Sony VAIO Tap 11 SVT11213CXB Motherboard Upgrade

Ok, I confess, when I bought the Sony VAIO Tap 11 SVT11213CXB, I did it with the hidden agenda that I would upgrade the puny Intel Pentium 3560Y 1.2GHz processor to the Intel Core i7-4610Y 1.7GHz processor. I figured this would be possible because I saw the Sony VAIO Tap 11 teardown here on blog.sony.com.

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.

Sony VAIO Tap 11 SVT11213CXB Upgrade

When Sony sold off its VAIO computer division, I picked up a Sony VAIO Tap 11 SVT11213CXB on the cheap from Best Buy. The default configuration of the SVT11213CXB is a Pentium 3560Y, 4GB memory, and 128GB SSD. While the 128GB SSD is just enough to get by, it really is too small. I personally recommend at least a 240-256GB SSD. It's the bare minimum so that you can install software and have space for personal files. A 128GB disk is only enough for software and requires constant management to make sure you're not filling up the disk.

That said, I decided to go BIG and put in a Samsung EVO 840 500GB SSD into the Sony VAIO Tap 11. I followed the Sony published teardown video of the Sony VAIO Tap 11 and it's definitely more precarious than the video makes it out to be.

See the Sony VAIO Tap 11 teardown here on blog.sony.com.

Finally, an upgradeable Tablet PC

As you can probably tell by now, I have a affinity towards Sony products. Don't get me wrong, I get annoyed when Sony doesn't deliver the goods, but when they do, the result is just beautiful.

Many of high end (non-Intel Atom) Tablet PCs are not upgradable or repairable because they are GLUED together.

Microsoft Surface Pro disassembly
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+Teardown/12842/

Microsoft Surface Pro 2 disassembly
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+2+Teardown/18604/

Lenovo Helix disassembly
No teardown information available. The only other high end Tablet PC other than Sony to offer an Intel Core i7. The Lenovo Helix offers an Intel Core i7-3667U Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.20 GHz) with a battery life of up to 10 hours.

Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T (XE700T1C) disassembly
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/samsung/54457-ativ-700t-question-anyone-open-unit-yet-3.html
In all fairness, the Samsung  ATIV 700T isn't glued together; it snaps together. There's not a lot of good information out there regarding how to pry it apart, but it's doable.

Now let's compare this to the Sony VAIO Tap 11 disassembly
http://blog.sony.com/2013/10/vaio-tap-11-teardown/
5 screws and the device comes apart without a fuss. In my opinion the differentiator is that you can configure it with an Intel® Core™ i7-4610Y (1.70GHz / 2.90GHz with Turbo Boost). Pair that with an aftermarket 480 GB mSATA SSD (as of 2013-12-08, http://www.crucial.com/search/searchresults.aspx?keywords=msata) and you've got a powerful tablet. You can purchase the unit with a built in 512 GB SSD, but that's $700 (as of 2013-12-08). The battery life is mediocre at up 5.75 hours.