Acer Aspire One Disassembly. Upgrade SSD, RAM, Wi-Fi 802.11n 

Thanks for the compliment. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm a huge fan of Crucial Memory and SSDs!

i watched the entire 15 minutes without pausing. had a meditative touch to it, I really liked it a lot. thanks for sharing this with the world

Thanks for your appreciation!

I absolutely love it. I use it every day!

Super cool! I like it!!

Various sources. I got the WiFi card and new CPU fan from eBay. Good places for SSD's and RAM are Amazon and Newegg. Happy Upgrading!

yes, as one of the basic drawbacks of such a compact pc, total disassembly is a must. you may want to consider cooling modifications too while you are in there, like installing an improvised heat sink or even using chipset mini heat sinks. i absolutely suggest the re-application of a better heat compound at very least, along with cleaning your fan with an air duster. i would also think about adding a better wifi card and maybe even a touch screen kit from ebay. best of luck!

Also, this video was made two years ago- SSD prices have come way down! With a netbook you don't need much, so a 128GB is a little over $100 now. Great video; I did not know that you could upgrade the wireless card also! Too bad the proc is soldered in or a newer intel unit could be installed, also :)

Thanks Man. I think you're the only one who's noticed :-)!

Absolutely. It works great!

The mat I'm working on is grounded to the same true earth ground as my body with a separate copper wire. This ensures I won't shock the components when handling between my body and the mat. I agree that ideally the netbook chassis should be grounded as well..

I have the same model and upgraded mine about the same time as yours. upgraded the memory to a 1GB Sodimm chip and put in a 500GB hard drive. cute little machine and now, it even runs windows 10 Pro. so, the final specs are: 1.5GB Memory, 500GB HD processor speed is 1.6Ghz. really nice little machine....

It's an anti-static wrist strap that I have connected to my main water line to ground me. That ensures that no static electricity can build up in my body that could shock the components and damage them during handling. Please refer to the Wikipedia article on "Antistatic wrist strap" for more information.

I replaced the wireless card to get 802.11n functionality. The AOA150 takes a mini PCI-E card, and most that have bluetooth will be half-size mini PCI-E.

excelent brother

It's an antistatic wrist strap, or ground bracelet used to safely ground my body. This prevents me from building up any static electricity which can result in electrostatic discharge (ESD). I don't want to static shock the components.

Thanks for a great video. Is the wireless card PCIE half-mini or regular mini?

Hahahahaaaaaaaa!! witty speed up!! Good Work man!! I appreciate ur job. But only one comment: u don't need to use permanently the anti-static wrist strap!!!! whenever u're going to handle an off-device, it's enough that u touch once something grounded like a wall, nothing else!!! use it permanently as long as the device is plugged to an electric outlet only. Greetings from Peru.

can you record video about upgrading processor?

Hey, thank you for your video. What kind of processor fan did you use? Could you post a link where you got it please?

Two of the three, small release tabs that hold the keyboard in place either got stuck inside the holes or they broke inside there. Am I able to access that area to repair or push them back through?

I did and do (running Linux). It can happily run Linux Mint 13, Debian 6, Fedora 18, Ubuntu 12.04. Currently I am running Fedora 18 on it. It can run only 32bit operating systems.

Thanks ;-)!!!

Nice video. Why did you replace the wireless card? Is there any noticable difference in performance? And has anyone got an internal wireless bluetooth card to work? It would be nice to have it as opposed to the dongle I currently use.

One more thing what are the advantages of substituting your hdd with a ssd in YOUR experience, what are the benefits?

can you show some benchmark results or make a 50mb rar compress and decompress to see how well does the ssd improves the overall data flow? i have the same zg5 with a 500gb 7200 rpm momentus XT, but i m considering seriously to change the hdd to the one you used.

The KAV10 takes a standard 2.5" SSD, so yes you can. I'd make an upgrade video for you if I had one.

do you like the net book now that you have done upgrades?

Did your wifi card "N" work? Great video. Thanks! Lisa

I wonder if it is possible to remove the built in ram and solder on another 1b ram chip. That would be cool.

Just curious, how did the fan upgrade work? I have two AOA150 machines and they both run the fan at all times (and have done so from the start) unless i install a utility to control the fan, and it drives me nuts!

Great video !! Though for me an upgrade to 2GB RAM So-DIMM 800Mhz PC6400 would be ideal.

hi.. whitch of this mods can will be possible on acer aspire one model AO751H ?

