Thank you SO much for this tutorial! Trying to get the back off my Acer was a freaking nightmare! But, thanks to your video, I managed! Thanks again, boss! Much love from the East Coast... ✌🏻
I recently purchased two of these Acer Aspire 5 for my 12 year olds. In the first place, RU-vid's Techno Panda sold me on this laptop for the boys and said how easy the unit can be upgraded! So, having all the stuff I needed to do the upgrade, I found this tremendous video that literally walked me through the entire process. I could never have accomplished this task without him. Fantastic, done twice and put together just as shown.THANK YOU CADILLAC! P.S.: The Windows 10 upgrade was a breeze! Again Techno Panda made it VERY easy. Highly recommend his videos too!
Just wanted to add to the list of well deserved kudos you have here :) .. this video was so incredibly helpful :) ... more so than the "official" videos put out by Acer showing how to do the upgrade which is saying something :) ... For people like me who thought they had a prying tool and they didn't (no idea where mine vanished to) , my very small flat head metal screwdriver did the trick but sadly resulted in some scratches to the aluminum finish of the laptop :( ... I do find myself wishing Acer would include a cheap think plastic thin "wedge" type thing you could use that would do the same thing without scratching the paint ..
thanks! just bought this laptop and didnt realize I could have optical drive as well as solid state. very helpful. I thought that you only had one hard drive slot according to a reviewer on Amazon so this was very helpful and save me a lot of money from getting a terabyte solid state :)
Thank you Cadillac Dale and company! Your instructional videos are some of the best I have ever seen. Great detail and camera work. You speak clearly and loud enough so that I have no problem following your instructions. Your blog and the contributing bloggers helped me with additional questions and methods. THANK YOU!
Did a storage upgrade on my Aspire 3 (the model series under the 5) with a Ryzen 3 3250U APU easily by using the HDD upgrade kit that came in-box and following the instruction in your video and on the Acer website-quick and fuss-free! Put in a WD Blue 250GB SATA SSD to augment the internal 128GB M.2 SSD. Was able to pop up the Wifi card on mine without having to disconnect and reconnect the antenna wires.
Nice video. I purchased the Acer Aspire 5 (A515-43-R19L) featured in your video recently. Acer must have updated the motherboard through a design change last year because I did not have the same SATA III cable layout or a battery "just laying in the pan". My battery was secured by screws and Acer has a thin plastic SSD caddy along with the SATA III card and a SATA III mini cable secured to the case under the caddy by like new credit card glue.
My daughter's did as well. I realized that you move the board to the bottom and mount the SATA HDD upside down. Lol, took a minute or two to figure out the difference from the video, but otherwise it was quite simple.
Very useful. I'm leaving a comment because, in new versions, the layout is a little different. There are two slots for RAM. That's not really crucial. More importantly, the layout for the ribbon cable is different. Now, you don't have to futz with the wifi chip. The connector is completely exposed. The ribbon cable is underneath the bracket for the SSD/HD bracket, taped to the bottom of the laptop. There is now no need to bend the ribbon cable. It's a straight shot into the connector.
Great video, thank you so much! I just got one question left : is it possible to add some kind of an adapter in order to double RAM-slots? I'm going to get the version with just one slot (8GB, max 16GB) and wanted to add another 8GB Stick.
Thank you so much for this video I installed the RAM with no issues and your directions were very simple to follow! My next step is to upgrade the hard drive and was wondering if Crucial BX500 480GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-Inch Internal SSD is ok to use?
You should check the dimensions of your current hard drive before buying anything, ideally you could also use external hard drive. I use a 2 TB one and I haven't gotten any problem with my 128 GB laptop.
Great video, thank you! I just received an Aspire 5 A515-54-37U3, looks to be the same layout. I bought a RAM upgrade to install and now seeing this video would like to add the drive as well. I see you linked the hard drive below at Amazon, what about the mounting bracket, can I get that there as well. Also if you don't mind, I will be opening this on my work bench in the garage. What precautions should I take regarding static electricity. You mentioned a spray, what is that? Thanks again for the video, appreciate it.
Hey, thanks for watching. This model comes with the mounting kit for a 2.5" HDD or SSD. Its in the box. Just make sure you work on it on a soft clean surface, don't wanna scratch it. You can purchase anti static wrist band cheap online, about 8 bucks on Amazon. Or, just use the anti static spray on your bench surface, should be soft though. That is only about 12 bucks online as well. Thanks again, don't forget to SUBSCRIBE! Dale
Hi, Great video! I'm looking into buying the SATA connector cable, but it seems they are model specific? Where did you buy one for the Acer Aspire series? Thank you.
