Laptop Retrospective- Acer Aspire One (AOA150) (Teardown, upgrade and Linux Install)

In this video, we talk about the Acer Aspire One (AOA150), discuss my experience with it and what I liked about it. Then we proceed to take it apart and update it to breath new life into this old machine. Lots of discussion included.
Linux Stickers from:
unixstickers.refr.cc/FRCJXGR

[@sou.masquemnaoe5511]

Really incredible, the little netbook was reborn from the ashes like the Phoenix. Great work.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Thanks!

[@Dawson600]

Thanks for the time and the vídeo, i'v owed one AOA150 from my cousin, i love this Net, i have win7 lite on it now and it's excellent for my basic needs, the next up is an SSD and a 1Gb RAM for 1.5Gb, the windows version made a big fifference on this pc, i will make an image of actual instalation and wil clone it to SSD further. Thanks again for all for the good information.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

My pleasure. These machines get a bad reputation but I really enjoyed mine.

[@SyzygyKNH]

Just installed a SSD and threw some new paste on since I had it apart. Very clean video. Thanks!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Glad it was helpful!

[@indiananupam5715]

Bro I love ur videos....happy holidays..Marry Christmas 2u🎄

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Thanks!

[@dubrovink66]

Excellent video. Helped me to finally have the guts to open my beloved AOA150/ZG5 running Win7. Upgraded the RAM from 512 to 1024; now totals 1536 MB. Replaced the 160 GB HDD with a 128 GB SSD; the PCB only. This SSD-PCB is only a few cm's so the whole SSD case and frame are no longer part of this netbook; making it even lighter. I preinstalled 32 bit Linux MX 21.3 on this SSD with another pc. The AOA150 BIOS picked it up in once at first startup! Blazing fast OS, blazing fast startup. Two remarks: I managed to do this without detaching the weird screen connector and without detaching the auxilary board connector. Also the small plastic hatch with 2 screw was left in place. Still in love 😍with this (now improved) travelling mini laptop!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Glad yours got some new life!

[@ryanmalinowski7529]

Here I am in 2023, similar situation with my Acer netbook. I used it for college classes and study halls in the mid to late 2000s for typing notes and doing papers on with excel and word. I was even able to play games on it, like Guild Wars, with ease Still have it, installed Linux mint 19.3 mate and works great! I installed a SSD and can watch KZbin videos in 360p. I'll occasionally take it to the office and use it still for note taking, similar to a tablet these days. I have the biggest battery and it'll last for 9ish hours. It's great to see that I'm not the only one who loves this netbook for what it is.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I hear you Ryan. I know they have gained this negative reputation after their release but they met a need that people that weren't around during that time struggle to understand. Having all day battery life on a device that ran a full version of Windows was game changing.

[@INeverWanted2010]

Where'd you find a battery replacement? My searches always point to sketchy sites, lol.

[@ryanmalinowski7529]

@@INeverWanted2010 I found mine on eBay. There's a 6-cell and a 9-cell. Aftermarket batteries these days are always going to come from China, but I have both the 6-cell and 9-cell.

[@ryanmalinowski7529]

@@LaptopRetrospective The nice thing about this netbook is with Linux mint, it connects to my printers with ease without needing drivers or anything. And if I ever feel nostalgic to use Windows XP, I can always switch hard drives. 👍

[@sheek1982]

Thank you sir, you helped me disassemble my Acer Aspire One AOA101 which i haven't used in years, but when i finally turned it on would shut down within seconds. I just wanted to pull the SSD before throwing it away.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Glad the video helped.

[@laser31415]

In 2020 I still got my Aspire One AOA150. Just bought a new battery for it. I got Linux Lite running on it. It's connected to my ham radio for digital communications. I still love this machine.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Awesome! Glad to hear it is still getting some use..

[@rayhanrizvi334]

I just revived mine from the dead it’s hard to believe that it works still

[@chrxsfn]

watching this video because I found one of these in my storage, can't wait to start tampering with it

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Awesome. I hope you have fun with it.

[@chrxsfn]

@@LaptopRetrospective I plan on it!

[@LBSiUK]

I bought one of these about 2 months ago with the intention of using on the school bus. After upgrading the RAM from 512MB to the maximum of 1.5GB, ripping out the 120GB HDD and replacing it with a 60GB SSD and replacing the battery it works well with Windows 7 Starter. This video was also the one I used to disassemble this netbook so thanks for uploading this video.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

That's awesome. I'm glad I was able to help!

[@raquelitodiaz8501]

I useD.ths also with windows. starter. I turn ofF all checkbox in performance and it bEcAme faster and usaBle...

[@rayhanrizvi334]

Huh I had mine for 15 years older than me lmfao

[@CockroachMunchingKrabbyPatty]

@@rayhanrizvi334 But this netbook came out in 2008 lmao

[@johnstancliff7328]

very nice video! I upgraded mine years ago and love it still... having 1.5GB memory and a 1.5 Ghz processor is so slow today, but still useful. I put Linux Peppermint on mine, basically, this is just used for little projects and as a media player with the audio... (MP3 files) on mine I went with a 500GB hard drive.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yeah one got donated to the channel and had Peppermint on it.

[@TonyHoldenEsquire]

I just found my Toshiba NB200 Netbook in a cupboard, I'm going to do a similar upgrade and update. It was first used in 2009, last used 1st Feb 2013. It came with Windows 7 Starter, but I've already trialled it with Mint, it works well with 1Gb of ram and a 160Gb HDD. But, I'm going to put a 2Gb stick of ram in as they did sell some models with 2Gb originally, so it should use it all, and I have a 120 SSD on order. It's good to see such a comprehensive video, makes me feel more confident.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Awesome project Tony. Best of luck.

