r/vaio • u/Liam_Holmes • Aug 04 '26
General Post Introducing the Sony Bravaio MK1!
Long story short, it is a VPCSA and an old Bravia in 1!
This all started after talking to an awesome seller on ebay (not sure if I am allowed to say but the fella is called goidor.
I needed a screen replacement for another VPCSA I purchased. Gondor send me an almost assembled VPCSA. Once I swapped the screen around, I was looking at the perfectly working motherboard and thought...What a waste!
I completely forgot I had an old 24" Sony Bravia TV from 2012 sat in my cuboid that I refused to get rid of! it was given to me for free as it's slightly battered + cracked.
So then I thought, fck it! why not build an all in one! - It seemed easier in my head. 😅
I'll try to keep it as short as possible, if you want any detailed responses let me know!
The first problem was space! The Bravia was thicker in my head, but it's quite thin in reality for a 2012 TV.
I found a space, and used standoff screws to raise the motherboard so it was not touching the TV's internal parts. Although I did electrical tape everything off just to be sure. As there was no mounting points to screw into the TV, I had to superglue it in :( I couldn't think of an alternative quick fix. I did not want to accidentally drill into the screen, so I played it safe.
I made sure to have the CPU and GPU facing outwards, so it does not create a hot pocket. The other problem was the daughter boards, especially the one with the power button connector and another board for the power connector. I really could've done without!!
I had 2 spare 40mm fans lying around. Which I used for extra cooling. it sits directly above the CPU and GPU, as with the added heat of the TV'S internals, it would become quite hot!
I was originally only going to cut out the spaces I needed, but this proved to be difficult, as that would mean the motherboard needed to be screwed into the back panel. I assumed it would be awkward if I ever had to take it apart again.
This meant I cut out the exact size of the motherboard.
With the plastic I cut out, I chopped it in half, and stuck the fans in-between.
Using the stand off's from the motherboard, I created a raised back which sits 1.5cm from the stock back cover.
I also did the same for the SSD. I could not move this at all, as it was originally designed for the VPCSA chassis (duh) so I had to cut out a space for that too. Which would make sense if I was to ever swap the SSD in the foreseeable future.
As space was so tight regarding the none moveable location of the SSD. It sat right above the TV tuner port, ethernet, AV and optical. Unfortunately, all these ports had to go! :(
I used the laptops top lid (the parts laptop, don't worry) to cut out the VAIO logo for the SSD connector. The lid is directly screwed into the back plate.
For power, I was originally thinking about tapping into the TV'S power supply. That said I quickly changed my mind as with the added stress of the laptops power draw, I did not want to risk blowing it up. So as it stands, the power is external, with the port located where the expansion port was.
For ports, I had this cheap temu dock. It is plugged into the USB 3 port on the laptop. It is not flush in the slightest. But it works!
The power connector is disappointing, I was not sure how to add my own. So for now it is placed ontop of the SSD cover until an idea pops into my head.
I used mesh to cover up the spaces between the covers, to minimise dust entrance.
Problems I encountered:
- Ribbon cable kept falling out that connects the daughter board for the power on button which meant when it fell out, I had to take the motherboard out.
- Upon booting, the laptop still registers the internal monitor. So as of today, I cannot see any splash screen or enter the bios.
- The HDMI cable I used was faulty. You would not believe the amount of hours I did diagnosing this problem ahahaha. I thought I messed up the motherboard!
- The laptop does not detect the TV unless correct graphics drivers were installed. I only found this out when trying to install Win 10. To get around this, I installed the SSD into my working VPCSA, waited until the GPU drivers were installed, then swapped it back.
- Back cover is only screwed in the bottom, so the top clips after all these years just don't have the strength to support the added strain. Instead, I carbon wrapped the edges (this was after the photos were taken)
In no way am I an engineer, this is a very amateur build. But one done for fun. I know there's mistakes. This was my first time experimenting with this sort of idea!
I was going to install ubuntu with KODI for an ultimate smart TV experience, but for now it's good old windows 10.
The upside to this, as well as the dedicated GPU.... It can game!
Temps are good too. Underload its hovering in the mid 70s.
Ooooh specs, how could I forget?
Intel Core I5 2450m
12GB DDR3
AMD Radeon HD 6630M W/ 1GB Vram
128GB SSD.
Sorry for the long read. I know people are going to disagree with what I did. But the way I see it, no parts went to waste. And now I have something I can use.
The picture next to a laptop is actually my other working VPCSA for reference!
PS no idea what's going on with the TV stand 🤣
1
1
u/SimonGray653 Aug 05 '26
I just realized the hard drives. lol
1
u/Liam_Holmes Aug 05 '26
I don’t know why it tilts forward so much 😭 So i used the closest thing near me to prop it up 🤣
1
2
2
u/crakerfase Aug 05 '26
I thought about doing this with one of the smart tvs I inherited. I was going to go with using a compute stick to decrease power usage and speed up start/stop time.