[camelelbow]

I'll be flying some 8+ hour flights shortly with my mini 9 and would like to watch at least 6 hours of video.

The other issue is weight. I'll be flying the nickel and diming european airlines (yes, much worse than US airlines in this respect), and will be limited in the size and weight of my carryon. Oh, and the carryon is my only bag. So space and weight count.

Is one of the huge batteries found on ebay and others the way to go, or should I just get a second dell battery?

I'm running ubuntu, no windows, so I do not have the ability to reflash the bios.

In order, the requirements are:

* 6 hours of video playback
* Least weight
* Least space taken up in the bag

[DELLsFan]

Buy another DELL battery. You just CAN'T go wrong with another one of those. You MIGHT go wrong with a third party battery. Added battery to the carryon isn't terribly significant, IMO.

[holmes4]

The 8-cell batteries work - they're twice the size of a 4-cell battery, obviously. I got about 6-7 hours out of one watching videos from the SD card.

[MrMacHack]

Originally Posted by holmes4

The 8-cell batteries work - they're twice the size of a 4-cell battery, obviously. I got about 6-7 hours out of one watching videos from the SD card.

Good stuff there Steve... I was looking to find out if the 8 cells would last a few hours longer then the stock ones.
Thanks for answering the question before I asked it... Wow 6 to 7 hours is good especially if you were watching video

[dkerr24]

Skip on the extra battery, bring a book to read once the battery goes dead.

[emersonps]

8-cell batteries work wonders for getting more power, but your mileage will vary in total time. I run transcoded AVI files at a screen resolution that's half of the mini 9's (just in case I want to look at the file on my old Axim 30 instead), and they look good enough for in-seat viewing on an airliner at 700 MB each.

I run them off a 16 MB stick, and my average is close to 5.5 hours at full screen illumination with my 8-cell bundle. Of course, you have to deal with the flashing LEDs and the power-down-before-recharge that's the bane of non-Dell batteries, but that's minor.

One thing to remember, though, is that you're going to have the swing of the screen impaired with the larger battery -- i.e., the screen isn't going to go back as far as it does with a standard 4-cell. You may need to prop up the front end of the keyboard base to get a better angle for viewing. Again, it's a trade-off.

[charley]

Buy a second standard battery and put it in your pocket instead of your bag.

[jrm]

I just bought one of those high capacity batteries off of ebay for a flight to Sydney on Sunday myself.... here's hoping it works welL!

[holmes4]

Bring along a piece of black electrical tape to put over the LEDs which will likely flash while you're using the extended battery. I suggest you charge and test the battery before leaving.