[@markjohnlado2720]

NICE VIDEO... I have also my AOA150, WITH 1GB RAM running win7 32bit. Works fine!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

They are fun little units.

[@baddabeer4862]

Just found mine in storage. Pulled it out and looked at my old notes from school and my music on it. I loved typing in this thing.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I really appreciated mine at the time.

[@dwlw668]

Picked mine up a Flee Market for $5. Ram was maxed out. Surplus New Battery, $5. Used 128GB SSD $10 Installed Android X86, Google Office Apps, RetroArch for classic games. (USB, KB/Voice Typing, Cam, & my Game Pad All Working)

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Nice find!

[@stereociety]

I should feel nostalgic about this video, but here I am, still using 2 AOA150s in 2020 for various tasks. Not my main machines, but still heavily used for light programming tasks. Love em :)

[@LaptopRetrospective]

They don't get the credit they deserve. This was before Chromebooks.

[@stereociety]

@@LaptopRetrospective fully agree. Concept-wise they are also much more sustainable than these modern x5-equipped tablets/convertibles that use eMMC that wears out fast and can't be upgraded at all. These end up as junk faster than you can blink. Too bad the netbook concept was dropped in favour of this modern junk.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I'm just glad I owned one when I did.

[@bushed2743]

Love the rich blue color of mine. It has the SATA 160GB drive and I upgraded the RAM from the factory 1.0 GB to 1.5 GB. Running Linux Mint 19.1 xfce which installed from a usb thumb drive and worked from minute 1 without a single glitch. It's not going to break any speed benchmarks but it's plenty fast enough for my purposes.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Very nice upgrade choices. Agreed it won't win a speed contest but it is still pretty good.

[@CaptainSeamus]

Here I am in late Sept 2020 watching this video on my AOA150 ZG5 that I just installed Win10 back onto. I used this thing from new in Dec 2008 for work for a year as an ADA surveyor, and for another 3 years as a tech service rep. I bought a newer laptop in 2012 - but I used both of them through going back to school. Love this little machine.... the keyboard is small, but a little bit of typing on it and I got back to where I was in 2009 - entering several thousand words per day. I'm gonna go back to daily driving it, even though it's a little light - I've got my desktop at work, but I can double or triple boot it and GTG. The only trick on this is on Win10 is the Atheros driver for the wireless. Great little machine.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

That's awesome. Mine got me through my last years of university without issue.

[@LilCurlyBlonde]

Hey, what Windows 10 version did you install on it ? Was it the regular Microsoft one or a custom lite version ? I gave it a go and installed both a Win10 official and unofficial build with less bloatware, I think it's still running off the original HDD so no SSD installed, but on heavier tasks such as browsing thru Mozilla Firefox, if I dare open a youtube video , the screen will just go black and the only option I have is to reset it via the on/off button. It does show to have 1.5GB of ram and from what I understand that's the max that this processor supports so I'm not sure what to do here as WinXP doesn't have any supported browsers nowdays and I have no clue which version this came shipped out of the factory.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Run Linux on it. Best option you have for something like this.

[@LilCurlyBlonde]

@@LaptopRetrospective Never ran Linux before in my life, is it at least similar to Windows when it comes to interface?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

You'll find Mint to be pretty close. It might be new to you but it's realistically the only way to even attempt to use these today.

[@51diogenes]

I enjoy reading everyone's comments and questions, and wish you good luck in keeping these gems alive. I posted a tip somewhere on the web a few years Re not losing screws. It might be still searchable. I'll just describe it briefly. Snap a picture of EACH surface of your laptop with a phone AS you encounter it before you remove the screws. Send the pic to a printer and print life size. Glue-stick the images to foam core board cut to size for each image. Now as you remove screws punch a tiny hole in the image where you just removed each, and insert screws as you remove them and secure them with a piece of scotch tape. It's not as much work as it seems, because you'll only need about four sheets. Identify each image because you may need them again if you are hardcore like me. It's reusable, storable and cheap (Dollar Tree). Trust me , it's a life saver.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Very cool idea!

[@rayhanrizvi334]

This was “my” first computer cause really it was also my mums first one but in late 09 I got it as a first computer when I was 3. I remember begging my dad to play some flash games on it for literally my whole childhood. I swear if this was released today it would be a hit. I honestly can’t believe that it’s older than me

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yeah they were really cool. I certainly appreciated mine when I had it.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

You will like a video I have coming up.

[@rayhanrizvi334]

@Laptop Retrospective rip mine still works after 16 years goes to show how well made these things are

[@queennchronicales7815]

Yes,i Romberg that’s ithe reason I bought mine. Unfortunately my son did something to it three months after I brought it. Nobody wanted to help refurbish it. All of the computer guys said it’s not worth fixing. I have had this computer in a drawer every sense 2008. I would pull it every now and then and change it a then put it back in the drawer until tonight. I have officially decided to upgrade it myself. I have picked up some tools. Only thing is I am out of my comfort zone. Any help you have and can assist me with I would be forever grateful. Bless you for this well done video. I am so happy to know other people feel the way I do about this computer being one Acre’s best secret.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

What was the original problem?

[@queennchronicales7815]

My son change the settings on it and it was in Chinese. I managed to get back American but the software was running in a different settings so I could not use it. Then the battery stop holding a charge.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

The battery is well documented to sometimes do that. If you Google the issue, you should find that there are BIOS and firmware updates that can fix it. If it isn't actually worn out.

[@patriciamonteromorales304]

I have of those running multiple servers on linux working pretty well but stuff like browsing are not a good idea so i do most of cli work. Does your upgrades make compatible for browsing what about youtube?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Not a power house but usable.