I know you can email Acer support, and they can tell you where to buy the right part. (It probably has a part number that you can look up to buy the correct cable)
Good description. Good cameraman. Right to the point. Thanks because NO background music. MMmmmmm….. one suggestion: advice about static electricity discharge BEFORE handling the device. Another advice. After instalation, turn on. Then, go to Task Manager to check the reading of the NEW RAM. About the disk, another video, maybe. Thanks in advance !!!!
Thanks for watching and hopefully subscribing! I usually talk about that in my videos, but not always. My bench tops are all anti static . Static is never an issue for me, I will try to do better on that. Thx.
Thank you for your suggestions. I'm still finding my way making my videos. I try to keep short and to the point, yet informative. I appreciate all feedback. Thanks for subscribing. Dale
Sir, In Acer aspire 5 - A515- 56 i5 11th generation (8gb + 1TB HDD model) May I know there is one more additional slot to put SSD along with 1TB HDD so after that I will use SSD & HDD both simultaneously?
Very informative video, thank you sir! My Aspire 515-43-R 19 L and Crucial 8GB\2666 are coming tomorrow. Should I wait for the Crucial mx500 NAND SATA (coming in 4)days and install both right out of the box (before initial power up)? I don't know Jack about root/boot /toot/clone/drone ...etc, but I do know I'll have to disable Windows 10s later. Thank you. (Michigander, too! Go Blue!)
Do all of the aspire 5 slims look like this? Im looking at one with a i7-8565U but will put my own 1tb ssd and 16gb of ram. Still researching before I buy a laptop for music production but think this cpu may be too weak
That little clip on the mother board broke off, how do I fix it? Where do I get a replacement clip???? I sent my laptop to Acer and they said I have to replace the motherboard.
I usually get that screw out with a #0 Phillip's, with a hardened quality tip. Longer shaft and larger handle for leverage. I know acer puts that screw on to tight sometimes. Careful not to strip it.
I have been running a 500gb SSD in the 2.5in add on caddy. I wanted more space so I bought a western digital blue 1tb 2.5in hard drive to replace it. The 1tb drive is thicker than the SSD. It sticks up above the caddy a bit. The back of the laptop fits back on but it is tight against the new drive. This made me nervous so I removed it and switched back to the SSD. Do you know if it would do any damage to the 1tb HDD if I did decide to use it?
hey so i have a weird acer aspire 5 it was made in 2017 it has like 19 screws in the bottom with 2 plates u can open with 1 screw each Have u seen 1 like this? And can u pls tell me how to reseat the hdd thanks😆
I Somtimes disconnect the battery, which i do recommend doing. I have done this many many times without any issues. I am careful. Yes, I should have disconnected it for this video. Thanks for catching that. Dale
What they don't tell you is that the WiFi card is made to be damage when you try to replace the hard drive. I didn't even touched that thing when the cable was already detached and I had to literally use a drill to take the screw out. It was as if they put Crazy Glue on it on purpose. Upgraded a hard drive and now I need to buy a solder to reattached the wiring to the wifi card. And as you may guess cannot use again the screw for the card, will have to use some sort of glue. PS: Complaining about Acer, not Cadillac Computer Center.
My little screw to the Wi-Fi antenna was stripped and really tight so I can't take it out I don't know what to do about a screw that stripped that small
I have Acer Aspire 5 (A515-51-517Y) with inbuilt RAM 2400 MHz, CL 17 . Considering rest of the factors compatible, if I install 2666 MHz, CL 19 will it work??
Hello! I have the same model and it is showing Total 8 gb RAM and 2 of 2 used And also SPD in CPUz shows 4 gb on slot one it means what? 4 gb soldered + 4 gb in slot 1 Is it? If it is true then if I install 8 gb ram will it show total ram 12 gb? 4 gb soldered + 8 gb on slot one Pls reply
does it matter which way the ram is snapped in? I switched out a four for and eight g but I placed it the same way as the original But on your video you installed it the upside down from what I did?? Also can I keep the original 4 g and put the new 8 g in the other slot to increase to 12?
Hi.. My type laptop same as in the video, I have problem, when entering the BIOS, fan processor running so fast and sound very noisy, I think this is an abnormal issue. Any solution for this problem?
