Vaio Z (VGN-Z790JAB) hard drive questions

I'm considering a Vaio Z. I would have bought the latest one, but unfortunately the headphone plug is in the front which is a deal breaker for me as I most often use it on the treadmill to watch movies and it needs to "stand up".

So, when looking at previous Z's I noticed the headphone plug is one the side (as it should be. if you ask me). Blu-ray is a must and I want SSD. I found a few models with Blu-ray, but it seems that all models only have a regular 320GB hard drive, so my first question is:

- Does a Z of previous model with Blu-ray and SSD exist?


In case no such model exists I was thinking of buying the VGN-Z790JAB and replace the hard drive with a SSD myself. I was browsing this forum and found a few threads on the topic, e.g. these:

Pics of opening up the Vaio Z:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=426295&page=90

Official Vaio Z service manual:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4612060

Even looking through a bunch of threads I still have a few thoughts:

- Is it a regular 2.5" SATA hd that's in the Vaio Z? Oddly enough I haven't seen any comment if it's a 1.8 or 2.5" drive.

- Are all Vaio Z's the same? I.e. if I buy the VGN-Z790JAB does it look like in the pictures from the thread above? I would assume things change, but in the threads I usually never see specific models discussed.

- I'm very comfortable building desktops, but have never really opened up a laptop. How cumbersome is it? Would you say replacing the hard drive is "smooth"?


Thanks a lot for your time.

 

My humble answers to your questions:

1) The (old) VAIO Z uses a standard 2.5" drive.

2) "Almost" all the (old) VAIO Z models are the same, except for things like CPU, HDD/SSD, RAM amount, etc.

3) It is "quite" easy to get to the HDD, provided you closely follow the VAIO Z assmebly/disassembly guide, give yourself enough time to take apart your notebook, don't "force" things if certain parts seemed "stuck," & be very patient while opening up the notebook.

Good luck.

 

Thanks a lot for your answer.
I'll most likely give it a shot

 

I happened to find out that a Vaio Z (previous model) was released with SSD. The VGN-Z880G/B, but it doesn't have Blu-ray.

Does anyone know if a version with both Blu-ray and SSD was released?
However, maybe I'm better off buying a Intel SSD (or similar) and put in myself if I want the best performance?

Is there a "guide" or list available somewhere that describes all different Sony Vaio Z models? Does the model number somehow tell you anything about the spec? I couldn't find any help at all on the Sony site.

 

Why not use Bluetooth headphones? No wires, so it'll be more suitable for the treadmill. Motorola sells the S9 which is quite good.

 

I did end up buying a VGN-Z790DLX which I'm so far very happy with. I got my Blu-ray and headphone plug on the side, and as you can see below I now also got a really fast SSD (250Mb read / 168Mb write).

The very first thing I did when receiving the computer was replacing the 320GB mechanical hard drive with a Corsair Nova V128 SSD.
Thanks to the official Vaio Z service manual I found via this forum it probably only took 15-20 minutes and went without a glitch. To anyone that want to do the same I must say; - Do not attempt to do it without the service manual! I would for sure have broken my computer without it as there are "hidden" switches to remove the keyboard.