Got my 6-cell battery today...

[crackhead]

I placed an order at the HP Parts store when it showed up there, and after no response from them I called last week. They told me they didn't know when they'd actually be available and expected it to be a while. I just recently saw that they were going to be available on their regular store and was going to cancel my order ($150!), but it actually arrived this morning! I hope I can get a credit.

It's fully charged now, but I can't tell you how long it's gonna last. It definitely makes the unit heavier, and it sits much higher and at a greater slope on a desk. But if I can get 5 hours+ out of it it's worth it. OSX is reporting I have 1 hour 19 minutes left, but I don't trust that. I certainly hope it's more than that!

[uppedbyhiggins]

Got any photos of this thing in action?

[crackhead]

Here's a good shot...


Here are the rest of the photos...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crackhead/sets/72157615213491510/

[dezymond]

Do you have a sleeve for your Mini? If so, how does it fit with the 6-cell battery on it? Didn't realize the gap the battery makes was that big.

[crackhead]

Well I have this one: http://www.amazon.com/Quality-Neoprene-Netbook-Vivienne-Accessory/dp/B001SBFMWG and it fits fine. Of course there's now a slight bulge where the battery is, but it's not a huge deal. Additionally, the stock battery fits in the little zipper compartment. That's a lotta battery life!

One thing I've noticed...if you hold the mini with the hinge down, it fits nicely in the hand. In fact, I'd say it fits a little more securely than with the stock battery.

[dezymond]

Thanks for the info crackhead. I got official HP Mini sleeves o dunno how that would compare, but considering alot of the sleeves that fit our Mini are about the same i'll take your word for it. and you got almost 9 hours of battery life...man that is alot of power, lol.

As for me, i'm still debating if i want the 6-cell. Just a student and trying to invest as little money as possible into this Mini, but with the best results. Still need to buy a high-end SSD for this thing...8gb is not school friendly, too bad RunCore is getting nothing but negative reviews right now and Mtron is way overpriced.

One more question crackhead. As dumb as this may sound i've tried to simulate what it might be like with the 6-cell by placing an eraser or two under apart under my Mini. How's the Mini feel with the slight incline?

As for your battery meter, i use BatteryBar. I find it extremely accurate, sounds more accurate than what you're using, brand new fully charged 6-cell only showing 1hr battery life left, lol.
http://osirisdevelopment.com/

[crackhead]

To be honest I haven't used it much on a desk...mostly on my lap. In this position, it's not much different than the stock battery. On a desk it's nice, the slope is definitely pronounced...but at a comfortable tilt. However I could see how if you are tall you might find that the slope keeps the screen from being an open-enough angle for best viewing. I would definitely say that erasers are much taller than the battery. Think more like a roll of dimes...

I'm running OSX on the mini, so the battery monitor you mentioned won't work for me! The menubar battery monitor is definitely not accurate...it's been stuck at 92% for the last hour or so and it's plugged in. I'm kinda bummed because I just got that working last night and now I know I probably shouldn't trust it. I tend to keep my machine plugged in when using it on the couch, so when I'm out and about I'll see what the battery life is like and report back.

By the way, I'm one of the unfortunate souls dealing with the RunCore debacle. What a pain in the ass...I sent my SECOND 64gb drive back today. I guess I'll keep dealing with it because there doesn't seem to be much in the pipeline as a possible replacement...I don't wanna go MTron because I want 64gb. So the stock 16gb SSD is what I'll use until the day I get a working RunCore. I'm psyched for the speed bump...this drive is sloooooooooow.

[dezymond]

good advice with the height and the angle, i'm about 6'1" myself so don't know if that'd be a problem. Not to mention when i use it mostly I'm in a desk at school. The glare on the device is horrible and keeping it at low brightness only makes things harder to see on the screen, so I'm looking at this battery mostly for higher brightness =P

I was looking at the RunCore more for speed more than extra space. I was looking at the Mtron and it's roughly the same specs as the RunCore for double the price. Hope third time is the charm for you, but with the costs of these things, these little problems shouldn't even be occuring. I'm keeping a close eye on the RunCore thread so i know when is a good time to order one. After they get all their mess fixed of course.

[JesD]

I got my 2 HP mini 6 cell batteries yesterday.
I charged it up and I am now running on battery.
I have a second monitor connected through a TARGUS dock ( I ordered the VGA Cable from HP today ), I have my bluetooth on with a bluetooth mouse connected, my WLAN on, streaming audio with two other programs running. SO far its been on battery for 2 hr 40 minutes and its showing 57%.

[rogerdugans]

I got my battery yesterday and while I have not used it enough as yet to really SAY what kind of battery life to expect, it looks decent:

Ran it for about 90 minutes total today- breaktime started it up and began downloading/installing Enlightenment using an EVDO modem; restarted the xserver to look at Enlightenment a couple of times (pure and with KDE) and then left it running until another break.

Battery meter showed 76% left, which comes out to an expected 6 hours.

Not exactly an accurate representation, but still about 30 minutes of very high cpu usage in there, and I had turned off timed power saving when idle.
I'd say 5+ hours in real-world use is likely.

[SkyWriter]

got mine yesterday. i've been on battery since 5pm today. four hours later i'm down to 25%. nice.

[fishyuk]

Hi all lucky owners, does HP state the mAh rating anywhere for the battery?

I'm considering this or the Mugen. If the Mugen is the same or larger then I might have a go at the Mugen. Official is probably safer bet but I'd like to avoid the raised back if possible, and of course try something different to report back to everyone .