Hi Sir, I have just updated my ram to 8gb as with 4gb my system used to Operate slowly. My system used to work well before but from few months cpu utilisation was always 99 and ram was also getting used so I upgraded to 8gb. Why my system is always used 99% of the cpu. Please help me I'm really frustrated now. Tried so many things stopped window update service, background apps, bits but no luck 😭.
Hi, these work great..... www.amazon.com/Opening-Plastic-Guitar-Opener-Disassemble/dp/B075R3BHKR/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?crid=1I1Q6B3XTRMFU&keywords=triangle+spudger+pry+tool&qid=1669924093&sprefix=triangle+spud%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-5
This was really helpful but I still have questions unsolved. I bought an acer aspire 5 a514-53-30n6 and there's no hdd in it, does it matter which one I buy? Specific brand, optical size, memory size? And same for the RAM, do these criteria matter there?
I have a couple questions about the process of using this second hard drive. First, would I be able to copy everything from my original drive to this one and be able to boot off of the second drive? Also, once I have moved everything to the second drive would I be able to install another operating system like Linux on the original one and be able to boot into either of them when I turn on the laptop? I am planning on getting a 1 TB hard drive for my secondary one because windows uses much more system files than Linux does, and I wanted to use the Linux drive more for programming and the windows one for gaming. If you happen to come across this comment and can help, thanks!
Cadillac Computer Center thanks! A couple more things, would I need to format the new drive or will it already be in the correct format to boot off of? Also, is there any special utility I would need to copy my old drive’s content to the new one or is it just as simple as copying and pasting the root of the C drive to the new one?
@@NoobMaster-vk1mr Hello, i have another that may help you. You cannot copy and paste. here is my link.....ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vq2d_TXs7v0.html
I have the 8 gb RAM model of this one. I wanted to know if the RAM is expandable, as in some places, it is written it is soldered on to the motherboard. My model: A515-51G-51J7
Hi. Thanks for watching. Your model comes with 4gb DDR4 on board, and one expansion slot containing a 4gb module. You can upgrade that with an 8gb module or a 16gb module. Total up to 20gb of ddr4 2133 ram. Dale
I have an old SSD drive chock full of data that was the Windows 10 drive from a Dell laptop. I spilled coffee on the Dell, it's out for repair. Can I install the old Dell SDD into my new Acer Inspire 5 and get the Acer to read the files? I do NOT want to lose files on the old SSD.
i have a noob question bout installing an ssd/hdd. I had an old hdd from my old laptop, is it ok to use it as my extra storage or should I get a new one? Thx!!
Hi. Honestly, I would use a new one. Traditional 2.5 HDD are very inexpensive. Your old one will work, if you can't get a new one. You can even put a 2.5 inch ssd drive in there as well . Thanks, Dale.
@@CadillacComputerCenter thanks! do I need to install or delete something from my old hdd to start it as a new hdd? sorry im so new to this kind of stuff. thx!
May I ask po if the onboard ram can be upgraded. I would like to buy acer aspire 5 but it only have ssd with no hdd. Is it possible to install hard drive? Thank you!
Hi. You cannot change the on board ram in this model. Can only use the expansion slot or slots. You can add a 2.5 inch hdd or 2.5 inch sata ssd in this model.
Thanks CCC, great video! However I wonder hoy do you change the m.2 ssd in terms of renewing the Windows 10 License? So noob here :) Thanks for the reply guys.
Hi, thanks for the video, do you happen to know the model a515-55g-57h8? I bought an 8gb ram to upgrade it to 12g ram but although in the Task Manager it stating only 1 of 2 slots is being used I see only 1 slot (like in your video), which means there is only 1 external slot... so where is the other slot ? and you happen to know if its true that only kingstone ram is comptiable I read it in a few places... but I dont understand the basic sense..thank you
Hi. The on board ram is always considered a slot. Timetec, corsair, adata are all compatible, among others. As you can see in the video, I did not use Kingston ram. Thx.
@@CadillacComputerCenter Thank you for the quick answer, however I see only 1 slot like in your video and its with 8gb already, means that the onboard ram is empty.. is that possible? thank you
@@CadillacComputerCenter yes, like i wrote it says that only ome slot is occupied but when i opened it, it had only one slot and it was occupied.. So i found it hard to believe it has another internal empty slot..
Well geez. It has one slot then. Is it a 4gb or 8gb stick in the one slot? Not all models have on board ram. Here is a video I did of a model more similar to yours....ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BAWGzqQ5AOk.html. By adding your 8 gig stick, do you end up with 12 gb of ram?
