Netbooks and laptops battery wear

[Dark Comet]

I have been looking at buying a netbook for a few weeks now. The main reason for buying this was for battery life. The Netbook I am looking at has been reported to achieve 4+ hours easy with high usage. But something that disturbs me is the wear on the battery. People (Using third party software) have seen a 5% wear on the battery in as little as a week and some people see stupid things within months.

How accurate are these 3rd party applications for testing battery wear in general?
Are batteries this bad in general?

 

[dwellman]

Batteries are that bad in general. . . I have a battery from a Compaq that lost 80% of it's capacity in 8 months or so. . . the rest of the 20% lasted the next four years.

 

[cadder]

Batteries are very hit or miss. My Dell laptop is 4 years old and still has most of its battery capacity. My daughter's Dell lost its battery capacity in 2 years, as did my mother's. I did some asking around when I was trying to determine where to buy a new battey for my daughter, and found that some people bought new batteries that lasted years and other people bought new batteries that lasted just a few weeks. I've noticed on some manufacturers websites that they sell separate extended warranties for their batteries, separate from the rest of the computer I mean.