Help me get a cheap laptop, long battery life, and if you could, while you're at it, get me the Ark of the Covenant...

• I might be in the market for a new laptop. Should I bother trying to get a new laptop, or should I just buy a third battery for a current laptop and switch the batteries out mid-class? It has to run Windows (and Office 2007, but that's a given), be cheapish (ideally around 600$ CAD), and have a good battery life. It would be a notetaking laptop, i.e. all I care about is that it can take notes, will last throughout my classes, and that I can physically carry it to class. I don't need it for anything else. I often have 4.5 hours of class a day, and in the winter semester, I'll have 6 hours of class a day pretty regularly. I would not have enough time to recharge a battery between classes. Most classes don't have easily-accessible laptop plugs, and those that do have about two plugs for classes have 30 to 200 people registered, so recharging batteries during class isn't usually an option, either. The minimum battery life I'd consider for a new laptop is 3 hours of battery life, as my classes are 1.5 hours long, and that way I wouldn't have to change into a backup battery mid-class. Instead, my battery would last for two classes, then I'd pop in a backup during a short break I have. Currently, a free laptop I own has about 2 hours of battery life. That's 3 hours if I use switch in a backup battery mid-class. Plus, even for the days that I only have 3 hours of class, I'd have to change battery mid-class (about halfway through the second class), which is not ideal. If I buy another battery, that'll give me 4 hours, which is barely enough for my 4.5 hour-days (as the lectures don't last for the entire class). It'll mean I'm changing battery mid-class twice, which means I'm missing a lot of notes, as it boots very, very slowly. I can take the notes during the reboot period with pen and paper, but I don't know if this is one of those things that would drive me nuts in ways I have not yet anticipated, or if this is a fine idea. Am I nuts or just thrifty? I know battery life is like the holy grail for laptops--everyone wants it, and to get it you need to cough up money--but IF getting a new laptop is the best idea, I was wondering if you could suggest ways I can cheap out on most of the specs so I only get what I need. I'm decently computer savvy, but spec-talk bores the crap out of me, so while I know the basics--Vista needs 2GB RAM as a practical minimum, etc.--I don't know enough to help me save money. Any help? Or should I just suck it up, buy a third battery, and take a pen and paper for the 10- to 15-minute period it needs to shut down and reboot to change the battery?

• Answer:

  You may want to look into an all-day external laptop battery- http://www.electrovaya.com/powerpad/models/Default.aspx can supposedly get you 7 - 10 hours. They are a bit expensive- $200 or so. Definitely over-buy on capacity, as you will see power capacity degrade over time.