[@felixautomaton5314]

This inspires me to put 32 bit MX Linux on a USB stick and give mine a test boot.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Sounds like an awesome plan to me.

[@51diogenes]

Like Arnold... I'm back! I remembered a couple of really important tips I wanted to pass on. 1) For user of the AOA150 model with XP & EIDE HDD you may have one which for whatever reason was given to Black Screen Of Death. What was happening was that one day you go to turn your computer and nothing happens, not a random shut down but random inability to start. It turns out this is a BIOS issue of unknown cause. However the fix is easy! Go to Lowenguru's KZbin page and look for the video Rr: BSOD. You'll find instructions on how to prepare a thumbdrive with the BIOS reflash software (really easy) and instructions. Print out the ""How to Use" instructions in small print and Label this thumb drive by taping it to the thumb drive because if your unit has the BSOD problem you'll need this thumb drive again. 2) Some the netbooks from this period were also made available with Windows 7. So it stands to reason that you should be able to upgrade your XP unit to Win7. The very first thing you must do is consult your manual already installed on your XP machine and follow the instructions on how to burn the two optical discs necessary to reinstall the "factory system installation." If you want a reversible process to try Windows 7 it's best to have a second HDD to install Win 7 onto. Used reliable HDD disc are cheap and plenty, but obviously it must be the same type as the original whether EIDE or SATA. You'll want to wipe the new disc and format it. IMPORTANT: Windows 7 setup and installation discs never contained the routine to map-out any defective sectors of the hard disc before installing the system!!! The manufacturers and Microsoft just assumed NEW discs come preformatted, but not if you reformat from a machine which already has Win7. The solution is simple. Before doing anything to the XP equipped machine, use the XP machine to Format your new disc because it will map out any bad hardware sectors! Now you can take the XP HDD out and install the new HDD, and start the Win7 installation from an external CD/DVD optical drive. This installation will be free of random glitches cased by bad sectors. A couple of things you could do is to buy two USB micro HDD external cases (very cheap). Mount your old and new in separate cases. Go into the BIOS and set the default startup to be USB HDD as external drive. You'll have shut down to swap systems but you'll get a chance to compare and see the performances. This can also be useful if you have softaware which is system specific on one or the other system.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Thanks for the additional info!

[@aldrind.gonzales6472]

The cooling fan of my neetbook in not working what should I do sir can you help me..

[@BimboMousey]

I still have my white version of this. picked it up when going to school

[@LaptopRetrospective]

They were handy at the time. I really appreciated mine.

[@thebusinessfirm9862]

Hi mate, nice video. I have the exact same computer (in brown colour) and just put on Puppy Linux and it works really well. Using Light browser it even plays 720p 60 videos on KZbin. I love how small it is. I might try and put Lubuntu on it to try and make it feel more substantive. What did you do with your battery? Mine is all but dead. Cheers.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Shortly after buying it new I went to eBay and got that huge battery. Not sure if they still have them for sale out there.

[@naranjo.dennis]

Nice ideas to revamp this old laptop my wife gave me as a gift a lot of years ago... I'm wondering.. from a previous post, you said there are some BIOS updates available to help improve battery life... Do you remember where? I've googling it without so much luck... I was convinced the battery is almost dead, even though it keeps retaining charge!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Here's the driver support page from Acer: www.acer.com/ac/en/ID/content/support-product/61;-; It lists one update here. Unfortunately Acer has deleted the majority of its support articles and bulletins it once had on the unit, but someone has listed some steps here: www.flyertalk.com/forum/16654292-post37.html Hope that helps.

[@jameshorn7830]

Two suggestions after watching this... The fan had quite a bit of dust in it. You should've blown it out with canned air, or if you have an air compressor, use the air nozzle attachment. If you go the second route, you must insert a small screwdriver into the fan blades to keep it from spinning, or the compressed air can spin it too fast, possibly ruining it. The second thing is, with the unit being 10 years old, you should have replaced the battery cell, probably a 2032 and easy to pop out. Why take a chance when they're cheap? Another thing I do is take a fine point black marker and draw an arrow pointing to each of the screw holes as I go along to make a future repair job easier... Enjoyed the video.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@frankhorvath817]

FYI: The CMOS battery is NOT a 2032. The actual battery is a SANYO ML1220 3v MN-O2-Li (Manganese dioxide Lithium) rechargeable, pill format about the size of a very thick dime, and sits in a pop-in plastic holder. Caution buying these because the 1220 designation is used for both expendables and rechargeable. The ML1220 rechargeable has the prefix "ML" and the word "rechargeable" stamped into the can. SANYO has an ink stamped two digit year code on the can, so you'll know if they are fresh. Life expectancy 12 yrs+. Typical cost $4.50 to $7.50.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Interesting! Thanks for the additional information.

[@LilCurlyBlonde]

I have one of these and my question is, how would we get a modern operating system to work on it , given that the Linux Mint ended support for the 32 bit. I tried Tiny11 on it, it runs, but very slow, didn't do much with it apart from booting it up to see if it works but at this point, I'm willing to try android or other optimized windows version for it to keep it alive since I love it's form factor & design.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

The 1.5GB of RAM bottlenecks it badly. Unofficial XP support packs or some variant of ReactOS would be on my list to try.

[@KallouWhatElse]

I have the same one in my storage but when i start it up: nothing happens. Just fan and lights are on. Screen stays black. Do you think it'll boot with another hdd or something else is "broken" ? Thanks for your help if you have time to answer me 🙂

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Plug in an external display if you have one and see if the screen is bad or if it is booting at all.

[@berserker0555]

If Acer or someone else were to provide an updated motherboard that would fit into this model, I would definitely buy it for myself. This ZG5 was the most portable thing you could buy before the arrival of tablets, but with PC software. The size of a book, the only thing I always hated was the processor, the noisy fan and how hot it got

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I loved the form factor. It saved my butt in crowded university lecture halls.

