Long Lasting Battery

I have a Sony Laptop PCG-7R2L,and the original battery went dead long time ago.I would like to buy a new battery,but it has to be a better one.
I want this battery to last at least 3 to 4 hours before recharging.

Any recommendations on a good battery.
Thanks!

 

That laptop from 2006 or so, iirc? VGN FE was the "common" name?

It's going to be hard to find OEM batteries for that laptop, much less extended batteries that actually live up to their ratings.

Just feeding as input, not to down your quest for a new battery.

 

Take the battery out and tell me what part number it is. It should read something like VGP-BPLXX or VGP-BPSXX replace XX with numbers.

 

According to the Sony Vaio E support website; the battery should be either a VGP-BPS2C or VGP-BPL2C.

 

Your only choices are to go with official Sony batteries as third party ones require a bios update. (too risky due to running unofficial bios/ risk of bricking your machine)

Your two choices are S for standard capacity and L for large capacity batteries. The L battery weighs 50% more than the S one but offers 50% more life.

VGP-BPS2C genuine | eBay

VGP-BPl2C genuine | eBay

 

Hi guys: Thank you very much for all your help.I pulled out the battery from the Laptop,and it is a VGP-BPS2B, not a VGP-BPL2C or VGP-BPS2C.

I just want to make sure,it is the proper battery.Also I need to make sure about the physical dimensions( L*W*H),because most of the ones, I have seen on eBay and Buy.com have different dimensions.
Thanks again!
Take Care!

 

Hi guys: Doing a little more research, I found out that,if I want the long lasting battery for this Model Laptop PCG-7R2L,also known according to Sony as Model VGN-FE770G, I need to buy the battery VGP-BPL2C.
Thanks again!

 

Hi,
The last letter of the battery part number I believe only refers to the color. But yes you're right, if you want a longer lasting battrey, you want the "L" model. Just be aware that this battery is bigger than your "S" one and is heavier. It will likely stick out the back of your computer.

 

I hope this doesn't offend, but I think a new Sony branded battery probably costs more than the entire VGN-FE is worth today. Consider upgrading laptops?

 

If a replacement part costs more than the market value of a laptop, but substantially less than the replacement cost of the laptop, buying the replacement part instead of a new laptop still makes sense from a "monthly budget" perspective, even if it doesn't from an "equity" perspective. The VGN-FE was a 15", so a modern replacement would be, what, a $999 Vaio SE?

 

Would an FS8900 require the BIOS hack for a 12-cell if it has a clean W7 install without Vaio apps like ISBMgr?

 

Good point. But wouldn't the cheapest (not Sony) 15" laptop today, with a Core i3 - at $499 - be far better than the FE it would be replacing? Even a refurb with a 1st gen core i3 - at maybe $350-$400 - would run circles around the 6 yr old FE. Of course, if the FE had an excellent display, you would have to go to something like the SE to have equivalence. Personally, if I had only $400 - $500 to spend, I'd sacrifice (with much regret!) the display for the massive increase in power, storage, etc. Tough call.

EDIT: I stand corrected, thanks to GenericSN; the replacement battery for the OP's computer is only $15-$30, so if he/she is satisfied with the FE's performance, I applaud the idea of not throwing the old computer into a landfill and buying a new one full of petrochemical plastics and other hazardous substances, made by a 7 year old Chinese child working 13 hour days. I wish I was exaggerating .

 

I don't know about Chinese-made Sonys but that is true of Apple.
Apple suppliers: Child labor, bribery, suicides ? The Register

 

Most all laptops are assembled in China, regardless of the brand. And more importantly, all manufacturers use the same suppliers, regardless of where the final point of assembly is and how nice the final assembly line is to work on. Even if you buy a "Japanese-made" Sony Z2, it's still just assembled in Japan, and the component parts are still primarily coming from Foxconn and other Chinese-based suppliers. It's an industry-wide problem, and you can't do a darned thing about it by buying Brand X instead of Brand Y.