Where did you get your parts from? I'm gonna be upgrading my aspire one soon.

i have an acer aspire one kav 10 netbook can i build an ssd into this model? or only newer models? thank you

When you been upgrating the PCIe mini Wi-Fi Card to 802.11n standard and not connect the 3th antenna, will that have impact on not receiving signal in full "n" straight and speed? Regards lucas

My mistake AsRoma. I didn't intentionally mark your question as spam. I just un-flagged it. I believe the SATA controller on the system board is only 3Gbps (SATA II), so you won't be getting the full advantage of the 6Gbps that the Samsung 830 offers (SATA III.) It's still a nice, reliable SSD which should operate just fine at 3Gbps. As far as the half height card, I'm not sure. Please let me know if you're able to get it to work. I would like having the BT capability as well.

I haven't been able to find an SODIMM in 1.5GB capacity. I've checked Newegg, Amazon, etc.

Nice Tutorial! I have an AOA110-1564. I have changed the battery by one with 12 cells, that I recommend. I am looking for a memory, but I dont know if a "1GB 2Rx16" or a "1GB 2Rx8" will be compatible (128m64 or 64x64). What are you using? Some sites said that the AOA110-1626 accept 2.5GB (512MB onboard + 2GB offboard). Maybe the others AOA110 (and AOA150) can accept 2.5GB: google search by memory+upgrade+Aspire+AOA+110+2GB Thanks.

First of- Great Work! I've recieved such netbook from a friend. It's too slow for him so he just gave up on it. I've managed to install WIN XP on it- seems generally slow,&another "test" it "failed": playing 1080p vid I threw on it [using VLC]. It's specs are the 8GB Flash ssd \wtever it is, and 512MB RAM Qs: -Should I just quit on hoping and switch to linux puppy [for example]? I tried it 1st and it's faster! -Is it worth taking out the SSD and use it for my PC somehow? or it's too crappy :) TY

@blueovalfan23 Absolutely. I bought the netbook on Craigslist for $100. I probably put another $200 into the SSD, wireless NIC, extended battery, RAM, and processor fan. I'm pretty happy with it.

256GB will work fine. Were you able to get the machine open to do the SSD upgrade? How did everything turn out?

Nice video mate, could u recommend any parts for doing this upgrade now ? Or should I use the same, u did ?

i just got one of those and it's not bad for what it is. i bet the guy paid more for the ssd than i did for the machine lol.

Damn! I thought all these ZG5 models have some sort of SSD bulit in & not just a NAND module :| I don't plan on watchin HD movies on it- it was more of a power test to the netbook! Is there anything to do in order to speed it's general performance, without upgrading hardware? [I do have a spare DDR2 1/2GB ram module, but I dunow if I'm ready to tear apart the netbook to pieces for it... & it's only 1/2 GB. Do you think I should just go with a linux version- performance wise? Thanx again mate!

hi,this model Acer Aspire One zg5 has dvd-writter?

how much faster is wifi with 802.11n

does this work with all the Zg5 AOA 150 models

I don't think there's any way to upgrade the CPU. Usually that would require a new motherboard as well. If you figure it out, please let me know!

The unit has 512MB soldered to the motherboard, and an SODIMM slot that will accept up to a 1GB module. The system recognizes the full 1.5GB.

Speed - SSD's are at least twice as fast as standard SATA HDD's. Power - SSD's use a third of the power for longer battery life. SSD's have no moving parts so they're cool, quiet, more durable and more reliable. What an awesome choice for a netbook or ultrabook!

How much ram did you put in there? I thought I read that 1gb was all our aspire one's could recognize?

Is their any way to upgrade the graphics card

Is it possible to upgrade the wireless card to the Intel Centrino advance n 6235 even if it is a half mini card form factor using a half mini to full card adapter? It would be useful because of the bluetooth on it And what do you think about Samsung SSD MZ-7PC064B/WW (830 series)? Actually I would choose it because it's one of the cheapest sata 6 gb/s.

what is that your hand is connected to.

i dont know whats my model, but mine has 160gb hdd and 1gb ram. what can i upgrade it on? please advise

Hey TechnoMack what do you think about that: "Is it possible to upgrade the wireless card to the Intel Centrino advance n 6235 even if it is a half mini card form factor using a half mini to full card adapter? It would be useful because of the bluetooth on it And what do you think about Samsung SSD MZ-7PC064B/WW (830 series)? Actually I would choose it because it's one of the cheapest sata 6 gb/s." I haven't heard nothing from you yet.. Thanks!

