Inside Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7- 791G) – disassembly, internal photos and upgrade options
The new Aspire V15 and V17 Nitro Black Edition lineups became really popular for a short period of time due to their affordable prices, compact design and powerful hardware. It’s a gaming machine that’s portable enough for you to use as a daily driver, but the same cannot be said for the V17 Nitro Black Edition. It’s a 17-incher that you’d probably think it’s slightly different from the 15-inch model and you will benefit from the bigger chassis. Unfortunately, this is not the case. While it still carries the advantages of the 15-inch model it lacks the features that you would expect from a large notebook.
1. Taking out the keyboard
This model is absolutely identical to the 15-inch model and it is relatively easy to open it. Firstly, you will need to do some unscrewing at the bottom and then try to pop out the keyboard with some sort of plastic tool. Be careful when removing the keyboard as it is attached to the motherboard with 3 cables. It’s a bit tricky.
2. Upgrade options
Removing the keyboard will reveal almost all of the internals. You can easily clean the fans from the dust, change the 2.5″ HDD or upgrade it with an SSD. The CPU and GPU have the same placement as the V15 Nitro Black Edition as well as all the other hardware. In fact, this is a 15-inch motherboard fit in a bigger chassis. Also, the battery seems a bit small – we’ve seen ultrabooks with bigger batteries. They could have used a bit more space inside. If you are willing to sacrifice the optical drive, you can also consider replacing it with an additional storage device like 2.5″ HDD or SSD. However, if you want to upgrade your M.2 SATA storage or RAM chips, proceed to the next step.
3. Removing the motherboard
By unscrewing a few bolts, you can proceed with removing the motherboard. Be careful with all the cables attached. At the back, you will find a M.2 SATA slot for 2280 B&M key SSD device and in our case, it’s occupied. There’s also the RAM chip slots, so you can go for another 8GB chip for a 16GB of total operating memory.
What M.2 SSD is in there? I am trying to upgrade mine but I need a model number to match if possible.
There’s no need of model number. Just look for 80mm M.2 SATA SSD with B & M type of key.
All those M.2 slots are a bit confusing. I’m wondering, given that VN7-791G has a slot for B & M keyed drives, would it be possible to have an SSD with only an M key like the Samsung SM951? Or the opposite, an SSD with one B key only? Or is it only SSDs with both B and M keys that can go in there?
In any case, thanks for sharing that disassembly.
Only the appropriate key will fit unfortunately.
Hey, but here it says that VN7- 791G Black Edition model has only B key:
http://laptopmedia.com/laptop-m-2-ngff-ssd-compatibility-list/
I am confused 🙁
perfect it worked! thanks! Got a Samsung 850 M.2 drive.
hey , how did u tranfer ur existing data(os) to the new m.2 SSD?? with standard ssd u can put it in an enclosure n connect it as ext harddrive n transfer data.. but with M.2 SSD??
What 8gb ram memory should I get to get total of 16gb?
I have the same question…would any DDR3L SDRAM work?
Hy guys…
I have the same PC and have a suspicious noise coming from the bottom left side (image).
I wonder what’s the black block to the left of the battery.
Thank you 🙂
That’s one of the speakers, the bottom left one (four in total). Try lowering your volume or disabling your sound card to check if the noise goes away. If it does, the speaker probably got damaged.
Thanks for the article Rossen, I bought this exact laptop configured with 2TB HDD and 16 GB ram. What confuses me is that windows 10 task manager shows “Slots used: 2 of 4” under Memory. I haven’t opened it up (yet :P) so want to confirm if it has 2 or 4 ram slots.
Thanks in advance.
If need a screenshot, let me know.
There’s a slight chance that the notebook you have has 4 slots but I really doubt that’s the case. I am pretty sure the tasks manager reads it wrong. Try with Aida64 or CPU-Z.
I have a question I have aspire v17nitro black edition and it comes with 16gb memory ram. Is it possible to upgrade the ram to 32gb and what kind of ram do I need to buy. Thanks
I just got one and did an upgrade to 32GB. You need a DDR4 2133 RAM.
http://amzn.to/2aHLTeS
Everything I’ve ever read says this model can only be upgraded to 16gb. If this is legit you just made me a very happy man.
I upgraded mine to 32gb of ddr4 ram. Windows recognices all 32gb and runs fine.
Duncan, are you positive you upgraded a VN7-791G to 32GB RAM? The VN7-791G uses only DDR3L RAM sticks. DDR4 sticks are not compatible with the 791G memory slots, I tried 2 days ago.
My laptop is the V NITRO 17 Black Edition (VN7-792G) and has been running 32 GB DDR4 RAM for about a year with no issues. I am currently tring to find out if it will support an NVMe SSD on the M.2 slot.
Mars, you most likely upgraded a VN7-792G instead of a VN7-791G. Purchased the DDR4 2133 RAM sticks that you had provided a link to and it does not fit in the 791G memory slots.
Hi, does anyone know the name of the cable to connect the hdd to the motherboard? I can’t eem to find it and need one… 🙁
Where can I buy a motherboard for this computer? Mine is shot. Thanks.
Has anyone tried using 16GB DDR3L sticks which are available on the market now?
is it possible to have both HDD and ssd memory and DVD/RW at the same time?
i mean, without removing HDD memory and DVD/RW?
which one does it support?
PCIe x4 m.2 SSD with M key and AHCI or NVMe protocols
my laptop is : Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-791G-76Z8)
Is it possible do remove the bottom case only, if i want to change the ram memory?
It looks like it in this video?
/Mike
brother can i upgrade Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black Edition’s ( VN7-791G-76MH) RAM? current ram 16gb and i want to upgrade it to 64gb . is it possible? please inform me.
Hey everyone, i have a VN7-591G-787T and i was wondering if i can upgrade the RAM memory to a kit of 2x8Gb 1866Mhz. Thanks a lot!
Disck SDD?