 

True. Foxconn, however, seems to be one of the worst of the worst -- and for some of the most expensive machines.

 

Sadly, all true ^ ^ ^

Therefore, the most pro-environment and Chinese-labor-abuse action is to not-replace your device any more than is absolutely necessary. I know this is impractical for many, but in my family we have adopted a practice to repair old equipment (not necessarily computers only, but we do with them as often as possible) rather than discard and replace, which is always easier, sometimes even cheaper. No halos here, just an attempt to practice what we [believe in and occasionally] preach.

If the OP finds the FE more than sufficient for present needs, he/she will not only cause one less Chinese computer to be made and one less computer in our landfills, but at the prices linked by GenericSN, he will save a geat deal of money sticking with it as well.

The 1-2 year replacement cycle we enthusiasts often use is really overkill for all but the greatest power users and the world is better off for having one less Chinese made laptop in it!

 

Could someone please explain why what has been standard operating procedure for as long as there have been manufactured products now sounds like some ancient, exotic practice hinted at in mystical texts? (yes, that was a rhetorical question)

 

Note: this is not a response to the above.

As ours became a throw-away culture over the past 50 years, Americans increasingly found it cheaper - not to mention easier - to simply dispose of a product that fails and purchase a new one - likely at a much lower price than the one it replaces - rather than have the failed product repaired. Repairing failed consumer products has long ceased to be "standard operating procedure" for the majority of consumer products in the U.S. Statistics bear this out, but I'm too lazy to dig them out.

Environmentalists and good-doers will not reverse the practice on a large scale. Only by [dramatically] increasing the cost of disposing hazardous substances (which computers are chock-full of!) and likewise taxing (yes, I used the t-word ) new products, the manufacture and shipment of which has a large carbon footprint and involves other hazardous substances which - especially in China - that end up dumped in the ground, spewing out of smoke stacks and/or left to enter the bodies of the workers on the manufacturing lines .

But you knew that, right?

EDIT: If you read this you get an altogether different perspective on the Chinese electronics manufacturing scandal. Sadly, many Chinese appear to feel that the conditions at Foxconn are worth the tradeoff when compared to the "quality" of life for the workers before they had the "opportunities" at the factories. Really sad stuff.

 

Can someone please answer my question above? It need not be specific to the 8900, but just the FS series, or it's era.

 

From today's PCWorld
Apple Accused of Ignoring 'Human Cost' of Manufacturing | PCWorld

 

Oh, stop whining PCWorld. Cost, Quality, Worker living standards.

Choose two of the three. If you like your cheap junk, then so be it.

 

Call me a bleeding heart (better yet, don't!), but to me, the only choice should be cost/quality. Torture doesn't figure in to my appetite for consumer goods.

 

Fair enough. That's a valid point that shouldn't be overlooked, it goes to the heart of the issue. Nonetheless, while I consider Apple to be junk, or at least a sort of junk, I recognize that I'm in the minority. There is broad consensus however, that Apple is not cheap. It's the highest-end major computer brand. While you shouldn't be surprised to find that a cheap shirt sold at a discount store worked was produced under harsh labor conditions, you may have a different expectation, or at least I do, for a Savile Row-priced.

Ultimately, Apple's highly profitable business which brutalizes children producing precious toys for the well-heeled and fashionable says less about the company than it does its customers.

 

...*cough*

 

Many of your gadgets are made in these same factories, and many that are far worse (I've personally seen it). I'm not saying it's right, but if it bothers you enough to avoid Apple, you should be avoiding nearly all consumer electronics.

 

Will someone PLEASE answer OOkamo's question?!!! I would do so if I knew the answer. This IS a battery thread! (I know, I'm as guilty as anyone for going OT )

 

Very true. Actually, you put your finger on what I most dislike about ScrappleHeads. They buy products often made by a brutalized labor force, yet ooze smugness about their choice of toys over what is essentially the same products made by the brutalized labor force across the street. I once tried explaining to someone that the [name brand] sneakers they were so proud of may have been made in the same Vietnamese factory as the [name brand] sneakers they scorned. Needless to say, they weren't amused.