[@rayhanrizvi334]

This was my mums first and my 1st pc so nostalgic I hope it runs 4 ever

[@3niknicholson]

noisy fan? acerhdf works.

[@berserker0555]

@@3niknicholson Or blow the dust and put some grease on it

[@stefanobonaiuti8243]

I've got an old acer aspire one d255e, Intel atom N455 (1.66gHz) upgraded with 2gb ram + 128gb ssd. I've installed linux antix and now I can more or less use it, but i still slow; online surfing is no go. I've thought about cleaning the termic paste (even tho is not runnig hot at all), and overclocking the cpu, just for the sake of trying. Do you have ideas or tips I can try on my machine?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Sorry, my overclocking experience is pretty limited.

[@uni-byte]

I still have one in 2021. I still run XP on it. It is my printer and scanner server. That said, my scanner just died. What are the chances I can find a new scanner that will run on XP???

[@LaptopRetrospective]

It's funny you say that. A year ago I found a scanner in a box that only would run in XP. Said so right in the box and it was totally right.

[@ImCannibalOfficial]

Those keyboard tabs at the top are much easier to pop out from the back side in the battery bay. All you need is a fingernail to move them out of the way.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Thanks for the tip.

[@joerope5502]

Nice video. I keep thing about if I want to put a SSD into mine. The battery on my is dead. Mine came with 1 gb RAM, and a 160 HDD. I currently has Windows 10 on it... runs very slow. I would like to see you run Crystal Disk Mark on the SSD. Also HWMonitor will give you alot more temps and such then Psensor. CPU-Z also offers a lot of good info on computer specs. Thanks for the tear down video.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Sadly this computer left shortly after the filming took place so I can't get the data you desire. Sorry about that.

[@51diogenes]

This reply is obviously late, but it might help others. Some of the earlier releases of this model had EIDE hard drives, but Acer switched to SATA drives soon after. I may be mistaken, so if you know better let me know, the only physically compatible connector for the earlier machines is on a Compact Flash, and they would be astronomically expensive in a capacity to be of any use in a laptop, although some the earlier netbooks were available with solid state drives but with very small capacity. It was assumed you would always use an external drive for all but System. Once they changed to SATA drives, the upgrade to solid state was pretty straight forward. These days 100 to 160 GB solid state drives are pretty cheap. Most importantly, they boot faster and they are shock proof! One more thing. If your computer has an 8GB Zif SSD, then you are stuck because I don't think the HD interface is compatible with anything else. I hope I'm wrong.

[@rjdominique]

Twice I tried to leave a long comment and twice your video changed to an ad starting up and it refreshed my screen and everything I typed went away before I could finish so I will make it short this time. Without any hardware mods and Linux Mint 19.3, I measured 99 seconds from the end of the bios screen to the appearance of the wallpaper. This compares to your 30 second measurement including the hardware mods.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Sorry about that, KZbin can be weird sometimes. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. So your stock configuration took 99 seconds? That mechanical hard drive vs SSD makes a difference.

[@Lisse...]

The screws on mine are a bit damaged, any tips on how I can get them out?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

If you mean stripped then there are special bits you can buy to remove stripped screws. Depending on the damage you can sometimes use a small torx to bite into what's there.

[@vastvind5722]

Nice video, thanks! Do you know if its possible to overclock this one?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Don't think you can do that to an Atom.

[@zainabmodassir6163]

i opened it fix the charging port and assemble back the lap top , but my mousepad and key pad stopped working i fix the ports multiple times but still it is not working, when i use the mouse and put the wire in USB port then mouse start workinh. but still keypad and mouse pad are not working at all , please advise

[@LaptopRetrospective]

It's been years since I've opened this, but I'd check your cable if possible. Realistically you are probably better off replacing the whole part if you are able.

[@51diogenes]

If you mean the 'touch pad' when you say "mouse pad" is not working, it might be a simple thing: The touch pad may be toggled off. Look at the function F keys at the top of the keyboard. It's icon is the finger of a hand touching a blue rectangle. I think it it is F7 which toggles the touch pad ON and OFF. Whichever position it was in stays that way even after restarting. So start your machine and if the touch pad is still not working, hold down the Fn key at bottom left of the keyboard and hit F7 once. It should turn it back on. Good luck!

[@TheRetroGamingKid]

Got one of these given to me from a friend for free recently. Got a new battery and SD card for it and it works well. However it likes to crash and give me a black screen when the power supply is not plugged in. Not sure why it does this.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Strange indeed.

[@ImmortalBurdensOfficialSite]

Can you leave the wireless card out of it if you dont want it to comunicate with anything wirelessly

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yes you could.

[@mariomendoza5061]

¿Era necesario que rayes la carcasa?

[@jasonchapin5425]

I found one of these little gems at a thrift store for $5 but looking for any advice on troubleshooting it. I bought a power adapter for it on eBay because I wasn't sure if the battery was the issue. Even booting with the AC adapter, it does the same thing as booting from the battery. The power LED comes on, the fan comes on, both are on for about 1 second then everything shuts off. I tried the BIOS restore fix, nothing changes. Any help appreciated!!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

How much RAM is installed in the RAM slot?

[@jasonchapin5425]

@@LaptopRetrospective It has a 512MB module

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Okay so not more than it should, so that's likely not the issue. It does have some RAM on board so you can try to remove it and see if it boots or acts differently. I'm not sure if a dead CMOS would cause this...

[@_LeinhDung]

Hello bro I have this laptop but my hdd of this laptop was broken. I want to find new hdd to replace but When I go to the laptop store they said that they didn't have because this laptop is too old. Can you show me the way to use this laptop again :((

[@LaptopRetrospective]

The video shows how to replace the drive. It's a standard 2.5" SATA.

