Has Sony Removed The Ability for Easy Do It Yourself HDD or SSD Replacement?

I was recently in a Sony Store (in fact, in the Sony HQ in NYC) and looked at a couple of laptops (maybe the Pro and the Duo, not sure). I noticed that there was no drive opening on the bottom unlike in my F where I plan on swapping for a larger SSD soon.

Is there a panel to access the HDD or SSD that I did not notice?

If not, why is Sony taking a step backwards?

[Apologies if this is covered in another thread; I could not find it.]

 

Ive got a 5 year old VPC-Z1 and it also has no panel, so I dont think its new. I think for the top line or newer laptops they want small size factor and to have the thinnest laptop you cant have access to HDD......

 

Changing an HDD or SSD is not something one does very frequently. SSDs especially need careful selection for compatibility - not every SSD will work. Someone who is capable of all that is very well able to open the bottom cover.
(Not like my Samsung phone in which I have to open the back to remove the memory card). That gets old real quick.

 

Deleted and replaced.

 

Really? How many messages are on this board on the subject of replacing the drive on the TT which was a lot older than the Z?

On my F, you remove the panel and you replace the SSD. I'm not sure what "careful selection" you're referring to? Crucial versus Seagate versus OCZ versus Intel versus Samsung, etc., etc,?

 

Neither the Pro nor the Duo seem to even have an HDD option, i.e. it's SSD or SSD. I reckon it uses NGFF rather than mSATA, but I am almost certain it is not a regular SATA, as it would be too thick for those two laptops.

 

currently europe seems to use mSATA for now, and the rest m.2 interface (NGFF).

The main reason sony did this is to make the laptops thinner, since it can arrange the parts inside much more compactly. Although both the duo and pro can be opened and the ssd and wlan technically swapped out for new ones.

It seems the new Fit also have such a problem where the HDD and ram are not easily accessible but once the panel is removed both the ram and HDD can be replaced. But I doubt the average user who opts to buy the Fit will be opening up their model.

 

Don't get confused with Interface and Format Factor.

The Pro SSDs are all of the M.2 format factor but come with different interfaces. Some use the SATA bus and some use the PCIe bus or SATA Express over PCIe. There are no mSATA cards in the Pro.

 

I wasn't referring to cards, but to the interface.

 

mSATA is not an interface

 

I dont know what you are getting at. All I was saying is that I dont think its a step backwards because my 5 year old laptop also does not a compartment where I can swap the HDD.

And... Yeah. I do think a 5-6year old laptop is old. This model is very good, but regardless, its an old model. TT is older, TZ is even older but Z1 is 5 year old tech.

 

A hard drive is a major component, not something to be swapped in and out on a daily basis. More than 99% of users who buy a laptop stay with the original HDD/SSD (unless it dies, of course). Don't go by the demographic of laptop users who frequent tech sites like this. Think about the ordinary Joe - e.g. your Mom, sister, non techie relatives, etc. I'm a techie, but I still have the original HDD my 3 yr old laptop came with. If you want to change your hard drive or SSD, open the 7 or 8 screws on the back and change it. Why should the rest of us pay for the added expense that is involved in making the swapping easy? Next you'll ask for multiple bays with hot swappable drives.