebook group.

Acer Notebooks are a load of ****! (Official Group) | Facebook