Of course, worst of all, are Z2 owners. They are just insufferable.

 

..............

 

...........

 

We get the point. Enough already.

(shouldn't vBulletin prevent this kind of thing from working?)
(not to worry, I'll remove it after the fun is over. )

 

As I was saying...

 

Good products and bad products are often produced in the same factory. Be it sneakers, laptops, etc. The "talent" is in the engineering, design, materials, production processes, quality control, etc that makes up the finished product. You can hate on apple all you want, but just because a macbook pro is built in the same factory as "insert crappy laptop brand here", doesn't mean anything. Nothing at all.

 

No it doesn't, not for either product. And not if it was the Z2 instead of either the apple or the cheap brand. Your statement would still hold true.

And with that....

 

The thread is about BATTERIES! Can someone tell this man if he can use a clone battery in his FS series without modifying the BIOS? Feel free to philosophize about anything, but not until you've answered this question. The man needs to know what to do about getting power to his oldie-but-goodie Vaio.

@Ookamo: if the Sony battery doesn't cost too much more, I'd go for it regardless.

 

^No, he can't. Knockoff batteries require bios mod.

Now,can we get back to solving the world's labor problems?

 

I take it you are specifically saying it's true even for the old FS series? I ask specifically, because I thought I saw mention that older models may not have a hardware-based lockout.

LL, thanks for the assist.

 

Pleasure. Hope the battery won't cost you a fortune.

Let's do that. You are absolutely right that essentially all consumer electronics are made in the same Chinese factories that, as far as i know, pretty much all practice horrific labor standards. The problem is, what can a consumer do if he wants to register his disgust and protest, much lest engender changes? Keeping products longer and repairing them rather than replacing them is the only practice I can think of, but that doesn't send any message. Very frustrating, and discouraging.

 

Please recognize that most consumers want things as they are, that's why they are the way they are. It's easy for someone to say they would be glad to pay a few extra dollars/euros for a product mde by fiar labor standards but corporate experience says lowest production costs win. It should also be recognized that if consumers decided not to purchase products made in [bad country of choice] it would not benefit the labor force -- just the opposite.

 

It would be nice if some of the higher margin companies (looking at you apple) could bring some of these jobs back to the US.

 

I doubt that will ever happen. It's not just margins, it's sheer HW engineering power and flexibility on tight times, now. I think there was an article linked in one of the Sony subcategory discussions centering around the iPhone 4 as an explanation of why it could not of been done in the USA.

 

^I don't disagree. I'm not implying a device with that volume could be built here. Why not the macbook air? Or the iMac?

 

That'a an idea as American as...uh...apple pie.

 

Unfortunately, the macbook air is no longer a low volume product. Louche is right, Americans will always buy the cheaper product, with little concern for how/where it is made. The only thing that affects consumer behavior is price, and the only way to bring the price of Chinese-made products higher is to put a tariff on them, and that signals the beginning of the end of "free trade" which, despite its evils, is so baked-in to our economy that if we got into a trade war with China they would retaliate and it would surely plunge us back into an even worse recession. Seems like back-room negotiations with "moral suasion" and carrot/stick incentives are all we've got. We just need too much from Chin - including for them to lend us trillions of $ to finance our deficit. Hopefully the moral suasion will work better on the American brands, Apple, HP, Dell, etc, who don't want to see their images tarnished and who can demand better working and environmental conditions in the plants they keep in business. Pretty grim prospects overall, but still worth vocalizing.

 

^Apple has enough margin to add the cost of american labor is the point I'm trying to make. If they truly want to stand behind their "we care about people/working conditions" they could move some production back over here.

I know it's a total pipe dream and razor thin margins rule this out for most any pc mfr, but Apple does not face that problem.

 

I found this to be a really interesting article in the NY Times and may be worth reading. It's related to this topic of outsourcing jobs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/b...queezed-middle-class.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all