Laptop Hd Replacement

[MKAsok]

I am considering swapping out the HD on my Vaio F Series laptop for a SSD. It uses a regular 2.5" SATA drive that is easily accessible.

Can anyone advise as to:

1. Whether I should buy locally or not.

2. If I buy locally, could someone suggest a reliable place to purchase in either Fortune or Pantip (preferably Fortune).

3. If I don't buy locally, where is the best online source? Will there be any tax issues sending the thing through the mail, or more likely by Fed Ex etc. internationally?

4. What I should be expecting to pay for, say, a minimum of 256GB on a SATA SSD.

5. If I should be looking at any manufacturer in particular. I have to say, I'm fairly clueless about SSD manufacturers.

Thanks for any advice.

[aarn]

My suggestions:

1 might as well buy locally - buying stuff overseas online can attract 40% import duty if you get unlucky. Prices (in Australia, anyway) ~ 20% cheaper than LOS.

2/3/4 invadeIT.co.th has a good reputation here. They replied to a couple of queries I sent. I'd be a bit wary of going to one of the big malls, lots of sharks out there...

5 When I did some searches (a few months ago) into quality, there seemed to be a consensus that Samsungs were very reliable, whereas problems had been too-oft reported with OCZ. Here's a link to another review:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269.html

Another thing to consider, do you really need minimum 256Gb? With external storage now very affordable, easy to store photos/films/music/books out there, just copy what you will consume a couple of times each week.

My experience - replaced 250Gb HD running win7 basic with a 60Gb ssd OCZ (~1,300 baht), got boot time under 20 sec after installing linux (zorin6 lite, much like win) in junior machine;

- replaced 750Gb Hitachi running win7 home prem with 120 Gb ssd Kingston (~2,800 baht), boot time ~ 12 sec with lubuntu 12.04. in mothership

As you say, if it is easy to swap drives (just one screw to loosen on my mother), buying a ssd frees up your old drive for storage purposes.

One thing to note - if installing windoze on a ssd, apparently defragging is NOT a good idea. So save all your downloads etc. to usb sticks or exHDs.

Cheers, AA

[RandomSand]

Yeah, just buy locally... They are all made in China anyway!

Hardware House and JIB are the biggest box shifters with stores all over Thailand.

Just make sure you get a sealed box when buying. If DOA then the shop replaces whatever the item. Smaller retailers might piss you about over this.

Samsung SSD not available in Thailand but Intel SSDs are: https://www.jib.co.t...9/29/index.html

Edited January 13, 2013 by RandomSand

[MKAsok]

@ aarn - Thanks for the comprehensive info.

It's a good point you raise about external storage. I currently have 12TBs (3x4 TBs) of externals hooked up, so storage isn't really an issue, but I don't know if I'd be that comfortable going from my current 500GB internal to something like 60GBs. Maybe I could live with 128GBs. Cost isn't really that much of an issue. It's something to think about anyway.

I'll have a look at InvadeIT. I've had a good experience with them before.

Cheers.

Edit: @RandomSand - That Intel looks good. Price seems reasonable enough. Thanks for the link.

Edited January 13, 2013 by MKAsok

[rixalex]

Apologies for piggybacking this thread... but a question if i may as you guys obviously know your stuff...

About to buy a laptop.. looking at a cheap Dell... and planned to take out the HDD and replace with SSD... i was planning on getting the chaps at JIB do this for me and then get them to install an original copy of Windows, basically because i've never done any of this before and am a computer dummie. To be honest though would feel more comfortable doing it myself. Is it easy? Am i likely to screw it up? Do it myself or trust the shop? Cheers.

[aarn]

(For rixalex)

Unless you can really trust the store to install a licenced copy of win (ask friends that use the store?), you are best off buying a machine with win installation disc(s), and doing it yourself.

Over the last two years, many sad stories on TV from people who had the store install a (surprisingly!) affordable win O/S, then subsequently suffered problems. Usually the store installs the pirate/unlicenced win O/S, turns off windows update, and installs a free anti-virus. Problems eventually arise...

If you buy a netbook, you'll need to buy an external CD/DVD reader. But most computers with 12+"+screen come with internal reader. To replace the HD with an ssd, get instructions via a google or youtube search. But, fundamentally it is straight-forward:

1 power off, remove power lead, turn over, remove battery (most modern comps have two thumb-press sliding clips).

