VAIO SA with HD and SSD- Is it possible?

I am looking for a new laptop, and the Sony SA is really appealing to me because of the size, the high-res 13.3 screen, and the optional extended battery. I know that on some laptops one can install an msata SSD and then install a 2.5" HD as well. I would like to have a medium sized SSD (128gb) for the OS and applications and a larger (1tb) drive for storage. Is it possible to have such a configuration in an SA? I know that they either come with a single 2.5" HD or dual SSD, but I am not sure what form factor the dual SSDs are. I figure the BIOS would also have to support what I am talking about as well. I figured I would get a model that has built in 3G because that most likely would use mini pci-express and perhaps that would be msata compatible so that I could install my boot SSD in that slot. Has anyone tried a configuration like this? If so, which model of SA would be best suited for what I am trying to do? I am looking at the following models.

VPCSA2BGX/BI
or
VPCSA2CFX/SI

 

No mSATA slot. The 3Gcard ... is heavily inaccessible to the user. No one so far, has sucessfully dissasembled a Vaio SA/SB/SC, and we have tried...

The dual SSD config option, is a semi-custom Sony job, that takes two Toshiba SSDs and crams them into a normal 2.5" slot.

Now, you can do it all.... just replace the optical bay wtih a HDD caddy

 

Furthermore I am willing to bet that anything other than a WWAN card won't work in the WWAN card slot. All VAIOs seem to have a fakeish USB only PCIe slot that is further locked by firmware to only properly recognize the Sony branded WWAN card.

Example: I have a Z1, the Sony GOBI card will work, the HP GOBI card doesn't. A full PCIe WiFi type card.... doesn't work at all. Only the USB traces are active.

It does NOT work like a DELL or Lenovo where you can use the extra slot for WWAN or SSD.

 

Interesting. So the WWAN mini-pcie card is actually just usb, and locked to sony? So any future wireless wireless cards (e.g. LTE) won't work in this laptop?

 

They might, but you'd have to replace the BT or WiFi card instead as far as I know.

 

I have one myself.

My VAIO SA was originally the HDD + DVD model.

I got a Vertex 3 in the original HDD bay and then purchased another optical bay hdd caddy, removed the DVD drive and put the original HDD in.

 

Well you might be able to get a Sony LTE card intended for a newer line and put it in an older VAIO.

 

Damn. No doubt they won't sell it separately, and even *if* they do it'll be several hundred dollars. No ebay cheapies for me.

Ah well, it'll be a couple of years before we get a wide-ranging next gen network around here anyway.