NEED HELP - HDD or Sony Vaio problem I can't sort out

I am having a problem with a recently purchased Sony Vaio S series laptop, namely SVS1311F3EW.CEK, the details of which are available below:
SVS1311F3E | VAIO S Series Laptop | Technical Specifications | SVS1311F3EW.CEK | SVS1311F3E | Sony

I would like to briefly indicate what happened one by one before moving to my questions:

1) I purchased the laptop and left the store. One day later I came back to upgrade the RAM because I found the computer very slow. However before installing the RAM we found out that it was significantly slow compared to the exact same display model to the extent it was considered defective.

2) I waited for the replacement laptop. This time I did not leave the store and asked the associate to configure it. We agreed that we will compare the boot up time of the replacement and display models, and if they perform the same, then we will install Microsoft Office, Symantec Anti-Virus and a browser (Chrome or Firefox) and look if they decrease the performance. We agreed such decrease cannot be accepted either.

3) The replacement was lagging significantly behind the floor model. The associate suggested installing all Windows Updates and Vaio updates to match both models. He also properly removed the anti-virus software that came with the replacement model which had already been uninstalled from the floor model. Last to ensure 100% consistency we checked the start-up items through msconfig which were matching. Then we went ahead but there was still lag.

4) As RAM, HDD and CPU specs were exactly the same (confirmed through Device Manager) and the drivers of the HDDs were both up-to-date, the associate opened the “Disk Defragmenter” programme and found out there was 7% fragmentation on the replacement laptop where it was 0% on the floor model. (As a side note we assumed that the reason for the floor model being 0% is because this programme is scheduled to run every week automatically and it is likely it has already defragmented the drive, but we might be wrong in our assumption?)

5) He defragmented and consolidated the HDD . Before comparing two laptops, we re-analyzed the HDD and despite just recent defragmentation the analysis showed 1% degfragmentation on the replacement model’s HDD. We conducted another defragmentation for that 1%.

6) After ensuring both laptops were 0% fragmented, the replacement laptop was still lagging behind the floor model, however not significantly.

7) The store was about to close and I said to the associate that I will install first Microsoft Office and check its performance implications and then Symantec and check its performance implications.

8) Installation of Microsoft Office affected neither boot-up performance nor fragmentation of the HDD.

9) However installation of the Symantec adversely affected both the boot-up performance (1:15 to 6:00 minutes) and the fragmentation of the HDD (0% changed to 1%)

10) To rule out that the problem stems from Symantec, I defragmented that 1% and now the laptop boots up again in around 1:15 minutes. I CONCLUDED THAT EVEN 1% DEFRAGMENTATION CAUSES THE PROBLEM IN THIS PARTICULAR LAPTOP because my Sony FW whose HDD was replaced with an SSD has 14% defragmentation and does not demonstrate any performance issues.

QUESTIONS:

1) We did not run the “Disk Defragmenter” programme when we first opened both the previous defective laptop and replacement laptop. What is the likelihood that they were fragmented in the first place?

2) Regardless of your answer to Q1, is it ordinary that an HDD exhibits 7% fragmentation after installing about 70 Windows updates around 300 MB and one Vaio update for one of the hardware?

3) Is it ordinary that the HDD exhibits 1% fragmentation despite defragmentation that has just been conducted?

4) Is it ordinary that even 1% defragmentation causing this much difference in boot-up speed and performance?

5) Is the HDD of bad-quality, especially in the light of your answers to the above questions?
As a side note, the Device manager says that the HDD is “ST500LM12 HN-M500MBB”. When I search this item on the Internet, there is Samsung’s Spinpoint M8 ST500LM012 which I believe is not the exact same model because there is a slight difference: This Samsung’s “Model” and “HDD P/N” both read as “HN-M500MBB”. See the second photo in the below link:

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint M8 ST500LM012 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

However I found only one link from a foreign website where the “Model” reads “ST500LM12” and the “HDD P/N” reads “HN-M500MBB”, which seems to be manufactured by Samsung and Seagate in collaboration according to the below link (I guess this is the exact same one employed in this Sony Vaio):

SAMSUNG HDD SATA 2.5" - PIK.ba

6) Would disacling write-cache make any difference in terms of both performance and fragmentation?

