[MDSanta]

I've had my dell mini 10 since the start of summer and have enjoyed every second I have use it. I listen to alot of music on it, even while in my aily commute back and forth to work which is about 45 minutes long.

Normally I can keep my mini unplugged for at least almost another hour if not half hour depending if I have the top open and so forth.

In the past 3 days all of a sudden the battery life on mini 10 seems to have gone through some drastic changes. The charge does not seem to remain through my entire ride, meaning the battery literally dies at approximately 45 minutes from a 100%.

I have not done any system changes to cause the juice to go out so fast so I was wondering if anyone has had a similar issue or if anyone knew how I could attempt to diagnose what is wrong with it.

[Starmanager]

Batterielife is under normal conditions with a 3 cell Batterie 2 1/2 hours and with the 6 cell batterie 5 1/2 Hours. If you have only 45 min then I would say the batterie is end of life. If it is still under warranty try to get a replacement.

Regards

Starmanager

[rrfranczak3]

I have the 6 cell and at times have gotten almost 7 hrs, how often do you charge it, they say not to charge it until it gets to around 60%, I sometimes go a couple of days without charging mine with using it about an 1 hour per day, or like the other guy said maybe your battery is just shot.....try to let it totally drain then charge it, I dont think these batteries retain a memory like the older ni-cads used to..try calling Dell Tech Support..that in it self will be a nightmare, if its under warranty demand a new one, otherwise if its not under warranty try ebay...skip Dell all together....Dell tech support is so far the best reason I have seen lately to drink

"oh my gosh be golly I be seeing that your warranty has come to an end..I will be glad to transfer you to our Sales Department where there be someone who will be assisting you today on this matter most quickly"

[MDSanta]

2 hours more or less has always been my average time, its just the past 2 weeks it hit me really hard with short battery life. Just today I had the laptop plugged exactly from 10am to 530pm the moment I unplugged it, my battery life was @ 2% life, wtf?

definitely not a software issue now. im not sure if I am still under warranty, but are these batteries pricey to replace?

[Xiphias]

Relative to the Mini, yes.

[jcoinster]

Every charge I get exactly 2:40 or maybe a few min off...

[rottie]

warrarnty covers for battery? for real?

[Braineater]

normaly the warranty on batteries is only 6 month but dell is mostly very obliging...so i would try to contact dell and ask for a new battery

besides for the statistics:
My Mini with a 6 cell Battery lasts about 10hours in idle with minimal display brightnes and disabled WLAN
and about 8 hours with wlan enabled and almost minimal display brightnes. When i play a game like UT i get a battery lifetime by about 5-6 hours with max display brightness

i think the battery lifetime strongly depends on the battery manufacturer. I already had 2 6 cell batteries...the first was from SDI and i lasted about 7 hours under the same conditions. My 2. battery(the actual) is from simplo and it lasts about 3 hours longer

[Philosophre]

Is the 6cell the same size as the 3cell? The only reason I grabbed the 3cell during the Black Friday 200$ deal was because I like to have nothing protruding out. Also I didn't plan on using the mini more than 3hrs cause I would get a headache from the tiny screen. But if the side is the same I wouldn't mind grabbing it.

[holmes4]

No, it is twice the size.