[@tutomarketing]

mine is on debian 8.8 jessie xfce works gréât KZbin 480p and kodi works fine Nice review by the way 👍

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Thanks, it kinda ended up being a mix of an upgrade video, review, and history lesson. I have a few more machines sitting around but then I'm going to run dry.

[@bio--hack8813]

I have to run windows 10 so which type of ram and SSD i use???

[@LaptopRetrospective]

You're not running Windows 10 on this. Simply not enough RAM.

[@bambangcyrus4329]

Hello dude, what types of 1GB RAM your upgraded, is DDR2 or DDR3, i hope you answered...🙏🙏 thanks for the good videos content 😊

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I'm fairly certain I've answered this question somewhere in the comments before. You might find it before I do. 😂

[@FLASH24x]

This was my first laptop

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I think it was my second.

[@FreeFireGAMER-sy2cx]

My too

[@duppy7]

I've got mine in 2011, I specialy choose some of the best spec,1gb ram and 250HD,Atom n550, it has dual core and window 7 starter, I was studying and I wanted to do a bit of editing on the go however after a few months it became slow a hell...What sort of Ram can I get for it and how much max...was thinking to move it to linux as well...

[@LaptopRetrospective]

If I remember right they max out with an odd number like 1.5GB They were designed primarily for the net and light document work after all.

[@duppy7]

Yes maybe I was hoping for a bit more than that, thus I looked for the dual core and for the time, good memory but even for browsing it's been a tough job...

[@LaptopRetrospective]

@@duppy7 Yeah, these netbooks do have their limits.

[@51diogenes]

Nice video, but read on. I have this old netbook too and mine is little bit older than yours because the first issues of these AOA150s has EIDE HDs. Mine, too, looks barely used. Aside from the excellent utility for its day, I found it a perfect fit for the pocket of my Eddie Bauer fall jacket and my serious winter parka. I would take issue with your constant criticism of its age. Any device is only obsolete when it no longer performs its function acceptably or correctly. How fast do you type, or enter data into a spreadsheet or database? How fast do you read your email? Did you need it yesterday? Not caused by a slower computer! Watching videos or DVD movies on an external drive play at exactly the right speed glitch free. If you must have them faster then VLC Media Player will play them at any speed if you are in a hurry! To this day, my machine's performs bread and butter functions in MS Office Pro, video and audio editing, image and video acquisition and scanning no worse or slower than it did ten years ago, in addition to whole host newer functions as well. The level of computer speed people allude to needing today is for the processing speed and buss breadth necessary for entertainment (LEISURE) software, not necessarily work. A couple of tips: For someone doing this, or any tear down, for the first time, the biggest time waster is during re-assembly because you have lost screws or have forgotten where particular screws go. Try this: Using a smart phone take a straight-on orthographic -view picture of the first area like the back in this case. Send the pic to your other computer, crop it to eliminate everything but the back, and print it out. On the print out highlight each screw boldly, and the using just the point of a ballpoint pen punch a small hole. This not as time consuming as the description. As you remove screws from the computer immediately push them into their place on the picture. As different screw types are encountered, their place will be immediately evident. As you move to the next area repeat the above. Surprisingly, you'll only need 3 or 4 pics max for any computer. At re-assembly there will be no question about where every screw is and goes. So time is the big payoff. All laptops deserve a thorough dusting out of the fan, its housing, ducts and the louvers in the case. If you use compressed air, as I do, poke a toothpick or Q-tip stick between the blades of the fan as you blast the air to prevent the fan from free-wheeling, or you can burn out the bearings in short order. If you choose to open the fan housing to clean it, be careful with the aluminum tabs. They'll only bend two or three times max. The fan can be pulled apart, cleaned, and the bearing can be re lubricated. Use a light but tenacious bearing grease like Lubriplate white lithium grease applied with paper clip end inside the bearing. FINALLY: If you remove thermal ribbon, replace it with new ribbon of the correct thickness because a blob of Arctic Silver is not a substitute for a proper contact to the heat sink. Nevertheless, use the heat sink paste as well as the ribbon. Once again, nice job!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

51diogenes Thanks for the detailed reply. I'm always encouraged by people taking the time to flush out their thoughts. My points on its age shouldn't be taken as criticism of the capability of the device as I've mentioned in other comments here, it is still a good workhorse. It did and still does work and ticks all the boxes it needs to. Regarding the replacement of the thermal ribbon with the paste seen in the video, it was a debated choice but the temperature results showed a favourable improvement but it is good to note that it isn't always the case. Thanks so much for your throughout comment and insight. I hope to see more of your posts and feedback in the future.

[@51diogenes]

Thanks for taking the time to read my comments and to reply to them. I just want to add a bit of information regarding the thermal ribbon/tape. It's quick to apply and hold a heat sink fast until secured by screws.However, it's being used to take up a variable space in a sloppy fit situation and provide a measure of thermal transfer. The greatest thermal transfer will be when the heat sink is in intimate contact with the chip it serves with a film thermal paste between because two dry surfaces in contact are not in as intimate contact as two wetted surfaces. A thick blob of thermal paste may initially fill a space, but as it dries out with the relentless heat of the CPU it will recede from optimal contact and consequently reduce heat transfer. TO ALL READERS: HEAT is what will kill your computer! The thermal pad / tape/ ribbon is dirt cheap. For a casual user I got 4"X4", a few years' supply for me, for $2.80 post paid from NY-Top-Tek on eBay. If you want to go industrial, I've seen rolls for as cheap as $3. BTW I have other "antique" electronics which outstrip their modern counterparts in some function or other. I hope to see more videos from you. You have the knack of effective articulate communication.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

You are quite welcome, I think it is important that these discussions occur and the best information is made available, even if it isn't from me. I will openly admit that my knowledge is not the ultimate answer and I always welcome knowledgeable input from the community. I think that is critical not only for the viewers learning, but my own as well. I will make an update if the paste fails over time and produces more heat. I think on an Atom chipset that I might get lucky on this one. Thanks again for your support and for the compliment. I'll be lucky to attract more viewers such as yourself.

