HP Mini-Note battery available from HP
Those of you who jumped on the HP 2133 Mini-Note early on and who have wanted to purchase the 6-cell battery must wait no longer. I just checked the HP online store and see the 6-cell battery is now available for purchase for $129. This price is not that bad although it brings up an interesting situation with mini-notebooks in general as they are so cheap that accessories like batteries are a big percentage of the device’s purchase price. I have a 6-cell battery and get 4-5 hours of battery life with it so those who need extra battery life can order one now.
I’ve noticed the majority of the mininotes out there already come with the 6-cell as standard. I was hoping HP would offer the 3-cell battery for those who prefer a “slim” unit.
My personal choice would be to stick with a 3-cell, and if I need extra juice, just get a 200Wh external battery like the Portable Power Station. The beauty of these devices is that they work like an AC adaptor, charging the 3-cell while powering the laptop, and you don’t need to hibernate/interrupt work.
Of course, a cheaper solution is to get an auto/air adaptor. I don’t mind carrying along the extra cables when I can use somebody else’s power for free…
If you are interested in the slim solution the HP does offer a 3-cell battery (Part #482262-001) through their parts store. The bad news is that 3-cell version runs almost twice the price of the 6-cell one ($207.10 + shipping).
James’ point also applies to the cost of internal components versus the price of the entire unit. I like the way HP offers a range of configurations with progressively more performance, but the mass market might resist the $250-$290 price bump from entry-level to well-equipped; the difference is almost the equivalent of a $299 Dell E. (Note that HP doesn’t even offer a fully-equipped model with 1.6GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, and 160GB HDD — a configuration that would be over $800.)
HP offers a wider range of performance improvements while Dell will be offering more basic systems with a wide variety of colors (often a popular strategy among consumers). In the long term both strategies will likely be successful, but how will the other 5-6 manufacturers compete?
Ahh, but HP does offer a fully equipped model, and guess what, it is over $800 like you say
Pre config(KR964UT)$819
Made to order at hp site KR964UA#ABA $979
Thanks for the correction, Luis. I was looking at the “Featured Models” and didn’t see the “All Models” button.
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF25b/321957-321957-64295-321838-306995-3687084.html
I just noticed the “Review by blogger James Kendrick” link on the HP site.
I see there are two $749 versions of the HP Mini-Note: 1GB/XP or 2GB/Vista for the same price. Funny how the “downgrade” to XP has the same market value as an extra GB of RAM.
their ext battery designs sucks, really badly. i wish they had designed it like almost all other HiCap battery subnotes do by having a wider but flatter battery. then it only slightly buldges & molds to the casing very well, looks “natural”.