ACER AOD260 RAM

Often I found myself wishing I had a basic computer with me to do some course work or do some internet activity or other. The problem is that my laptop is just such a pain to carry around, I seldom take it with me. I decided to buy a netbook.

Some criteria I set myself included:-

1.83GHZ processor
2GB DDR3 RAM
At least 200GB hard drive
Reasonable battery life
Very compact
Not prone to showing fingerprints on lid / keyboard surround
Windows XP or Windows 7

I found I liked the the ACER Aspire One AOD260. Since my wife usually inherits my hand me downs, she liked the pink flake one.

The only problem was that all the AOD260s I saw for sale in Singapore only came with 1GB of DDR3 RAM. Two shops told me they could upgrade it. They said there is a single RAM slot, so the existing 1GB RAM card is removed and replaced, rather than an additional 1GB RAM card being added. They performed the upgrade by prising off the keyboard, undoing 4 screws which were under it and removing the back. They then changed the RAM card, but in both cases the laptop refused to boot up until the original 1GB of RAM was re-instated. I didn't purchase either of these machines, since I wanted 2GB of RAM. In both cases the 2GB DDR3, which didn't work was made by Crucial. One of the shops phoned around and mentioned that Hynix RAM was required.

I eventually contacted ACER Singapore and had to go to their service centre at Jurong East to purchase an AOD260 which they had upgraded themselves. I took a thumb drive with me with the freeware version of SIW ( http://www.gtopala.com/ ) on it, so I could check the RAM configuration on receipt.

As can be seen from the screenshot above (if you have good eyesight), the RAM used is made by Hyundai. Interestingly it is suggested that up to 4GB can be fitted in 2 slots although ACER say the maximum is 2GB. I suspect they did not solder a second slot to the motherboard, since there probably isn't space for it.