It looks like you got the version that came with a 8GB NAND flash module instead of a standard SATA hard disk. You'll probably have to replace it with another NAND module.

i have a acer aspire one d250 that has a 2 gb ram in it and it just fine . but my batt light flashes still even thoue i replacement the jack do u know y

The unit has 512MB soldered to the motherboard, and an SODIMM slot that will accept up to a 1GB module. So the system will recognize a maximum of 1.5GB.

please only speed up the non crucial parts, and add some soothing music in the background, real impressive video though

So I did the upgrade for wifi, but it isn't showing up on my computer it has windows xp,

Hello, I desperately need some help. I'm trying to dismantle mine so I can swap the WiFi card. I've got as far as removing the under shell (the silver metal. I have three of the four corners lifted and free, but the bottom left is totally impossible to lift. It's as if its glued. I have been practically bending the plastic chassis to try and free it but it's like it's being held on by the left mouse button (which continues to press). I bought this off eBay, could it have been glued realistically

Had the exact same model and there is no 2.5 inch harddrive, soo gotta stick with an 8gb harddrive.

If the video is too long cut it in multiple 15 mins parts(use movica it free and unlimited), always go for more details and best quality since it's a technical video.

I just needed 2,5 sata And i've got it

The ZG5 does not have an optical drive at all. I use an external DVD-Rom to install new operating systems on it.

Your specific model has an 8GB NAND Module that cannot be upgraded to an SSD. I don't think that NAND module has a standard SATA connector, so it will not work in your PC. Because of CPU/GPU limitations, you're not going to be able to get 1080p to play. I use GMABooster for the GMA 900 GPU chipset to get faster and smoother video, but still not much over 360p.

Although much more expensive, an SSD is your best bet. The good news is, they're about half of the price they were a year ago. If your system needs more RAM, it will automatically use part of the hard drive as RAM anyway.

I doubt it. The video subsystem is very limited.

It's WAY faster. I've upgraded to SSD's in four of my computers, and the upgrade is worth every penny.

help me out please i have a acer aspire one zg5 160 gig and 0.98 ram and i want to upgrade it to 1.5 gig of ram those this work a samsung 1Gb memory for Acer Aspire one ZG5 Laptop.(PC2-5300S,8 chips, 200pin) will work ? yes or no please answer asap

Its posible put him 2GB RAM???

According to Acer, the AOA150's RAM slot will only accept either a 512MB or a 1GB soDIMM module. That module, paired with the 512MB that is soldered onto the motherboard, leaves you with either 1GB, or 1.5GB of RAM total. Please let me know if you find a way to get more RAM recognized by the system.

can put i3 processor in my aspire one d255e.....

all i gotta say is wow on the antistatic wrist bands. static shock dont really happen like that anymore

@generalchb I had to speed the boring parts up so I could get the video under RU-vid's 15 minute limit.

So how can i make my computer play source system game

The light is on so I can see what I'm doing.

I purchased it on eBay for around ten bucks. Just do an eBay search for AOA150 fan. RU-vid doesn't allow me to post links in comments.

can it play left 4 dead

I think the bottleneck with the system now is the CPU. Windows Updates take a long time because the installation packages need to be decompressed before they're installed. I'm pretty happy with the speed of my SSD, although initial start-up time could be better.

Static is all about difference of charges. If you tie to true earth ground it isn't helping unless the netbook chassis is tied to it as well. The idea is to equalize your charge with the frame of the computer. In other words, that "thingy attached to your wrist" isn't helping. thumbs up if you agree.

There is no way to change the actual graphics card because it's integrated into the motherboard. You can, however, significantly boost its performance using GMABooster. I will post a "how to" video with details soon. In the meantime, just search for GMABooster to get started.

and is AOA 160

That's terrible! Hopefully you didn't miss a screw somewhere. You didn't crack it, did you?

I just loaded Windows 8 and posted a new video. Check out how fast it is!

Support 2gb RAM? y model the ram please!

Why add an other SSD drive if you could have added a normal SATA hard drive with more capacity I know SSD drives are supposed to be better but its way to little space

one more time

hey like THERES A LIGHT ON.. WHY IS THERE A LIGHT ON?!?!?!?

No. All of that to upgrade to 802.11n Wi-Fi, new processor fan, RAM, and SSD hard disk.

The CPU would overheat very quickly. Hopefully the netbook would shut itself down before frying your chip. So at best your machine won't stay booted for long, and at worst it will toast the processor. Don't kill the netbook JogBird!

Are u alive can u reply to the comments

@ntwede or just get a 1.5 gb ram stick

very hot

Makes open heart surgery look easy :)

carefully man and do it slowly because i can not see what are you doing there!

hello

you really work too speedy !