Upgrading aftermarket to SSD

tomsonx

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May 28, 2011
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18,510
Hello I'm a college student looking for a new laptop, in my search for the right laptop I realize that some companies (sony in particular) commit highway robbery when giving you customization options for SSDs.

I am not kidding some of these SSDs cost 2-3 times more than what I can find on newegg.com



So I was wondering if it is possible to upgrade (myself) some base crappy HDD to a sleek SSD after I get the laptop. The specific ones I'm looking at are

http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-Pavilion/A3F49AV;pgid=GPVQ_Qy2FWJSRpw8LwCsGrtG0000m2mBM4IM;sid=yRdglz0UBG3RlHLho-Y8A-Qb_QulwjfPRLyIPNAFw8ztPPtlRCKk4eTb?HP-Pavilion-dv6t-7000-Quad-Edition-Entertainment-Notebook-PC

and

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=VPCSE23FX/S#specifications


Thanks a ton!
 

geofelt

Distinguished
I think that is a great idea.
The main thing is to verify that the original hard drive has a sata connection, and what the size(thickness) is.

You might do some google searching using the specific model # and terms like "SSD replacement"

I did this on a thinkpad T61 and it transformed the machine.

Some SSD vendors offer software and a usb adapter to do the job.

It is not clear to me what happens if the original hard drive is larger than the new SSD. I think some cloning software will work, but possibly not.

I have used Intel ssd migration tool to clone to a intel ssd, and it worked fine.

If you really had to, just install windows clean on the ssd. You can reuse the oem activation code that should be on a sticker someplace.