The Sony Vaio UX MicroPC hacked – Core 2 Duo Mod added

Anh Nguyen from the Micro PC Talk forums pulled it off, upgrading his unit to a 1.2GHz U7600 Core 2 Duo with no ill effects or excess heat

The Vaio UX

Benchmarking results

 Sony doesn’t want to call it a UMPC, like they don’t call the Vaio P a netbook – they would rather call the Vaio UX a MicroPC. Sony has launched this pretty MicroPC back in May. This unit has a hardware keyboard, which was a welcome decision given the difficulty of using current-gen UMPC keyboards. The UX runs Windows XP Professional, includes Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11b/g, WWAN (EDGE connectivity) and a fingerprint reader. Along with the front camera for video conferencing, there is a camera in the rear for clicking snaps, and the UX also can plug into a VGA adapter for powering an external monitor. The 4.5” screen has a maximum resolution of 800 x 600 pixels and accepts stylus input. The unit can be docked to allow for desktop use, including VGA, Ethernet, three USB 2.0 ports and AV out. So if you fancy using a mouse every time, then that can be done here by plugging it into the USB port. It even comes with a separate Docking station.

Now that it is out, the question everyone asks is why it includes a Core Solo processor, and not a Dual core, given the astronomical $2500 price-tag. Anh Nguyen from the Micro PC Talk forums found the answer himself, upgrading his unit to a 1.2GHz U7600 Core 2 Duo with no ill effects or excess heat -- just some better benchmarks and hardcore Modder bragging rights. Apparently, he was thinking about upgrading the CPU when he had the 390. But unable to find an affordable source for ULV C2D processor, he ended up selling his 390. Now, he got a 280 and a board which has U7600 for just $150 that did the trick.

Refer to the diagram for his Benchmark results.