MSI Wind 9-Cell Battery Giving 10+ Hours Use

Necessity is the mother of invention, they say, hence the jacked-up MSI Wind you see below.  The culprit is a whopping 9-cell battery pack for the netbook, available from third-party sellers on eBay rather than an official MSI accessory, which takes its merely moderate runtime from the standard batteries and boosts it to 7.5 to 10hrs.

The standard 3-cell Wind battery is good for around two hours, while the 6-cell prolongs that to around four.  Buyers of this new unofficial pack are reporting Windows XP estimates of up to 10+hrs; it's uncertain how long exactly the batteries will last (it takes the first few charging cycles to get an accurate estimate), but it's still a huge improvement over the standard pack.

Of course, the Samsung NC10 recently wowed reviewers with its 7+hrs runtime from a 6-cell pack, which makes me wonder how long it could last with a larger, 9-cell battery.  The 9-cell MSI Wind batteries are currently retailing for around £70 ($115), including shipping, on eBay.

[via Wired]