[@worztbeats8189]

Yours says "acer" in the corner and "aspire one" in te middle? Please answer its important.

[@marchofthelorex238]

Wow 2 years later this is the best advice ever. I repair computers and do not lose screws but this just made that part even easier. Always something new to learn when you least expect to. Just randomly watching KZbin then this.

[@chiragzala7814]

My aspire one laptop fan is not working. Despite a lot of research in India, there is no availability fan of this model. Where can I find this fan? Help me

[@LaptopRetrospective]

eBay or trying to find a parts machine to scavenge from.

[@chiragzala7814]

Thanks for info. I will try it.

[@micantropus2111]

Hello sir , can u tell me how much HDD can be installed

[@LaptopRetrospective]

As far as I know, you are just limited by the form factor but I wouldn't put a big drive in something like this.

[@christiansanden8005]

Awesome video, i will try to update my one, right now its running Windows 10 with 1.5 ram, terrible slow, i think Linux is the best solution

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yeah, Windows 10 in my mind is a bare minimum of 4GB.

[@christiansanden8005]

@@LaptopRetrospective Right, specially with a slow hardware

[@rayhanrizvi334]

I kept mine with windows xp honestly I was worried I would fry it if I updated to windows 10 I’m not risking my childhood device

[@radroofer]

Its 2020 and I'm using a aspire one. I did put Linuxmint 19.3 linux and a 360gb hard drive and 2g ram

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Nice. How's that working for you?

[@radroofer]

@@LaptopRetrospective a lot better than windows. I don't like Windows because Bill Gates made billions off from Linux that he added licenses to

[@INeverWanted2010]

Hey there, I know this video is old but how did Linux Mint end up working with this laptop? Did you have to configure it differently? I ask because I have the same netbook but every Linux distro I've tried runs very slow and poorly. It doesn't help that most distros have dropped 32-bit support. I ended up putting Windows XP back on it to make it functional at all.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

There are some very light versions of Linux out there that are somewhat usable but Mint is indeed a lot for this unit to handle.

[@INeverWanted2010]

@@LaptopRetrospective If it has the word "lightweight" in the description, I probably tried it, lol. They still were too taxing for the netbook and mine has 1GB RAM.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

@INeverWanted2010 Yeah, the most the system will recognize is 1.5GB.

[@LyubomirIko]

Your best bet is AntiX, but browsing will be terrible experience with 1 gb

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yeah, that is what really hurts these machines is the RAM cap.

[@legnds2388]

Hey I know it's been a Long time but should I install windows 10 on it?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Windows 10 probably won't install due to the memory requirements not being met.

[@wildwhippet]

My Acer Aspire One 725 with 8 gig Ram 120 SSD & Linux Mint Mate takes over a minute to boot up! Twice as long as you?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Weird.

[@Rodocruces]

hi how memory ram can be set a this laptop?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Max RAM is 1.5GB

[@quentinbush]

Mine is the ZG5 running on defunked Windows XP. There isn't a drive on or in it. Can it be upgraded in any way?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

1.5GB max RAM and an SSD. That's it.

[@quentinbush]

@@LaptopRetrospective Thank you for replying, regret no provision for an SSD, I would include a photo of the motherboard but I cannot on this channel..

[@LaptopRetrospective]

It should have room for a 2.5" SSD?

[@GiorgosAthanasakis]

I did the upgrade too. But when I put the new RAM (1GB) it gives me black screen (the netbook is working). When I put the old one everything works fine (the screen is working). Can someone help?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Wrong type of RAM it sounds like.

[@GiorgosAthanasakis]

@@LaptopRetrospective Thank you for your reply! The new RAM I install is Mushkin 991504 1GB SO-DIMM DDR2 667Mhz PC2-5300 5-5-5-15 Essentials Series.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

On paper I think that type should work but it might not be functional if it isn't booting in the laptop.

[@GiorgosAthanasakis]

@@LaptopRetrospective thank you again... I will try to reset the BIOS

[@bernardodeguchi3577]

can you tell me the brand/specification of the RAM you put ?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Ah sorry. Did it a while ago and don't have the machine anymore. Guessing you're looking for RAM specs?

[@bernardodeguchi3577]

Laptop Retrospective yes, I saw some sites showing some options but since you actually did and worked I would like to know the specs

[@LaptopRetrospective]

@@bernardodeguchi3577 community.acer.com/en/discussion/336428/can-i-replace-ram-in-aoa150-netbook gives some details that would be helpful for this model.

[@LBSiUK]

I used PC-6400 in mine and it seems to work fine.

[@benjaminsiegel4968]

Can you share a link to the ram upgrade you used

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Sorry, I don't have a link. It was "spare parts drawer" RAM.

[@benjaminsiegel4968]

@@LaptopRetrospective ok thank you

[@queennchronicales7815]

I really need a new battery. I also think need new software and upgrade everything you just upgraded. OMG . Wow. Do you know if I could updated now in 2019. What do you suggest I Up with hardware and s iOS.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Only upgrades you can do is RAM, SSD and Linux.

[@Dawson600]

Well, depending on your expertisse level you can upgrade the battery pack too, mine keep working for 30 minutes withouth charge and i will try to replace the 3 original batteryes too. Take a look. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKOnn4eOptSkoK8

[@ijulienne]

I don't know if this is still relevant, but I noticed that they are selling new batteries on eBay under $10.

