MSI Wind U100 + 9 cell battery + OS X = 6 hours

We’ve seen 9 cell batteries for the MSI Wind before. Word on the street is that they’ll provide about 7.5 hours of battery life on a standard Wind U100 running Windows XP. I assume if you throw one in a newer MSI Wind U100 Plus with its more energy efficient CPU, you could eke out even more run time. But you know what I haven’t seen until now? A good benchmark showing how much battery life you can get out of a 9 cell battery with a Wind U100 running OS X.

Fortunately Wired Magazine’s Charlie Sorrel has come to the rescue. He picked up a 9 cell after realizing that using OS X causes his MSI Wind U100 battery to run down way faster than it would under Windows XP. As expected, the extender battery sticks out like a sore thumb. But while it’s not particularly attractive, it does tilt the computer a bit, providing what Sorrel says is a comfortable typing angle for the keyboard.

Most importantly, the battery is good for about 6 hours. A standard 3 cell battery dies after about 90 minutes if you’re using OS X.

Posted on Friday, April 24th, 2009, 11:02 am by Brad Linder

http://liliputing.com Brad Linder

6. I was typing too fast and forgot to stop to think.

Headline has been fixed.
J

is it 9 hours or 6 hours? not sure which is right…
Ohio Red

What would the time be with a Linux distribution?
Ganesh

Does the N280 consume less power? Do you have any evidence of this?

How much more less?
Tommy Yoo

With the different OS X variants and various kexts (fan control, CPU speed-stepping, even sleep and overall power usage) out there, I'm not quite convinced this is a real good measure of battery capacity vs. runtime. My original Wind got about 120 minutes of decent usage on the original 3-cell battery – and that's with the best of the kexts at the time (and a program called Coolbook – found at http://www.coolbook.se/CoolBook.html). That's general usage, screen brightness, blah blah blah – and completely anecdotal, but that's the point I'm trying to make.

Anyway – to further put some numbers out there (which may or may not matter) I've got a Lenovo S10 with a six-cell battery that routinely makes it to the five to six hour range.
http://dailytechdiva.com/ Jessica Fritsche

Interesting…my Dell Mini 9 running OS X consistently gets me just under 4 hours on its 4 cell battery, with the wireless on and brightness turned down a bit. It goes up and over 4 hours with the wireless off. I am hoping for a 6 cell from Dell that actually works (the bigger 3rd party batteries aren't great from what I hear) so I can get around 6 hours of use.
Ganesh

How long can the basic U100 (not plus) last with a 6 cell and with wifi on and screen full brightness?
matty

Under Windows, the 4400 mAh is just under 4 hours. Screen brightness down a little will do about an extra 20 mins.
Ganesh

Thanks Matty. I wonder if the N280 can give more hours? I am talking abt full brightness and wifi on.

According to MSI, its 7 hours, I presume that with wifi off and screen dimmed.
bubson

Debian Linux + LXDE

circa 7,5h with Wifi on.
No Wifi gives you 8,5h at max.
Using 9cell battery 7800 mAh – from China ebay
anes

Which Debian ? Testing, Stable , Unstable ?

Thanks and BR
bubson

Unstable.
Ubuntu 9.10 + LXDE works too
anes

8+ hours confirmed with Debian Testing and 9 cell Battery. Thanks bubson. Didn’t even herad of LXDE, but I like it.
BR
http://ndrw.me AndrewNoNumbers

Foreal!? OS X is actually less energy-efficient than XP? What if it was compared to 7?
http://ndrw.me AndrewNoNumbers

Foreal!? OS X is actually less energy-efficient than XP? What if it was compared to 7?

MSI Wind U100 + 9 cell battery + OS X = 6 hours

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