sony-vaio-z-series team mailing list archive

[Nikhil Somaru <nsomaru@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Robin,

Thanks for the detailed response.

Just confirming you had a SVZ131**** before I go ahead and make this
purchase.

I'm also curious, I've heard the SSD connectors are non-standard and the
drive is soldered to the board. Is this the case, or is it just a simple
connector?

Thanks for clarifying.

Nikhil

On 27 February 2017 at 08:16, Robin - <robinaudy@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> It was straightforward, it's not that difficult.
>
> There are youtube videos that show how to open the laptop which can help.
> Pulling off the bottom cover once the bottom screws are removed is the
> hardest, you need to slightly bend the bottom plastic cover for the sides
> to go over the external monitor plug, ethernet plug cover and power plug.
> The plastic is flexible enough, but the first time you do it it's scary.
>
> Besides changing my SSD, I did a screen replacement, and that job was
> harder. For those who want to attempt it, don't bend the screen hinges once
> you remove the cover of the base except with extreme care (or get ready to
> make screw seats repairs with epoxy glue). The base cover holds the hinges,
> and with only one screw per hinge they will pop out with the torsion. That
> should not be a concern when you change a hard drive, since you can keep
> the screen lid closed, there is no need to open it (don't risk it).
>
> Overall, it's a very workable chassis, and an SSD change is fine.
>
> By the way, another easy and cheap upgrade you can do while you are at it
> is to change the wifi card, my original one did not support 802.11ac. I
> installed the Intel Wireless 7260 (rev bb).
>
> -R
>
>
> Hi Robin,
>
> Was it hard to change the SSD yourself or would you recommend sending it
> in to a service centre? I'm considering purchasing the SSD that you
> recommended.
>
> Thanks
> Nikhil
>
> On 18 January 2017 at 23:29, Robin - <robinaudy@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> I did the SSD upgrage a few years ago on my laptop and my wife's. Search
>> for MZRPC512HAFU.
>>
>> I've been on ubuntu since day one. 16.04 works fine. You need to use the
>> server version to activate RAID, but besides that it's great.
>>
>> Cheers!
>> -R
>>
>>
>> Hello Folks,
>>
>> I really do enjoy my SVZ13. I've got the quad core i7 with 256GB SSD and
>> 8GB RAM.
>>
>> A few questions:
>>
>>    1. Has anyone successfully upgraded the SSD to 512GB? I've found a
>>    couple cards that claim to be compatible on ebay and aliexpress. Like
>>    this
>>    <https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Raid-LIF-SATA-512GB-SSD-For-Sony-VAIO-VPCZ2-Series-VPC-Z2-Z22-Z23-Z21/32720927966.html>.
>>    However if there's 1TB I'd love to get that in instead!
>>    2. Has anyone succesfully installed linux (preferably debian stable
>>    [maybe with some unstable backported packages etc]) and got it to recognise
>>    the disk as one striped disk using the intel based RAID, rather than two
>>    separate disks? The one install guide that I found claims that this is not
>>    possible.
>>    3. Has anyone been able to increase the RAM to 16GB or even 32GB?
>>    Could you link to the modules that you purchased? I run VMs for dev work
>>    and the extra RAM would be really useful to get the machine to go a few
>>    more years. Alternatively if the processor is going to be a bottleneck or
>>    SSD based swap will be good enough for the VMs, then please indicate so.
>>    AFAIK the processor supports up to 32GB.
>>    4. I have broken the flimsy sim tray. How to replace it?
>>
>> There's nothing on the market that really necessitates me changing my
>> machine, it really is a performance beast. Want to give it a breath of new
>> life!
>>
>> --
>> Yours,
>> Nikhil Somaru
>>
>>


-- 
Yours,
Nikhil Somaru