[@elarhy]

I have this laptop on a shelf, it has not workerd since 2015 though

[@LaptopRetrospective]

What's wrong with it?

[@elarhy]

@@LaptopRetrospective the battery was not holding charge and then the charger died.

[@rayhanrizvi334]

There are some replacement batteries out there

[@papaluxurious2]

Hi and thanks for this video. As you said, I used this computer for muy studies at college and it was awesome because it was light and the battery last for a lot of time. I recently found it, like 10 years after that and there is something that I am very curious about it. It has a ram stick of 1Gb installed but for some reason there is only 768MB of ram available. It's super crazy. Any ideas why is that and how can I get to work the 1.5 GB? Thank you.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

The only thing I can think of is maybe the integrated graphics are set in the BIOS to use a certain amount?

[@papaluxurious2]

@@LaptopRetrospective Thank you. I just checked that and at the BIOS there is only 8MB asigned to the graphics. I don't know what or why I can't use all of the Ram and also can't find any info anywhere else. Anyway, thank you for your help.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Is it the exact same model?

[@papaluxurious2]

@@LaptopRetrospective yes it's the same, the Acer AOA150. It's weird.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Very much so!

[@rahrah5403]

My battery on my nerves don't work how can you help me

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Not sure I understand your question.

[@nikkilesley2525]

I still use my acre aspire one with the swirl on the cover. It has Windows 10.

[@nikkilesley2525]

I also use my Mac mini.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

How does that run? Slow I imagine.

[@nikkilesley2525]

@@LaptopRetrospective not too bad, but I’m patient since I know it’s older.

[@nikkilesley2525]

Also, I put 4gb ram in a while back too.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Does your model actually support all 4?

[@queennchronicales7815]

Do you still have this laptop. I do and I want to upgrade mine. Can you help me

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I don't. What are you trying to do?

[@queennchronicales7815]

I would like run some sort of work OS, operating software just to normal light business and word document

[@queennchronicales7815]

@@LaptopRetrospective I would like to add new iOS .but I really don't know how

[@LaptopRetrospective]

iOS is Apple only.

[@2m0ng032]

@@queennchronicales7815 Try Xubuntu. You'll need a USB flash drive to put it on. It's very easy to do and there are lot's of guides online.

[@CB-mw5cz]

Would this work on a ZG5?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Not familiar with that model.

[@rockmohit006]

ZG5 is another name of this laptop which is -'acer aspire zg5'

[@RayearthSama]

it's worth it to install win10 in it?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

It can't make the minimum RAM requirements. 1.5GB max and 10 wants 4 I believe.

[@brianwillatzen4462]

where did you buy your green screwdriver set

[@LaptopRetrospective]

That old thing I think came from Lee Valley. I'm sure other places sell them as well.

[@brianwillatzen4462]

@@LaptopRetrospective do you know what brand it is

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I'm pretty sure it isn't a branded item. Just something from China a company might choose to buy.

[@brianwillatzen4462]

@@LaptopRetrospective Thanks :)

[@LaptopRetrospective]

You're welcome.

[@TZ-nq3lz]

I own this computer but it is equipped with a small 8gb zif ssd and you cannot install a normal hard disk. Sorry for my bad english, greetings from Italy 👍🇮🇹

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Interesting. It must be a slightly different model.

[@51diogenes]

​@@LaptopRetrospective Acer offered several different configurations of this model in quick succession in the early years. The ones with XP releases came with EIDEs late releases had SATA, and when Win7 became available all those units had SATAs. I think the ZIF models were available from the get go with either system

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Thanks for the confirmation.

[@Joecrouse]

just had a church member hand me one after teaching a cyber security class to my congregation asked me if i could help remove the hard drive as he was just going to toss it. thanks this thing was a bit of a pain to get open

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Glad I was able to help!

[@mohammed_aljabry]

From where can I get 1gb ram with 1GB DDR2 1Rx16 PC2-5300

[@LaptopRetrospective]

eBay or wherever you might find locally available used computer parts.

[@mohammed_aljabry]

@@LaptopRetrospective unfortunately all what I get it's different than mine Mine is 1Rx16 PC2-5300 But nothing like it.. I never found one I searched everywhere so I don't know if other can work properly or must I get exactly 1Rx16 PC2-5300 I found 1Rx8 and 2Rx16 Nothing 1Rx16 nothing

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I can't find any reference to the Rx type mattering for this. The original module I replaced was 2Rx16, so I'd use that.

[@techmouse.]

Well I think I minmaxed my machine. I upgraded the RAM, put new thermal paste on (same type as in the video by coincidence), got a new battery (5200mah, stock is 2200mah), and put in a Kingston SSD. I guess that's about as far as one can take it without breaking out the hakko soldiering iron. I noticed there's an intel chip below the keyboard. It seems to use the metal backing on the keyboard as a heatsink. So I thoroughly cleaned the corrosion off of the back (there was a fair amount of it), and I would advice others to do the same if they've already taken it off. BTW, I also noticed something in your video. You don't have "fast boot" enabled. For you and anybody else out there, you can further increase the boot speed by going into the BIOS and enabling "fast boot". It's only about a 5-10 second increase, but every bit helps.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Nice set of upgrades. Fast boot can be handy until you have to troubleshoot hardware.

[@techmouse.]

@@LaptopRetrospective If you mean entering the BIOS, you still have like 2 seconds to spam F2 at boot. I've had it enabled for years and it's not really a problem. BTW, it looks like your unix stickers link is broken.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yeah they don't make the stickers anymore.

