Inside Acer Aspire 3 (A317-53) – disassembly and upgrade options

It is very common for budget 17-inchers to have a ton of free space inside. This is not necessarily a bad thing though, since the tech needed to run a modern laptop is shrinking in size as we speak. However, putting a larger battery is always a good choice. Well, Acer didn’t do it with this one.

Check out all Acer Aspire 3 (A317-53) prices and configurations in our Specs System or read more in our In-Depth review.


1. Remove the bottom plate

To take this laptop apart, you need to undo a total of 14 Phillips-head screws. After that, pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool, starting from the back two corners.


2. Battery

Inside, we see a ton of free space. But more importantly, there is a 43Wh battery pack. It lasted us for about 10 hours of Web browsing, or 6 hours of video playback. To take the battery out, you first need to unplug the connector from the motherboard. Then, undo the two Phillips-head screws, holding it in place.


3. Memory and storage

Memory-wise, there is one SODIMM slot, which enables you to expand the RAM soldered to the motherboard. As for the storage, you get an M.2 PCIe x4 slot. In addition, there is space for a 2.5-inch SATA device on the left, but we can’t be 100% sure about that.


4. Cooling system

In terms of cooling, we see something quite common with one heat pipe, a heat sink, and a fan.

Check out all Acer Aspire 3 (A317-53) prices and configurations in our Specs System or read more in our In-Depth review.

Acer Aspire 3 (A317-53 / А317-53G) in-depth review

As we've said numerous times, all manufacturers have their top dogs and premium notebooks that epitomize the complexity and ingenuity of their R&D departments. However, their best sellers reside in the budget category. The same can be said about Acer, whose arguably best-selling device is the Aspire 3.Today, we're going to provide some insight on the Aspire 3 (A317-53), which is a 17-inch notebook with quite some potential. It's worth saying that the competition in its price range is pretty fierce. Both Lenovo and HP have impressive offerings in the face of the IdeaPad 3 (17", 2021) a[...]

Pros

  • 1x SODIMM, 1x M.2 PCIe x4, 1x 2.5-inch SATA (optional)
  • Surprisingly good performance and cooling
  • Strong chassis

Cons

  • Not the best input devices
  • No SD card reader
  • Lacks a USB Type-C port
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