Anyone install aftermarket Solid State Drives in a Sony?

I have a VGN-Z590. Pretty much fully loaded with blu-ray burner.

When I got my laptop I immediately swapped out the drive for a 300GB 7200 RPM drive.


I know they are still not cheap - but for right around $500 you can get 256MB SSD drives.

Has anyone done this? Have you seen any improvement in performance? I have been debating on doing this for several reasons.

1. Speed (is it really faster? I have read were some systems can boot up in 10 seconds)

2. Battery - has anyone seen an increase in battery life?

3. Heat & Sound - I assume the system is nearly silent with an SSD. How about heat - does it run cooler?

I would appreciate any feedback from anyone that has gone this route.

 

I installed OCZ SSD into vaio FW serie. The speed was awesome! And this SSD only do about 120MB/s transfer. It is a really low budget SSD.

But I only used it for testing, so I cannot report any long term test results.

 

I did a Samsung 128 GB MLC update in my old VGN A series (SATA-I)
Notebook is like new and super fast in booting, starting programs and surfing.
Even photoshop 4 works great.
Notebook runs cooler and of course no hd noise.
I can imagine what is does with a newer Z series.

 

Even at that price, its far better than what Sony is asking with their CTO program.

Vista + SSD is awesome.. ive been using an SSD on my TZ190 for a while now, it purrs like a kitten and its only an entry level usata drive.

Temps will be lower.. but, not hugely lower. You will notice when you are doing massive write or read. Noise and vibrations are non-existent.. which is awesome and when you use a laptop with an HDD )after using an SSD for a while) you will notice the difference.

Id say, go for it.

 

It has been done before in a Z but the below thread does not answer some of the questions that you want answering.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=348025

 

Ok - I just ordered a Gskill 256GB Titan SSD drive.

Read speeds supposed to be over 200mb/sec and write speeds over 160mb/sec.

I will be sure to report back how it goes. Now the debate is - try windows 7 beta or vista x64.

 

I'm planning to go for that Samsung 128 GB MLC SSD for my Z. It's possible to buy it already for a "reasonable" price and there's no sense to wait for 256 GB Samsung, as it will be super expensive at the beginning...


btw...where's Phil? He always liked to discuss about HDDs and SSDs....

 

I tried a photofast G monster V2 in my Z90 which has a read of 230mb/s and write of 160mb/s

I did a boot up vid (which isnt great as I did it late at night, but it will give you a feel) on youtube - type "Mrdenki" and you will find it

 

Metsn
Phil has travelled and has limited internet access right now.

 

I thought I would report back and let people know how it has gone with my 256GB Solid State Drive.


System boots up lightening fast and applications are crazy fast. As far as an initial performance boost - installing the SSD is the single best performance increase I have ever seen for a computer. Better than going from 1GB of ram to 4GB. Better than adding a high end video card. Simply the biggest impact in performance I have ever seen.

Adobe Illustrator wen from 22 sec to load to 5 seconds.
Photoshop the same - from about 18 sec to 5 seconds.
Initial boot-up - about 1/2 the time.

Sounds great right?

Drawbacks? - you need to install several tweaks. Registry hacks to take advantage of the performance of the SSD. Why does this matter? One of the suggested hacks involves creating a virtual drive using system memory. Then configuring this drive as a ready boost performance tool. Well this starts to slow down the boot-up and shut down times.

The last major draw back I have seen - is "stuttering" My best description is that at times is seems like the whole system has locked up - the suddenly everything goes back to normal.

I hope I can find more "fixes" to help alleviate this problem.

If anyone here has any tips - please feel free to chime in.

But in case any of you are interested - my initial verdict? Mixed.

 

I believe that your Gskill 256GB Titan SSD drive is using cheap JMicron controlers and that's the reason for "stuttering". Even if Gskill said they used some hacks to minimize this problem, it still remains. I think you'll find some hints how to minimize this problem on OCZ board. Tomorrow I'm planning to put in my Samsung 128GB SSD...curious, how it'll be. How was the opening of Z? It'll be for the first time for me tomorrow I already got used to to open my TX, but the Z opening looks a bit more complicated (at least from the manual )


btw... rachuk, thanks for answer about Phil...I was just missing his opinions about storages

 

Opening the Z is super easy.

Remove all the screw in the back. Be sure to get the screws in the battery and memory compartment.

Then flip over the laptop and remove the whole keyboard / top panel. Just be careful of the data wires from the touch-pad. That cable detaches very easily from the body of the laptop.

Getting the drive out is a little tricky. They have two metal strips holding the drive in place (one screw for each strip). It just takes a little fiddling and encouragement to get them out of there.

Took me 15 minutes from start to finish.

 

Thanks...in the official manual there's written something about sliding the concave parts under the battery...I never saw such thing before...but I believe that it looks more complicated than it is...

 

I should also mention that there are clips that hold the top of the keyboard in place. They are a little tough and you may feel like you are going to break the keyboard as you pop it loose.

Just take your time.

 

I believe those should be opened by that concave parts...

 

Hey jeasse, how did you get the keyboard to pop off? How did you start? Mind posting a video? =D

 

I am looking forward to doing this on my AR 730E. I want the Intel X28, I am assuming it is just as easy and I don't think I have to take the keyboard apart either.

 

The front of the keyboard panel should easily lift up. (Where the touch pad is). The back side of the keyboard - where the Function keys are - just snaps together. I was able to start from the right side where the eject button is and slowly "pop" it loose one at a time from right to left. The last connection is located by the Escape key - that was is the most tricky or stubborn.

Also be sure you got all the screws. Remember there is a screw under the battery. That might be holding you down if you left it.

 

Hey thanks alot jesse!!! =]