New Acer Laptop - Noooooo I don't think so.

[NeverSure]

I ordered and got a new Acer V 16 laptop to have it for a knock around extra. It's going right back. I unpacked it and turned it over to install a new 500GB SSD and there is no door to a bay for the HDD. The whole back has to come off after removing 14 screws and detaching one ribbon cable. Then there are two more ribbon cables which must be unplugged just to lift the HDD out because they are routed over the HDD.

Even after doing that there is no ram in sight although it has 8GB so it would probably be OK indefinitely.

The main issue is the HDD now, and thinking perhaps a larger one in the future. It ain't gonna happen and Acer can keep it. I have a nice fast Toshiba that's less than a year old and it has 6GB ram and a 500GB SSD. It also has doors for stuff with not more than one screw.

Cheers, and this is what it looks like. (Not my video, LOL.)

[gerry123]

bang goes your warranty then ???

[IMHO]

I hope you didn't actually remove the back - all Acers have a security seal - i.e. the one that says "VOID"

Why do you need so much local storage anyway? Just store all those MKV's and MP4's on a NAS drive, and make them accessible to all devices on your local network

Edited June 9, 2015 by IMHO

[crabdog]

My DELL Inspiron is the same. Bought it during the 2011 flood. 12 screws on the back, rip off the faceplace and keyboard, disconnect 3 ribbon cables, 8 more screws, tear off the monitor(!), remove another plate. Just to access the HDD.

On the plus side it's been incredibly robust. Carried it to and from work 20km daily in a backpack on a motorcycle for several years and everything still functions. It's still a piece of shiet but it has been very reliable.

[NeverSure]

I hope you didn't actually remove the back - all Acers have a security seal - i.e. the one that says "VOID"

Why do you need so much local storage anyway? Just store all those MKV's and MP4's on a NAS drive, and make them accessible to all devices on your local network

I wanted to install a 500GB SSD. I also bought a 2TB external for storage.

[NeverSure]

bang goes your warranty then ???

No, I didn't do anything to it except box it up and return it. That vid I posted isn't mine - just an example.

[manarak]

The smaller and slimmer they are, the more difficult it gets to replace parts.

I had to follow a similar procedure as described in the video with my small eee (Asus) - remove the keyboard, etc. Except those things are not designed to be opened and closed conveniently and are made of plastic parts which can easily break if specialized tools aren't used or when the operator is not trained.

Voiding the warranty by replacing RAM or a HDD makes the thing a no-go of course. Manufacturers have to make sure they build these things in such a way that these parts can be replaced without voiding the hardware warranty.

Moreover, I would also like laptop manufacturers to use the modular platform that allows to upgrade CPU and GPU.

[h90]

14 screws and 3 ribbon cables sounds like 5 min of work...Where is the problem?

[DLang]

So people buy a laptop with the intention of immediately opening it and installing new hardware.

They purchase a laptop and the new hardware.

Without even seeing the way the new hardware will need to be installed in it.

???

Boggles the mind.

[manarak]

So people buy a laptop with the intention of immediately opening it and installing new hardware.

They purchase a laptop and the new hardware.

Without even seeing the way the new hardware will need to be installed in it.

???

Boggles the mind.

often the shops or manufacturer will not offer the desired variants

[mmh8]

yeah, I purchased a lenevo from creation thai .com or something simnilar, either way wasted a lot of time looking for what I wanted at it mall, pantib 2 of them and other shops. in the end creation thia had the specs I wanted lenevo t440p, easily swappable innards with swapouts expected by lenevo. they know their customers and they also know that the sdd it ships with - transcend I htink- are crap, therefore got the samsung pro850 it works perfect. and warranty is international works in thailand etc etc. would not go with any banana it crapo or any of the others that seem to think any purchaser is a gamer

[DLang]

So people buy a laptop with the intention of immediately opening it and installing new hardware.

They purchase a laptop and the new hardware.

Without even seeing the way the new hardware will need to be installed in it.

???

