Sony PictureBook

[startac]

This site has been so helpful with my ThinkPads that I am hoping someone around here might also dabble with Sony Vaios.... a PictureBook PCG-161L / C1VPK to be exact.

I thought my X220 was small. Wow! This Vaio is teenyweeny. It came practically unused with the factory install of Win2k with all the bundled Sony applications. As with all my computers, I do use them daily for practical applications. Therefore I am already planning an upgrade path and could use some help.

It has a Crusoe Transmeta processor and the software abstraction layer is gently noticeable. It becomes a bore when coupled with what I imagine is a 1.8" 4200 RPM hard drive. I would like to replace it with a 1.8" IDE SSD.

I have not had any luck in finding a tear down guide or detailed specs on this machine. I found Sony's press release but its technical data is cursory and I cannot confirm a 1.8" drive, although that is Sony tends (or tended) to use. Unfortunately, no restore media came with the computer.

Is is relatively straight forward to clone the factory drive to the SSD (kind of like Carbon Copy Cloner on Mac)?

Has anyone performed an upgrade like this?

eBay has been returning quite a few Kingspec 1.8" SSD listings. I have never heard of that particular brand- any thoughts?

[Temetka]

If you can open the machine and pull the HDD out it should have the model # listed on it. Look that up to help you determine the size you need.

Regarding Kingspec, they make good SSD's. You can google reviews of their drives.

I haven't worked on that particular machine before, but I have worked on my fair share of Sony's and they can be...interesting to take apart.

[epbrown]

A 1.8" drive? Are you certain about that? I've owned two Picturebooks (the C1X and C1V, the latter I still have) and I opened up each for various upgrades and fiddling; though it's been a while, I recall low profile 2.5" drives, as slim drives were rare back when they were new. Could be I'm misremembering...

[startac]

Temetka- The "interesting" aspect of the disassembly is what I am afraid of. I tried to take apart newer VAIO a few years ago and it did more falling part than taking apart. I am hoping this older Vaio is better quality than the '04/05 models with which I had quality control problems. The fit and finish are much nicer if that is any indication.

In regards to the SSD, I'll check out the reviews. I don't trust SSDs but my C1 desperately needs a boost.

epbrown- I am not entirely sure about 1.8". I made the assumption because my '05 little Vaio uses one and they have the same sound when accessing. A slim 2.5" would be wonderful as there are at least a few more IDE SSD options than 1.8".

When I set aside some time for a careful disassembly I will report back with what type of drive it has. The RAM card is adorably small.

[startac]

Discovered valuable information more quickly than I thought!

http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/vaio.html

epbrown- You're right... 2.5"! Replacements just got a whole lot easier.

The linked site isn't very helpful as to how dissemble the machine, but at least I know that keyboard, somehow, must come out first.

Sadly, most of the links (to C1s at least) are long gone:

http://repair4laptop.org/disassembly_sony.html

Right now I am stumped with all the plastic clips along the edges that hold the computer together. It is going to take some patient exploring. If it wasn't brand new factory fresh, I wouldn't be so nervous.

[Puppy]

It is 2.5" - Brand 160GB Hard Disk Drive/HDD for Sony Vaio PCG-161L http://www.amazon.com/PCG-161L-PCG-962A ... B001QWZ4DO

I guess the Transmeta CPU (I never liked the design) is so weak that SSD won't help much.

[startac]

Thanks for the link, Puppy.

The Crusoe Transmeta's emulation is noticeable at times. It really doesn't handle any of the OS sound events well at all but I do like the novelty of the Transmeta. No Intel, no AMD, no PowerPC. Although I wouldn't mind a PPC in a form factor like this.

I hope an SSD will make a noticeable improvement. Wake from sleep is instant but bootup is not very swift. Disabling all the unnecessary start up items has helped as well as disabling Norton's coldmolases.exe

[Puppy]

but I do like the novelty of the Transmeta.

Intel did it again with Itanium. x86/x64 forever, no true innovation accepted

[startac]

Oh yes, Itanium. I also recall the Celeron nickname: Celery. I only used a Celron-based machine once and I recall a painfully slow online experience.

I read a not so nice Transmeta review http://www.vanshardware.com/articles/20 ... nsmeta.htm. An interesting read with many benchmarks.

I still can't get this thing open. I'm going to see if I can live with the slow IBM drive for now. At least its a quality unit. I would still like to backup/clone this drive as I do not have the restore disks. Any preferences on Win2k compatible back software?

The only one I can recall offhand is Veritas Backup Exec. It has been a while since I've done any Windows-based backing up.