2 locate the base panel housing the HD - generally it is oblong (does that word still exist?), held in place by 1-3 screws for which you will need a 0 phillips screwdriver. Worst case scenario is one or all of these screws will be the hex variety. A bit of extra pressure on the 0-phillips general will shift these, but I didn't say that, because someone wants you to buy a (small) hex screwdriver set.

3 the HD will present itself as a rectangular box ~ 7 x 10cm face, depth undiscernable. GENTLY prise the attached end free using finger pressure (with a SLIGHT rocking motion if necessary). No need to rip off any heat-disseminating metallic cover on the HD (as I did on my first attempt).

4 installing the ssd should be straight forward, reverse the above steps.

5 put the installation disc into the drive and boot-up. Should be straight forward from there, various screens with dialouge boxes, but:

6 if you need to get into the BIOS (most machines you press F2 key when the first screen flashes up - be quick). In BIOS, navigate using R arrow key to 'Boot'. When in there, you need to select first boot option as CD rom whatever. At anytime, if you are in the BIOS and things are incomprehensible, ctrl + alt + delete will cause reboot.

[7 of course you can install a linux system (and zorin works/looks similar to windoze) on your new ssd very easily by creating a 'live' usb with unetbootin while using win, swapping drives, powering on then going into BIOS and setting Boot first option as your usb key].

[JakeBKK]

Yeah, just buy locally... They are all made in China anyway!

Hardware House and JIB are the biggest box shifters with stores all over Thailand.

Just make sure you get a sealed box when buying. If DOA then the shop replaces whatever the item. Smaller retailers might piss you about over this.

Samsung SSD not available in Thailand but Intel SSDs are: https://www.jib.co.t...9/29/index.html

Nope- they are made here , with quite a share of the market. ( we're still on flood prices, at least close) The market out there is shared by WD, seagate and samsung are one company since April, Hitachi and Toshiba are cosy as well.

What that means: you get a lot of boxed and unboxed drives out there, sold under a different flag- coming out of the same harbour.

So, to the OP local drives are good.

If you like good service, there is a company out there called synnex. I do not know why they don't do wd. regardless where you buy - they put a sticker on their gear..in bangkok you have a broken hdd replaced within a day. in pattaya they need two days.

a wd drive is gone for how long.......

Edited January 13, 2013 by JakeBKK

[rixalex]

(For rixalex)

Unless you can really trust the store to install a licenced copy of win (ask friends that use the store?), you are best off buying a machine with win installation disc(s), and doing it yourself.

Over the last two years, many sad stories on TV from people who had the store install a (surprisingly!) affordable win O/S, then subsequently suffered problems. Usually the store installs the pirate/unlicenced win O/S, turns off windows update, and installs a free anti-virus. Problems eventually arise...

If you buy a netbook, you'll need to buy an external CD/DVD reader. But most computers with 12+"+screen come with internal reader. To replace the HD with an ssd, get instructions via a google or youtube search. But, fundamentally it is straight-forward:

1 power off, remove power lead, turn over, remove battery (most modern comps have two thumb-press sliding clips).

2 locate the base panel housing the HD - generally it is oblong (does that word still exist?), held in place by 1-3 screws for which you will need a 0 phillips screwdriver. Worst case scenario is one or all of these screws will be the hex variety. A bit of extra pressure on the 0-phillips general will shift these, but I didn't say that, because someone wants you to buy a (small) hex screwdriver set.

3 the HD will present itself as a rectangular box ~ 7 x 10cm face, depth undiscernable. GENTLY prise the attached end free using finger pressure (with a SLIGHT rocking motion if necessary). No need to rip off any heat-disseminating metallic cover on the HD (as I did on my first attempt).

4 installing the ssd should be straight forward, reverse the above steps.

5 put the installation disc into the drive and boot-up. Should be straight forward from there, various screens with dialouge boxes, but:

6 if you need to get into the BIOS (most machines you press F2 key when the first screen flashes up - be quick). In BIOS, navigate using R arrow key to 'Boot'. When in there, you need to select first boot option as CD rom whatever. At anytime, if you are in the BIOS and things are incomprehensible, ctrl + alt + delete will cause reboot.

[7 of course you can install a linux system (and zorin works/looks similar to windoze) on your new ssd very easily by creating a 'live' usb with unetbootin while using win, swapping drives, powering on then going into BIOS and setting Boot first option as your usb key].

Many thanks aarn for such a comprehensive reply. A great help to me.

And apologies to MKAsok for the diversion.

[MKAsok]

And apologies to MKAsok for the diversion.

No worries. Glad you got some useful info.