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210

Batteries should not stick out the front of a laptop

210 points posted to Laptop Power by chipzero Apr 13

A number of Dell laptops come with 9-cell batteries that stick out the front, which looks weird and - in my opinion - quite ugly.

Pictures:
http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/10560.jpg
http://img5.pcpop.com/ProductImages/640x480/0/440/000440767.jpg
http://www.mikeshardware.com/reports/dells_happiest_customer/dell_2_lg.jpg

Batteries should instead stick out the back, not stick out at all, or come with a warning about their size and weight. (A lot of customers simply pick the largest capacity battery, unaware of this tradeoff in aesthetics or the many reviews that warn about this.)

chipzero
Apr 13		 Also, notice how easily you can find large amounts of pictures and reviews like that with the search terms 'dell battery sticks out.'
stormrider451
Apr 13		 Ugh that is so ugly hah.. I concur with your idea.. No batteries sticking out the front!! EVER :P

Unless the person buying the computer has no problem with that. It should be let known to people who choose that battery that it will stick out the front by making the interactive picture that you see while you build show it. I hope it does, because if I got a computer with this battery sticking out and the picture at DELL's site didnt show it, I would be STEAMIN! Anyhoo, I also think that behind is much better than front. If you are going to have it stick out of somewhere, make it come out the back.
cestuila
Apr 13		 I totally agree there should be more information about that.
However: 4 & 6 cell batteries do NOT stick out.
And if you want more battery life, you might be happy with a 6 cell battery + a 6 cell media bay battery :)

And have read about MANY people, among those who own a 9 cell battery that sticks out, who love it because it is a place for their wrists to rest.
thekingrich
Apr 14		 I quite honestly LOVE that it sticks out... It gives my palms something extra to rest on, while using the laptop.
Perhaps a compromise is in order?
Or like my ealier idea: http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/65237/Use_EXTERNAL_Batteries_for_Laptops
chipzero
Apr 14		 @thekingrich: Do you have a 12" laptop, perhaps? I've used the 9-cell battery myself (I actually got both batteries from the start, one for looks and regular use, and two for travel). I don't see it giving any extra support for my hands, and there's plenty of room for that on the rest of my 14" laptop. Besides, since the battery doesn't cover the whole width of the laptop, and is a bit lower than the rest, I honestly don't see how it could be used as a hand rest. But well, maybe that's just me. Perhaps it would be an idea to have an extensible hand rest instead? :)

Anyway, whenever I see someone with it I can't help but wonder if they actually knew about the way it looked before they ordered it... It just looks so clunky and still doesn't give you the same battery life as those nice, portable macbooks and other laptops do _without_ the battery sticking out.
cestuila
Apr 14		 A D630 with 9 cell battery easily does the battery life a Macbook will give.
Don't know where you got that from...
raymond_119
Apr 16		 good article
chipzero
Apr 16		 cestuila: that's not my experience, I get perhaps 3.5 hours with a 9 cell battery and a powertop-optimized Linux installation on a D630. Of course, the battery life really depends on your usage pattern, and YMMV. Still, you'd expect that with the exceptionally clunky looking battery it would at least easily match the 4.5 or so hours the macbook delivers.
cestuila
Apr 17		 Sorry, for you, but I have 4 hours with my 6 cell battery (and much more if I add my media-bay battery) doing Word and Internet browsing with wifi.
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