Boggles the mind.

often the shops or manufacturer will not offer the desired variants

Er, yes. So you check how swappable the components are before you buy both of them.

Hardly scocket rience.

[IMHO]

Moreover, I would also like laptop manufacturers to use the modular platform that allows to upgrade CPU and GPU.

Dell had a few models back in the early 00's with insertable/swappable graphic cards and CPU's. I don't think too many people actually bought the upgrade cards though, so they stopped the concept.

The thing with CPU's is, you can only make incremental steps with them before it's a whole new mainboard now needed. The problem with graphics cards are, faster ones need more cooling and more power - both of which are hard to scale in a notebook chassis.

[h90]

So people buy a laptop with the intention of immediately opening it and installing new hardware.

They purchase a laptop and the new hardware.

Without even seeing the way the new hardware will need to be installed in it.

???

Boggles the mind.

Yes I do. It was always possible to swap HD and RAM. Now there are Laptops on the market that have the RAM soldered on the mainboard, since I learned that a few month ago, I would just buy it without seeing it.

[h90]

Moreover, I would also like laptop manufacturers to use the modular platform that allows to upgrade CPU and GPU.

Dell had a few models back in the early 00's with insertable/swappable graphic cards and CPU's. I don't think too many people actually bought the upgrade cards though, so they stopped the concept.

The thing with CPU's is, you can only make incremental steps with them before it's a whole new mainboard now needed. The problem with graphics cards are, faster ones need more cooling and more power - both of which are hard to scale in a notebook chassis.

And making it swappable builds bigger than soldering together everything.

[manarak]

Moreover, I would also like laptop manufacturers to use the modular platform that allows to upgrade CPU and GPU.

Dell had a few models back in the early 00's with insertable/swappable graphic cards and CPU's. I don't think too many people actually bought the upgrade cards though, so they stopped the concept.

The thing with CPU's is, you can only make incremental steps with them before it's a whole new mainboard now needed. The problem with graphics cards are, faster ones need more cooling and more power - both of which are hard to scale in a notebook chassis.

true!

yet there are still considerable differences in cost between CPU and GPU of a same series that can work with the same cooling.

[IMHO]

Moreover, I would also like laptop manufacturers to use the modular platform that allows to upgrade CPU and GPU.

Dell had a few models back in the early 00's with insertable/swappable graphic cards and CPU's. I don't think too many people actually bought the upgrade cards though, so they stopped the concept.

The thing with CPU's is, you can only make incremental steps with them before it's a whole new mainboard now needed. The problem with graphics cards are, faster ones need more cooling and more power - both of which are hard to scale in a notebook chassis.

And making it swappable builds bigger than soldering together everything.

It sure does

I still have one of those Dell notebooks sitting in the corner (it made it's way up to a Geforce2go video card BTW) - two things I can tell you about it, comparing it to my newer machines - it's bulky and it's flimsy as heck. Modular chassis' on notebooks are not a great idea

[Pib]

Quite a few laptops now do not have drive or memory access doors or externally removal batteries. It's almost like taking a tablet apart. For example the Lenovo Z510 laptop I bought 18 months ago was like that and I knew it before buying...I would have much preferred to have a laptop with access doors, but I just couldn't find a i7 quad core CPU laptop in Thailand that satisfied my needs like the Z510 did. But since Lenovo usually includes a detailed "maintenance manual" on their support website and did include a nice mx manual with plenty of pictures for my Z510 I had plenty of illustrated instructions to accomplish the partial disassembly when I installed extra RAM and replaced the HDD with a SSD. ...No special tools required...basically just a small Philips head screw driver needed and your fingernails or old credit card to pry off the bottom plastic case once all the screws are removed. Lots of little screws to remove along with the keyboard and then prying the bottom cover off, but it all went well. But I was apprehensive when prying off the plastic bottom case hoping I didn't break anything. A lot of bottom cases are easily removed once a few screws are removed but I had to remove screws and then the plastic case had numerous plastics clips to get unsnapped also without breaking them....I succeeded. The manual also includes part numbers from various manufacturers for sub-components such battery, RAM, and a bunch of other stuff.

