Cost breakdown:
- Best Buy - $688.98 (with tax)
- Sony VAIO Tap 11 SVT11213CXB - $599.99
- SanDisk 64GB SDXC card - $49.99
- ebay.com
- Sony Laptop Motherboard 8GB w/ Intel i7-4610Y 1.7Ghz CPU A2040179A - $386.65
Total: $1075.63. That's not terrible. A couple of hundred dollars cheaper than getting the Core i7 version new.
I initially thought I'd be trying to find the actual Intel Core i7-4610Y BGA processor and get someone to BGA rework it on there, but would you believe that I actually found the motherboard here or search on ebay.com? Search for Intel i7-4610Y and the Sony VAIO Tap 11 motherboard pops up here and there. Good luck, if you're so inclined.
First things first, when I swapped out the motherboard, the system did NOT POWER ON. Yikes. I pulled out the motherboard and reattached all the cables probably 3 times and then ended replacing the original with no luck getting the system to power up. For some reason, I remembered that there was a reset button somewhere on the system and for those who stumble on this blog page freaking out because your system won't power up, here's what you do.
- Find the reset button (it's on the top edge to the left of the SD card slot).
- Plug the AC adapter into the Sony VAIO Tap 11.
- Get a paper clip or something that'll fit into the reset slot, and press and hold it down until the battery light to the right flashes. That'll let you know that the system is getting power and you should be able to power up the system now.
