[PuddingShorts]

I'm thinking of getting a new Vaio to replace my horrendous Compaq Presario 5050 and, aside from the strange choice of a 1.8Ghz Pentium IV processor over a 2.0 or 2.4, the current Vaio's look like pretty good deals. I was thinking of getting a RX660 or RX670 but am planning on upgrading some components and could use some early notice about what I can and can't do.

The base requirements for the ones I'm looking at is a 1.8Ghz P4 processor, 512MB or RAM, 80GB hard drive, and either a DVD-ROM and CDRW, or a DVD-ROM and DVD-RW. So if you have a similar setup on a Vaio, you might be able to help me out, assuming different Vaio models are more or less set up the same aside from obvious component differences.

Here's some things that have I am concerned about:


1.) Do the DVD-RW and CD-RW drives have some kind of buffer underrun protection, such as Burnproof? I already have a Samsung burner and am NEVER going to torture myself with a drive that doesn't have underrun protection again! I heard the DVD-RW is actually one of those decent Pioneer models, so I'm assuming Pioneer would definitely have buffer underrun protection when considering the size of a DVD movie file size. I'm not sure about wether the CDRW would have underrun failsafes.

2.) Most Vaio's have the ability to upgrade to a gig of RAM. Anyone know how to go about this? Do you need two 512MB's wafers or is it possible to just pop in one 512? I think the memory is PC2100 DDR but I don't know enough about RAM types to know what ones need parity. Basically, am I going to have to buy two 512's and end up with two spare 256's to hang onto?

3.) How easy is the task of popping in another hard drive in the spare 3.5" bay? I'm just wondering if there is an extra spot for an additional IDE device without having to get rid of a DVD or CDRW drive.

4.) I'm salivating about getting a new GeForce4 Ti4600 to replace the TNT2 but saw that Vaio's have rather small cases. The GeForce4 is a rather large video card and am hoping it will fit easily. It would be easy if I could find a decent Vaio review site that has pictures of inside the case.

5.) About the processor, will those motherboards accomodate a Pentium 4 2.0 or 2.4? I'm not sure which board a 2.4 uses (socket 478 I think?) and just need to know if I can put in a 2.0 or 2.4 and be all set. I think the 1.8 uses a socket 478 and figured a processor up to 2.4 still uses the same motherboard type.

And a few minor questions...

6.) Is there any room for an additional cooling fan? A GeForce4 and an additional hard drive could probably use some extra cooling in there.

7.) Is the hard drive partitioned on those newer Vaio's? I heard it is in a 16GB segment with Windows XP and additional stuff, and a 64GB completely empty.

If anyone can help with any or all of my questions I'd appreciate it. This is going to be a big purchase for me and I would like to know what options I have for upgrading down the road.

Keep in mind, I'm only mildly informed about PC hardware. So if I sound like a total newbie, please be gentle with the insults.