[@aelguindy1]

So, what system did u install after upgrade?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I put on a 32 bit version of Mint.

[@aldrind.gonzales6472]

Sir can I installed windows 7 in Acer aspire aoa150.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

32 bit only. Not sure if you'd want to though.

[@aldrind.gonzales6472]

@@LaptopRetrospective why sir?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Quite certain this chipset only supports 32 bit systems and Windows 7 is no longer supported. I'd find a Linux distro that is being updated to be safer online.

[@aldrind.gonzales6472]

@@LaptopRetrospective sir I installed windows 7 32 bits...but can't play vedio movies what should I do?.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

VLC plays all.

[@ciobaneasca]

I have the same Notebook with Linux Mit...and its still a pice of shed :))))))) I just dont have the SSD HHD Drive..

[@raphcaswell-jones932]

I got a Linpus Linux model

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Very nice!

[@techmouse.]

23:05 I'm having a super hard time following the math on the maximum amount of RAM this thing can take. It only has a 512mb RAM stick installed, but the BIOS shows 1024gb of memory available. So somewhere on the board, it must have another 512 of RAM. Everybody always puts only 1gb of RAM in, to bring it from 1gb, to a total of 1.5gb. And you said you didn't want to put in a 2gb stick because 512mb of it would be ignored. Soooo if I'm understanding this correctly, if you installed a 2gb stick of ram, and 512mb of it would be ignored, then that means 2gb of the 2.5gb would still be available? Then that means you can bump it's max RAM to 2gb? ...or is 1.5gb still the max? Like I said, I'm having a hard time following the math on this.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Bottom line is, the motherboard can only handle a total of 1.5GB. 512 is onboard. 1GB stick max. If you installed a 2GB and if it even read it, it would only use 1GB, for still a maximum of 1.5GB.

[@CaptainSeamus]

There was a lot of discussion when these were new about trying to solder on a 1gb chip in place of the 512, etc etc - nothing worked. They are limited to 1.5gb... that's probably the only fail on these machines (that and even though they are dual core, they will only do 32bit Windows)

[@paulgjackson]

I initially put in a 2gb module but it caused the laptop to not boot at all with a black screen. A 1gb module is the largest size it will accept.

[@techmouse.]

@@paulgjackson Can you confirm that 2gb RAM stick was low density DDR2? A high density RAM stick can also cause it to not boot.

[@paulgjackson]

@@techmouse. the 2gb sodimm appears to be low density as it has 16 chips in total whereas the original 512mb sodimm looks like high density (4 chips)

[@aldrind.gonzales6472]

How to bootable empower & eframwork in usb

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Not sure I understand your question.

[@aldrind.gonzales6472]

My cooling fan not working what should I do sir? Acer aspire AOA150

[@aldrind.gonzales6472]

Can you help me

[@LaptopRetrospective]

If your fan isn't working, then it will need to be replaced.

[@aldrind.gonzales6472]

Tnx. a lot sir..

[@aldrind.gonzales6472]

I want to buy new loptop but I have no money to buy ..some body can help me..

[@TukozAki]

People making actual use of older, handy devices that they take good care of it :) Watching most streaming HD videos in good conditions on my very similar Dell Mini Inspiron 1012. Here is a screen I took minutes ago: framapic.org/G9LeTk8HqSqX/IgkuaCRexaO8?t PS: the Intel 540s SSD and 1GB extra RAM I also threw in it made little difference in my daily usage, compared to shifting from a bloated OS such as Windows® to an efficient one.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Tukoz Aki I can't begin to state how much this little computer was awesome for university at the time. It really did it all and was very impressive in handling daily tasks and the atom processor meant it was very light on battery. It is no Ultrabook of today but it proved the usefulness of a small laptop. This one is still used today by my parents who travel a great deal and need a computer to check email, maps, download pictures, etc.

[@TukozAki]

I use mine (bought for 250 EUR in 2010/2) daily mostly for browsing, managing project & collaborative office, testing software efficiency, watching streamed videos while sync'ing our files :)

[@b4t4clan75]

i installed ubuntu 14 on that guy using dongle live ubuntu Works fine

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Glad to hear it!

[@fess04]

i got mine up to win 7 for free .................no problem service pak 2 and no compat problems at large years now after win abandoned 7 .....crashes less than win 10 lol

[@LaptopRetrospective]

+fess04 cool. Glad to hear you're getting good milage out of it. They're not bad for what they were designed to do, but people wanted more. Always more!

[@MarcellJjr]

still have mine. linux revives pc's.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yeah Linux helps but 1.5GB of RAM max hurts.

[@MarcellJjr]

@@LaptopRetrospective it does with morris law but there are distro’s for everyday task (as you know). It’s a fun little peace a history to have.

[@homelessEh]

looking at a clown Book... not cloud book.. wondering WTF went Wrong?!?! netbook sure it was single cored with 2gb of ram but it had a frickin 500gb hard drive in it.. clown book heres your 32gb ......oh do you want to put everything on an eventual paid subscription extortion racket? i opted for the Gateway Amd alternative wife owned the acer 1 i had the lt1331u 1.2ghz athlon 64 with x1300 graphics :P could play things the acer just couldn't :P but thanks to you tube enforcing 60fps ..the netbook dun up and died overnight lol ..the lt13 had s1 socket.. i heard faint wispers of people putting dual core taurions in it.... but im not that keen on dissassembly of something i still hold a little dear.

[@kysiu7864]

i buy this laptop today for 25$ xD

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Nice buy!

[@kysiu7864]

@@LaptopRetrospective i lost my laptop, sister saw him and said "so small so cute give me pls" :(

[@deehuynh6774]

you are rought. i bet when you put it back, it wont work.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Still working! 😁

[@jorasize]

Too much on the chips ..