Sony Vaio Z2 - Photos and Teardown

Hy Avalon, did you managed to change the memory at your laptop ? I have the same problem...

 

This thread is amazing, the photos of the Z2 insides are so fascinating to look at
What I'd really love to know is how to detach the touchpad surface separately, you know, just the glossy part

 

Hi LAURENTE, I haven't bought the RAM module yet since the prices are too high at the moment (~160 USD a piece). I am thinking about upgrading once it becomes cheaper. But I am ready to open up my Z2 and will keep you posted once I succeed in doing it.
But in the case you are interested, you can check out this link:
http://www.sparepartswarehouse.com/Sony,Laptop,Part,A1835658A.aspx

BTW, I saw some video on youtube about a Vaio engineer disassembling the Z2, I was thinking about downloading that video and then play in slow motion so that I got the gist in how to do before opening up mine. I have opened up countless thinkpad before and did all kinds of mod but the Z2 is a bit harder since the screw and the sealing method is not quite conventional. I will update my finding here as I proceed.

 

I posted this in the owners' thread, but I think this may be a better place for the question:

Crazy question here... Does anyone think it would be possible to upgrade the CPU in the Sandy Bridge Z2 to the new Ivy Bridge CPU? The new CPUs are supposed to be backwards compatible. Has anyone torn apart a Z2 enough to be able to see if the CPU is replaceable? I'd be willing to purchase an i7-3612QM, and give it a shot, if the CPU is in-fact accessible and replaceable.

I'd really like the extra cores, increased performance, and potentially better battery life.

 

not replaceable; soldered to the motherboard.

 

Bleh. Too bad.

 

Don't forget the Sony VAIO UX modders who upgraded the Core 2 Solo with a Core 2 Duo Modded Sony VAIO UX does everything – and then some. Is this the fastest, most versatile UMPC in the world?|UMPCPortal – Portable, Mobile and Handheld Computers.

 

Hey Avalon,
You are the only person that I know of that is optimistic about upgrading the memory (and hopefully the SSD). To me, I would like to upgrade the SSD more than the memory, but I would be stoked to be able to do at least one. Please let me know if I can help in any way. I have the VPZ21AGX with 128GB SSD & 4GB memory.

Thanks

 

^ this. Been reading around that the SSD is not user replaceable. Yet on the tear down pictures, it seems feasible. Any new updates on this would be lovely.

 

Yeah, from the picture, it does look like it is upgradeable. Really interested in learning more.

 

So many (Sony's) proprietary things inside

Cheers,
Miki

 

Does this use standard phillips screws, or will I need to order torx drivers to take mine apart? Thanks!

 

Apologies for bumping an old thread but I have seen this question asked elsewhere but no-one answered so this thread seemed the right place to post it.

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ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

Based on the info I can gather, you need the following to make a non WWAN model into WWAN:
- SIM Card Board (IFX-581) - Non WWAN variants of the board don't have SIM contacts on them
- Gobi 3000/LTE Card - Non WWAN models lack this obviously.
- Left and right WWAN antennae Non WWAN models lack this obviously.
- Sim Tray (of the correct colour) - Non WWAN models have a SIM Cover instead.

The big question: Does the Audio/USB/HDMI port on non-WWAN board have the PCI-E connections for the 3g/LTE card or not? If no, that would require the board to be changed, along with the other components to enable WWAN capability.

Zoinks says "Looks like the lower-end models lack the mini-pcie slot to install a WWAN card. Good news is that we may be able to replace it with a proper GOBI card on the WWAN-equiped models (read: use Verizon)" Although I cant see the difference on the pictures - the port seems to be underneath the wire which runs from the SIM board to the light-peak connector.

Could anyone clear this up please?

Thanks.

 

Non-WWAN daughter board doesn't have MiniPCIe slot and other required components, so even if you can solder MiniPCIe slot, it won't work.
It is better to find one with WWAN already supported. However, you also have to solder SIM reader slot on the other daughter board for GSM modem.
I found one for you down here
Sony VPCZ2 USB HDMI Ethernet Audio Board w Cable Tested RZ2 | eBay

 

Thanks for the reply. There is a SIM-compatible daughter-board on ebay too (221249019127). As the PCI-E bridge is on the audio/hdmi/usb board, these 2, along with the antennae and gobi card should provide wwan capability.

Do you know if the parts are the same on the z21 and svz? The z21 service manual is easily available (google) but the svz is like a ghost on the internet :S
I would have thought that apart from the motherboards, cpu and wireless chips, the 2 models are identical.

 

No these are not the same on the svz as on the z2. My svz has wwan and uses ifx613 daughterboard. The z2 ifx581. I bought an ifx581 and put it in my svz and it did not power up. I was able to find a supplier for the ifx613 because my sim slot was broken and now it all works again.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk 4

 

Check with seller to see if they ship to your country.
They don't ship to the US.

 

I am in the UK so am lucky in terms of ebay for z2 parts but floating in the ocean in terms of svz parts!

Thanks for the info - have managed to find folk selling the board here (not sure if i can name cos of potential advertising), but the prices are quite high.

You wouldn't know what the part numbers/codes for the antennas and audio/usb/hdmi boards are on the svz?

I suspect the following (based on prices/known info):
Motherboard MBX-257 (i7), MBX256 (i5) (Z2 is IFX-236)
Audio/HDMI/USB - IFX-612 [A1887260A] or Audio Board [A1887256A] ?not sure? (Z2 is IFX-576)
SIM Daughterboard - IFX-613 (Z2 is IFX-581) - Surprisingly, the SIM board is cheaper?!
Antennas - ? (Z2 are [left: 175476812, right: 175476712])

PCI-E card is whatever really no? I would have thought the IFX-576 would be the same as the Z2 PMD works fine on the SVZ.

I wanted to get LTE capability in my z at purchase but they only offered 3G here in the UK so I went against it when CTO but regret it as I did not know it was a standard PCI-E card that could be replaced (I knew the RAM and CPU were soldered, so thought alot of other components may be too).

Thanks for the help