Sony Vaio Z - Upgradeability?

Okay, here is my problem: I'd like to buy a Vaio Z this week, but money is a bit tight (when isn't it?). My wife can get it for 10% off, but I'd like to keep it closer to $2200-2300 range. However, I also don't want to get the machine and decide later that I need something else in it if it cannot be upgraded. My problem is that I'm having a difficult time figuring out what can reasonably be performed as an end-user upgrade and what should best be left to the factory.

If this helps, although I've never made computers my main vocation, I build my own and my friends, I tinker with laptops, and so on. So I'm not afraid of the insides of a PC per se, but I'm not keen to void warranties needlessly or to take unnecessary risks with $2000+ worth of equipment either!

I'll list my concerns:
1. Can the RAM be upgraded in the Vaio Z or is this proprietary? I doubt that it is, but I want to be sure.
2. Can the Verizon card be added later? Does it require disassembly of the entire unit, or is this a procedure that Sony anticipated?
3. Out of curiosity, would it be possible to add the BluRay drive down the line if one were willing to perform the major surgery? I'd assume this is just a drive swap, but again, I'd want to be sure (although this is a low priority).

My last question is really more a matter of, well, I suppose aesthetics. What does the carbon fiber casing bring to the machine expect a little bling and perhaps weighing less? Is it sturdier?

Apologies ahead of time if these are stupid questions or if they've been answered ad nauseum. I've done some searching online--quite a bit actually--and didn't come across what I was looking for. This site, however, has the richest array of laptop discussions I've encountered, so I figured you all were the brains to pick!

Thanks in advance,
Aaron

 

Generally, if you plan to upgrade your Z later, be aware that Sony (today) charges you much for spare parts. Might be a better way to wait for parts coming out of the community here. Since nearly everything in the Z is small and proprietary, you are kinda bound to sony's parts.

 

nice response pyr0!

 

The hardest thing to upgrade later is the SSD storage, so be sure to get one with enough space for you. 128 GB might be too small for some, so 196/256 are safer bets.

 

I concur.

The only thing I would add to this is that I would suggest that you not limit your size requirements to what you currently need. Instead, I would suggest that you size the storage capacity to be about 150% of what you need. In other words, figure out how much storage you need - ideally based upon another laptop that you currently have - and then multiply that number by 1.5 to arrive at the storage requirements you should target. With SSD-based storage you want to make sure you have a fair amount of storage unused to avoid drive saturation in between garbage collection routines.

 

100% agreed. First I wanted to get a cheaper 128GB SSD in my Z, but since I had my older 160GB HDD quite full AND you need some space left on the SSD, this would be a crtical limit and kinda step back other than the speed.

 

I will most definitely "third" this idea. I purchased 192GB SSD and regretted not getting the 256GB almost immediately after receiving the laptop. As FrinkTL mentions, you have to plan for leaving some empty space on the drive in order to allow the SSD's native garbage collection to do its work.

 

i don't feel like OP is getting his questions answered.

1.) Yes you can upgrade and no it's not proprietary.
2.) I " believe" others have done this but an expresscard adapter is much easier.
3.) YEs but it's quite expensive. It's an ultraslim drive and there's only 1 mfr of bluray this size (panasonic/matsua).

All in all the Z is as upgradeable as most notebooks...except for storage. Although there's work being done to get 1.8" aftermarket ssd's working.

 

Actually, I think the SSD discussion is quite perinent to the Upgradability of the Z, as you aptly mention in your last sentence. The point here is to make sure the OP gets the proper amount of SSD storage to suit the needs simply because the SSD is not upgradeable. And, being the helpful people we are we went the extra mile to say how to go about making sure you have enough.

 

Yup, and pyr0's post right after the OP pretty much summed up the original questions.

 

Hey guys, I cannot tell you how grateful I am for all your answers. They're informative and thorough, and they've helped me a great deal. It sounds like, given my needs and concerns, I should order the laptop as loaded as possible given that end user upgrades--except for RAM--are both a pain and not really cost effective. I honestly hadn't considered the cost issue, or rather that upgrading later might be more expensive than ordering them originally (although I should have as this is fairly typical with laptops, and bound to be moreso with something so proprietary). I think I'm going to wait a few months and increase the budget as much as possible.... maybe in the meantime Sony will run a nice special that I can combine with my wife's discount! (Yea, I won't hold my breath....)

One additional question if I may: I noticed there is some mention of the community here sourcing parts or something to that effect. I have absolutely zero knowledge of this, but I'd love to learn more. Are people trying to import some of the other parts available in Japan? Or is this something else? The Japanese marketed Z's have some cool features, but not cool enough to warrant the extra moolah it would cost to import.... but maybe I'm just cheap.

