Replacing DVD Drive with Bluray in New Z

Hi guys,

I have the new Z model VPCZ117GG..and unfortunately for my region it didn't come with a Bluray drive and I had no choice of customization as well..My version is the one with the Full HD screen,256GB SSD and 8GB Ram. I'm wondering if it's possible to replace the DVD drive with a bluray drive. I know this will void warranty, but i'll be doing it after my warranty expires...Can I actually do that? If so where can I order the part from?

Thanks in advance..

 

I would love to add a Blu Ray to my VPCZ11CGX/X however the Blu Ray's in our Z are thinner and I dont think they are available yet. But I too am interested in this.

 

@Dio

Damn..I'm so eager to have a Blu Ray in my lovely Z

 

Hopefully 6 months down the road or so we can buy one thru parts right now I couldnt justify the $500.00 asking price.
Not sure if the Blu Ray will ever be made available but we can always hope remember this is a Proprietary Blu Ray.

 

The bluray drive for the previous model seems to be even more expensive through Sony parts than it was to buy it CTO. Sony charge $1,000 for the prior model bluray drive.
So I very much doubt you'll get this part any cheaper through Sony.

The new Z uses a UJ242A drive.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Panasonic-Mat...C_Drives_Storage_Internal?hash=item1c10e6a9b2

The UJ232A that was used in the previous model still commands quite a price tag after 2yrs.

I haven't seen an OEM UJ242A drives yet. They might start cropping up soon but they might not. It might be a long while that you see secondhand drives start retailing for under the $400 mark.

 

Interesting Rachel thx for the info. So there you have it.

 

Interestingly I just installed the said UJ-242A drive (a Lenovo Serial Ultrabay Slim Blu-ray P/N: 45N7459). Need some work on mounting but no big deal. Even the faceplate fits perfectly. Also it works well under Win 7 and supports DL DVD.

 

@ Rachel

Thanks for the info...Wooooah, $1000 for the old model!!

@ Dio

All what we can do is wait or just get an external Bluray drive...sigh

Are there any good external slim drives??

 

Nice....I'm jealous !!!!!

 

Found another one here..

http://cgi.ebay.com/Laptop-9-5mm-ultra-slim-SATA-blu-ray-burner-player-/400108921186

 

I own this one it is an excellent external Blu Ray drive, I had plan to use with the Alienware M11X but after countless issues with Dellianware I decided to return the M11x and bought the Z which I am quite happy with.

I decided to keep the external Blu Ray drive below.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135207&Tpk=ASUS EXTERNAL BLU RAY

 

Yeah..I saw that Asus drive by chance while I was searching..It's the only known brand slim drive I found..the rest were of non familiar brands

How big is it? And is it comfortable for example if when watching a movie while laying on bed? Is the base detatchable?

 

Not very big at all not any bigger than a standard dvd drive, in fact you can put it horizontal, and vertical with the included stand, again an excellent stand alone usb Blu Ray drive.

 

Thanks for the follow up Dio..appreciate it I think i'll consider that as an option...Asus is a good brand and I trust their products.

Thanks again m8

 

the specific model for the Z11 is UJ-242AS.

Looing at the 242A on eBay, it appears to have a fully enclosed chassis whereas on the Sony Z, the chassis looks stripped with no top plate.

How much modification to a UJ-242A drive does it take to fit it inside a Z?

 

Why can't Sony just offer a read-only BD (along with the writable dvd/cd) for a modest $200 or so, the way other laptop guys are doing??

I have no need to burn BluRay, but would love to watch BD movies on my Z11.

 

I had the same thought Robster. They have read-only Blu Ray drives on some of their other laptops; it's not unreasonable to desire the same on the Z.

My related frustration (as I mentioned in a couple of other threads) is also that you can't find the 1080p screen or the Blu Ray drive as options in any pre-built models on other sites like Amazon or Microcenter. I like the pre-built models from those places because as long as you can find the options you like, you can save a significant amount of money.

 

^Isn't the drive in the Z thinner than every other sony laptop? Can't remember the exacts but I believe it's 9.5mm vs standard slim drives are 11mm (or is it 7mm vs standard 9.5?). If that's the case (I think it is) I believe there are no BR-read only drives available.

 

That was my understanding as well.

 

Here in europe the BR option on cto was 700 € (like 900/1000 USD) !!! really really higt.
I hope to find in the future a way to ad a BR reader (writer is not essential for me) at a regular price 200/250 USD.

 

I believe it's closer to 7mm. Going to the device manager, i've noticed that both the DVD and BD-ROM drives end in the (AS) suffix.

From what I can tell, Sony uses a minimal chassis in the 'AS" vs "A" designations.

Looking at pictures, Besides popping off the top on the UJ-232A or 242, might have to swap out the drive mechanism and circuit boards.

 

Does Z offer a weight saver to replace the optical drive if one does not use the drive very often?

 

Are their any notebooks available at retail at MicroCenter or BestBuy that features the UJ-232 or UJ242A

I'd like to take a look myself first hand.

 

This mod has been done, a forum member bought a Lenovo drive and modified it. They are the same apart from the enclosure which can be removed.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6179850-post3.html

 

Sonystyle HK offered BR reader & DVD/CD writer.
Sony VAIO VPCZ129GG - Sonystyle.com.hk

 

Nice find! Somethings amiss in this world when I can buy a slot load blu-ray combo drive directly from panasonic. Blu-ray Burners: Internal or External USB, Slim and 5.25" Bluray Drives

I'm unlikely to return my Z12, since Full HD is a $100 option. if they offer a 384GB SSD, i'd heavily reconsider.

 

Hi Rev2Liv,

Please do becareful you need a 9mm drive(and you need to take the cover off because the new Z only have around 7mm space for the drive), and make sure it can read the dual-layer(50GB) BD disc(most of the BD movie you can purchase are BD50 except China), the UJ242AS is the original model on new Z, the UJ242, UJ242A & UJ242AS are the same just make sure it is BD50. Only this model can be fully function on the new Z(UJ232 can fit it but the bezel doesn't fit & the Eject button on the keyboard didn't work).

 

Bought a Z12 a couple of weeks ago without a Bluray drive (the option is not yet available in my country). I ordered a UJ-242A Bluray writer from eeshops.com on the 11th and got it the 17th. I paid $20 for the shipping from China to Europe and got it delivered by DHL on my door. Because the drive is used the shipment was marked as having a retail value of $35, so it did not cost me any taxes to import it.

The drive was easy enough to install, just had to buy some proper screwdrivers first. Everything is working nicely; the faceplate from the original DVD drive fits perfectly and the eject button on the keyboard works with it.

Buying the new Z12 with the 256 GB Quad-SSD option instead of the 512, as well as getting it without a Bluray drive made the machine much cheaper. By installing it myself I have all the functionality that I want.

Panasonic 4X Blu-Ray Writer DVD RW SATA Drive UJ242A UJ-242 [UJ242A] - $285.00 : Buy Blu-ray Combo/Burner Drive, Blu-ray Movies DVD Disc, Video Games Accessories for Xbox 360, Sony PS2/PS3/PSP, Nintendo Wii/NDS/DS lite/DSi, Replacement Parts for Appl

 

How much more battery life than regular DVD does a Blu-ray movie eat up? Looking at standalone Blu-Ray players, how unresponsive they are usually with a cooling fan makes me wonder what that does to a laptop w/BD-ROM.

Anyone try that WinDVD 2010 w/Blu-Ray. Looks like a cool piece of software that makes full use of the GPU and CUDA.

Slightly OT, but who makes a good DVD ripper for Windows 7?