HP Mini 2133 six cell battery review

Okayyyyyyyy, here's the article on the optional 6 cell battery pack at last. This article's been long delayed due to my standard 3 cell developing a fault. I had to go get a new unit from HP. I waited until now so I can compare and show you guys the difference between both batteries. Let's take a look at the 6 cell battery now. Here's how it looks like-









Did you notice there's a really nice feature on it? There's actually a meter on it if you look carefully. Here's a closer look at the meter.






It will tell you the charge level if you touch the battery icon on the meter. It lights up to show the charge level like this-



It's a very useful feature indeed. Especially for people who have a few battery packs. How many times have you left home with a spare battery pack only to realise it's actually empty when you run out of juice at the coffee shop? It's happened to me quite a few times actually, with my other laptops and it's infuriating. It will never happen again coz I can now check on the charge level before bringing it out.





Here's the difference in size between the 3 cell and 6 cell battery.





As you can see, the 6 cell is double the size and weight. Some may think it will be cumbersome for such a small netbook. I like it a lot though. Here's why-



It lifts the Mini up at a very nice angle for typing. It also helps to keep the Mini nice and cool with all that air underneath it. Here's a few more pictures of how the Mini looks like with the 6 cell.











Let's get on to battery runtimes now. I didn't do any scientific tests or anything of the sort. Not my kinda style. I do real world tests for real world usage for real people. :) All I did was to calibrate both batteries over a few full charge and discharge cycles. Then I turned on the battery meter to see how much runtime Windows estimates for a full charge. Power Profile used was HP Optimised in Windows Vista Business.

Here's the screenshot of the 3 cell runtime.





6 cell runtime.





The results were pretty much expected since the 6 cell is twice the size and capacity of the 3 cell battery. In conclusion, I loooooooooooooove the 6 cell battery. It truly gives me the freedom to work away from the power outlet. No more worries about running out of juice while I'm out and about. With both the 3 cell and 6 cell in the bag, I've got almost 7 hours worth of runtime. More than enough to get myself drunk on coffee while I'm out at the local Starbucks. LOL.

Other articles on the HP Mini-
How to: RAM upgrade for HP Mini 2133
HP Mini 2133 review
Hewlett Packard customer service rocks!


If you liked this article or found it helpful, please check out the advertisements ya? You can also buy the 6 cell battery for HP Mini 2133 from Amazon through the links below. Your support is much appreciated. :) :) :)