Thanks,
Aaron

 

I meant, after a time (in terms of months, years), you will find more and more used parts on eBay & co for the Z which are coming e.g. from dead laptops. You can use them to upgrade your Z cheaper.

 

I take back my comment. I didn't see where Pyro had answered the q's and he did it in the quoted section. My bad.

 

Ah, that makes mucho sense. My wife is very worried about the nearly paper thin screen-lid. Although I think it is plenty sturdy if one is careful, methinks that enough people will take chances with their machines that there will be a veritable plethora of "dead" laptops suffering from cracked screens. So this should make parts abundant allright.... I just hadn't thought of that when I first posted. Brilliant idea! (although I feel bad for anyone who destroys such an expensive latop...)

 

I don't think there will be that much "dead" laptop as vaio Z is clearly not cheap, I think people will take special care of it...

BUT on the SSD side we can expect some 1.8" SSD replacement to generate sony proprietary SSD as parts on the market , we'll see...

 

Hi,

I've got a Z12Z9E (european model, cf signature) and I wondered si the CPU can be upgraded in the Vaio Z ? For a i7-640M...

 

Hmm.... if the pin configurations are the same, and if you're good at SMT soldering, maybe? I don't see why not, just... very difficult perhaps I don't think people usually do that though, there may be other constraints (like memory frequency) that may limit the benefit. I don't really know...

 

Thank you but the CPU is not soldered to the motherboard ?

 

I've heard many, many people say it is... Perhaps there's a pic somewhere that shows this I've never heard or know anyone who upgraded.

 

It's soldered.

 

Hi guys, I need some help about the Gobi 2000 thingie. I'm going to order my VCPZ1290x soon, but originally without Verizon modem option (which is the only one for some reason). I'm going to install the Gobi modem inside. Will I just have to put the card inside or will there be additional manipulations? I'd really like to use 3g and gps on it, so your response would be very helpful. One more detail: I'm ordering from US store.

 

Woah, I'm running far, far away from that

There's an additional PCI-something-something daughter (??) card that connects the Gobi card to the motherboard. Without the Gobi option, that daughter card is missing. I haven't heard anyone ordering that card, though I suppose it's (theoretically) possible.

 

It's really confusing me, I mean the daughterboard, or something like that. I still can't figure out if there is always the same modem (Gobi 2000 according to the tech specs handles both ev-do (verizon) and gsm.

 

It's the same Gobi board, it handles both CDMA and GSM. Apparently it's unlocked, just using a different application (there's a thread somewhere) can cause the GSM part to become active.

 

So lets do some calculations for a second. If I order it from USA with modem already, and unlock it or buy a new one, already unlocked, I save from 300 to 400 dollars by not having to buy the daughterboard for 480?

 

(Just to confirm) There are the motherboard, the Gobi card, and a third daughterboard that connects the Gobi card to the motherboard. I haven't heard of anyone finding out the part number of that daughterboard, nor how much it costs. There is also the issue of the antennas. If you have a 6300 wireless 802.11 card, it may be possible to reroute one of the three antennas to the Gobi card.

So, the effort, time and cost of adding the Gobi option after purchase may be significantly higher than ordering it during purchase. I don't know anyone who has done it.

 

The last concern of mine is the sim-card slot. Verizon uses some other card or nothing at all, so will I be able to put in my sim card somewhere in the laptop?

 

There's a thread here somewhere where somebody wrote down what he did. I think it would help to check that and convince yourself it will work

 

Is it possible to add fingerprint sensor? I called to sony support and they do not provide upgrade after buy

ps. sorry for my bad english

 

As far as I know it is included always, not an optional module.

 

Can you tell me if there is a requirement to sign any contract upon receiving vaio with built-in verizon set-up gobi or not? I live in Europe, and I'm going to order it through my USA friends, so I shouldn't have unexpected surprises for them

 

I bought VPCZ11X9E/B in Poland and it has not fingerprint sensor Sony Poland also does not provide customization.

If I find somewhere this module (maybe on eBay), is it easy to replace by myself?

 

Even for that you need to find part number first, which is a bit difficult.

 

I don't think so, but I cannot confirm...

After getting the part, there's the issue with installing it. To get some idea, Zoink's has a thread on putting film on the palmrests. There are pictures in there that show the area around the touchpad, so that would give a sense of the work involved...

 

I found photos here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/478061-how-protective-film-application-z11.html#post6176361

Imageshack - dsc01114x.jpg

I think that should be enough only to replace those two parts. Plastic buttons and pcb with fingerprint sensor. It is possible to buy these parts directly from Sony?

 

So, I got some updates. Ev-do utilizes a u-sim card, so there should be a slot for it when I order it from the US. U-sim and gsm sim-card have same format and contact groups, so... so I suppose everything will work fine as long as it is Gobi 2000, which supports them all.