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    after market upgrade of Sony Z

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by pchappo, Sep 17, 2008.

  1. pchappo

    pchappo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi all,

    i have just purchased a Sony Z11Vn from the sonystyle store at Heathrow T5 (vat free and i can claim back the VAT a well :) )

    i was wondering how easy it would be to replace the DVD Drive for aBlue-ray drive?

    cheers

    chappo!
     
    pchappo, Sep 17, 2008
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  2. jeme

    jeme Notebook Evangelist

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    HD was not a difficult swap - I am not sure abou the disk drive. I would love to know if you can purchase a blue ray drive for the Z series!
     
    jeme, Sep 17, 2008
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  3. pchappo

    pchappo Notebook Enthusiast

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    does anyone have the part number of the BR optical drive that is available in the US?
     
    pchappo, Sep 17, 2008
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  4. StrongerThanAll

    StrongerThanAll Notebook Deity

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    i think its not that simple, you may require the 256mb video card and it may require some hardware changes
     
    StrongerThanAll, Sep 17, 2008
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  5. pchappo

    pchappo Notebook Enthusiast

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    aah - thanks stronger! - ive bought the top of the range model in the uk - so it includes the 256mb nvidia card, - the drives are hopefully just sata compatile swaps :)
     
    pchappo, Sep 17, 2008
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  6. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    I don't believe in this 256mb needed for Bluray playback. Anyone want to convince me?
     
    Phil, Sep 17, 2008
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  7. joeskie

    joeskie Notebook Geek

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    256 is not needed....
     
    joeskie, Sep 17, 2008
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  8. gr00vy0ne

    gr00vy0ne Notebook Consultant

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    The part is listed on Sony Parts for over $1000 USD. Of course, the market price will be lower once the drive becomes more readily available. These are in limited production right now and there isn't a lot of competition yet so they're likely to remain high for the foreseeable future.
     
    gr00vy0ne, Sep 17, 2008
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  9. Rachel

    Rachel Busy Bee

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    I was trying to figure out how you can actually claim back the VAT on something that had no VAT on it in the first place and i still haven't worked that out.

    Anyway you got a good deal there.

    It has been discussed before about people carrying out such upgrades themselves having the possibility of having their warranty invalidated so maybe research a bit more into that.
     
    Rachel, Sep 17, 2008
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  10. InfyMcGirk

    InfyMcGirk while(!(succeed=try()));

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    I believe the "VAT free" deals offered at airports are actually just discounted prices. AFAIK, there's no customs/duty loophole that allows retailers not to pay VAT in such circumstances (especially for travel within the EU)... so effectively they're just lowering the price so that after adding VAT it's equivalent to the pre-VAT price.
    For example, if the normal price is £1000 (£1175 inc VAT), the retailer might choose to offer the laptop at £851.06 (£1000 inc VAT) and label this as "special offer - VAT free!". In fact, they are just taking a hit on their margin to sell more laptops and VAT is still paid at the same rate as usual.
    If I'm right, then you'll still be able to claim back the VAT if you are VAT registered and buying the laptop for work.
     
    InfyMcGirk, Sep 18, 2008
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  11. AlaskaGrown

    AlaskaGrown Notebook Consultant

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    I called Sony out of curiosity, they told me you must purchase it at the time of build, that even for a fee they won't replace your drive to blu-ray in the future. So I would also assume this means if you did it yourself you would void the warranty. :/ Something to definitely consider.

    To the OP - Congrats!!!
     
    AlaskaGrown, Sep 18, 2008
    #11