7) Am I overlooking any other factor other than HDD that might be affecting the performance?

8) If the problem is attributable only to the HDD, would replacing it (preferably with a high quality SSD) ensure solving the problem 100%?

9) The guy at Sony claimed that the hard drive of this laptop cannot be replaced because it was custom made for Sony according to its specifications, similar to Apple’s so-called all-flash drives, which are in essence SSD but designed according to Apple’s specifications. Judging on the above links both of which including 2.5 inch HDDs, I strongly believe they are mistaken. Am I not right? Perhaps he meant the chassis is built in a way that hard drive cannot be replaced or that is difficult to replace?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR TIME AND HELP!

PS. My wife liked this laptop so much so please do not suggest an alternative laptop at the moment.

 

If the laptop is not to your liking, utilize Sony's 30 day return policy and get another one. Even if you were going to replace the HDD with a SSD, I'd want the HDD to work; you paid for it.

 

Thanks for your comment. My wife wants Windows 7 and it is extremely hard to come by laptops with Windows 7 pre-installed because they are all available with Windows 8. Therefore even though we can return the laptop it is the last resort for us. Only 2 of this model (including mine) is available in stocks at Sony UK retail stores and after that Sony UK would not get any more. We already returned one. Since the one we have now demonstrates the same issues, it is highly likely the last one will do as well.

I just want to make sure if there is something wrong with the HDD of this laptop. If not, we will keep it. If so, then we either return it or replace it with SDD because I can use the HDD as an external drive.

PLEASE KINDLY COMMENT ON IF THERE IS SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY WITH THE HDD OF THIS LAPTOP. Perhaps what I experience is very common for all HDDs??

 

I call bullcrap on the non replaceable hard drive. The only issue I've encountered with the model S is that the SSD models can't be modded since the SSD is a bare PCB connected via ribbon cable.
If the HDD is a standard 2.5 inch drive which connects via SATA then you can put your own SSD in.
Your major consideration is whether the SSD has to be 7mm or 9mm. You won't know this without inspecting the HDD bay (photos might help)
There is a very small chance that Sony might whitelist drives but so far I've only encountered Lenovo machines that do this and that is because Lenovo has proprietary firmware which allows fast booting.

 

Use good degrag tool like Piriform Defraggler.
Give us S.M.A.R.T. info. Not us but someone who understands it

 

1% fragmentation will not cause a 1:15 boot time to become 6:00 - six minutes is way too long, the HDD would have to be massively fragmented and overfilled to take that long without any other components causing problems. It could be that Symantec was doing a lot of first-installation updating, though - stuff that needs to be done before Windows loads up.

7% fragmentation after that much updating is easily possible on a 500 GB hard drive. That much fragmentation shouldn't cause particularly significant slowdown, though.

Replacing the hard drive yourself may technically void the warranty (though it usually doesn't), but it should absolutely be possible. Not knowing much about the laptop, I'd give it 90% likelihood, down from maybe 98% if the (likely clueless) employee hadn't said it can't be replaced. If you do some research and find that it does void the warranty, you can always replace the original hard drive if you need warranty service.

If everything else is working properly, replacing the HDD with an SSD should reduce boot times by at least fifteen seconds. Everything else would load faster as well. You'd get marginally better battery life as well. But it all comes at the cost of money and storage space.

The first thing I would look at that might be causing problems is factory-installed bloatware - programs that come installed on the computer (and are installed with the OS installation media) that often startup with the computer and run in the background where you might not be aware of them. I would also generally recommend you use a lightweight antivirus like Microsoft Security Essentials (free and takes almost no system resources) for good protection without slowing down your system. Beyond that, an SSD upgrade would be notable. Other than that, if everything's working properly, it might just be a matter of tempering your expectations. When I upgraded from my old laptop to my Envy 14, I thought everything would be nearly instant, but it turns out it was just a couple seconds faster than before.