Yeap, Lenovo maintenance manuals are nice (and free for download from their support website where you get driver updates and other things)....and since my earlier work days were involved in electronics repair I know the value of a good maintenance manual. Lenovo gets a +1 from me for their mx manuals.

[DogNo1]

I have bought 2 Lenovos at Phantip in the last year. I don't particularly like either of them. I find their wireless connectivity and small keyboards not to my liking. It's back to Sony Vaio for me. I now own three of them and really love their features and robustness.

[NeverSure]

14 screws and 3 ribbon cables sounds like 5 min of work...Where is the problem?

The warranty seal.

[Pib]

The warranty seal on my Lenovo was on the inside of the unit under the keyboard covering one of the screw holes....the seal was on a flat metal surface...the seal was removed easily without damage using a razor blade and reapplied perfectly (two times already with the RAM and SSD upgrades done at two different times). I got lucky on the seal removal/replacement. Since the laptop has a two year warranty I was a little apprehensive as mentioned in my other post on the first disassembly to install the RAM for two reasons: (1) wasn't sure just how hard or easy the disassembly would really be even if the maintenance manual instructions didn't make it appear hard...just removal of a bunch of screws and the keyboard in order to get the bottom case off, and (2) impact on warranty provisions as in what warranty seals I may run into.

But I can easily understand how such disassembly is beyond the desire-level of many...plus Lenovo could have easily included access doors for the RAM and drive area on my Z510, but making the battery easily replaceable (i.e., plug in and out externally) would have probably doubled the physical size of the battery without any power increase and reshaping of the back part of the laptop.

Yeap, many of the laptops made today are more like tablets in making partial disassembly a requirement. And what is crazy the manufacturer, such as Lenovo, also makes plenty of new laptop models with access doors and an external removal battery...it varies widely from model to model. The case design internal components accessibility is something a person should include in the research and buying decision nowdays.

[thedemon]

I think this issue is something we have to get used to. As devices like ultrabooks and notebooks get thinner and lighter they no longer have a chassis where all components are attached with screws like conventional laptops. The construction is unitary so that the rear cover and even attachment of the internal battery are necessary to provide rigidity for the whole device. The same is true of the screen assembly. Where previously replacing the LCD screen was fairly straightforward with the LCD panel, backlight and cables being a separate assembly which could be easily removed after disassembling the lid, often now the layers of the LCD panel are held in place by the lid itself and the whole assembly is glued together so that even with a heat gun and prying tools to open it you need about 10 hands to get it back together. No doubt it can be done but I have tried and failed several times.

Microsoft with their Surface Pro devices have taken it a step further. The earlier models could (with a high degree of difficulty) be opened. But in any case, not only the RAM but almost every other component is soldered to the board. The MSATA drive is the only part that could be swapped. With the Surface Pro 3, it simply can't be opened and reassembled by anyone other than the manufacturer. Well, it might be possible but certainly not by us mere users.

[Somtamnication]

And what is the feedback on the Nitro. Was looking at their 17 inch version.

[NeverSure]

I don't like prying the back off my smartphone phone or anything else that isn't "user serviceable" and risking breaking something. I hope it's a long time before there isn't a user friendly laptop I can buy because there's no doubt I'll want to upgrade something. This time it was simply to plug in an SSD. It already had 8 gig of RAM.

Some smartphones don't have a user accessible battery or SIM. Try a Google/LG Nexus 5. It just isn't worth it.

[NanLaew]

Just for grins, how much was that Acer? There may be price break where machines below a certain cost and spec are aimed at a non-technical, facebook and twitter sort of user and are not intended for nerdy upgrades. The ones above that margin may have the 'doors' to access upgradeable bits?

I certainly wouldn't want a total clamshell like the very first Toshiba's used to be. I also wouldn't buy an Acer of any spec as I reckon they are all <deleted> anyway. But still interested to see what the price was.