Upgrading to an SSD

DeSelby83

I am looking to upgrade to an SSD harddrive but am hoping I can get some advice and questions answered here first.

I have a Sony Vaio laptop with the following spec Intel Core i7 1.73 GHz with 8 GB of RAM and 64 bit OS. Is there any particular brand that works with Sony or are they all generic brands that will work in any laptop and does the spec matter to certain SSD's?

Where is the best place to buy them, is there any particular online sites that are trusted and recommended that people here have used?


When installing one do I need to reinstall windows or change BIOS settings or anything like that. Basically I'm wondering how complicated is changing the harddrive?

Any help is very much appeciated

tadcan

Q. Are SSD generic. Yes, the 2.5 form factor will fit inside a laptop.
Q. Do some SSD's work better with some types of laptops. Again no, they are generic, SDD's by themselves vary.
Q. People here tend to buy from Germany, from websites like http://www.hardwareversand.de/ They are cheaper than amazon esp. with the high price of sterling at the moment. I've never just bought one item from them, so with the price of shipping may not make a big difference in the price. Also checkout parcel motel to getting cheaper shipping from the UK.
Q. Do I have to change the BIOS / UEFI. No.
Q.Do I have to reinstall windows. Yes, and here is where planning is needed because of a number of factors.
Firstly I will presume that the hardrive has a recovery partition with windows and you didn't get an installation dvd, so you will have to burn one. Secondly check for the windows product on the bottom of the laptop, if its there you will need that as well.
Secondly you should also buy an empty backup drive case to put your original drive into, so you can transfer your data back afterwards. And have a drive to do backups.
Thirdly, you don't say what size the hardrive is, but I'll take a guess at 500GB. How much of that drive is currently being used, because size for size an SSD is more expensive than a HD. For example a 500GB SSD is around €180-250, v's HD €50-60. So it maybe useful to split the data over the new and old drives. With the important data on both.

DeSelby83

Thanks tadcan for the in depth answer, very helpful. I hadnt thought about the casing for the current harddrive when I take it out. I think I might just do a little bit more research on brand and price before I commit to anything. Thanks again for your answers