Is it worth it voiding the warranty to install a new SSD? (Acer A315-41 R3LC)

BakaInu87

Hi all,

For a few months since I first opened it my laptop has been painfully sluggish, I was about to add a RAM and SSD to mitigate the issue, since Windows shows 100% disk usage all the time and software-based tweaks I found on internet forums hasn't been helping. However, around a week ago I uninstalled Avast and to my surprise the problem was fixed, my disk doesn't constantly go on 100% now, and the performance is nearly as smooth as my similarly specced PC. That might be the issue. Anyways, it's all good.

But I'm still considering adding those RAM and SSD, since 4GB of RAM isn't really what you call 'adequate' these days. Even only using Firefox shoots it up to 98% capacity. And the hard drive is a bit sluggish on file transfer, so that's why. I know adding RAM wouldn't void my warranty, since it is in a separate bay and can be opened without breaking the warranty seal. To install a SSD is another thing though. To access the M.2 slot, I will need to open the entire back cover, which unfortunately has a warranty seal sticker right on top of one of the screw holes. It's been holding me back from it.

I still have approximately 1,5 years of warranty left, since I bought this laptop mid-2019. Is it worth it breaking that seal for an increase in performance? Or should I just wait it out until my warranty expires?

aphanic

I think it's a personal matter, we could give you our opinions and you can weigh them in but in the end it's you who has to make the decision.

If it were me, yes, I would certainly be opening the laptop to not only add an SSD or change the hard drive for one if adding one were not a possibility (at the very least, I would probably re-paste the machine as well).

For me the decision boils down to, do I struggle through 1.5 years until I can do it without penalty or do I take the "risk" (minimal to be honest) now and become more productive during that time? Because the tools we use on a day to day basis really affect our outcomes and switching from a mechanical drive to an SSD (even a SATA one) is one of the changes that most affect performance.

It's like the 4 GB of RAM you say you have, is it enough? Well, yes, I have a machine that is old and I can use it with 4 GB of RAM; but it would certainly work much better if it had 8+ (4 is the maximum for that one), less swapping to disk when using several programs at the same time or having multiple tabs opened in a browser.

So my vote is for yes.

I am wondering though, how come there are warranty void stickers in that machine? May I as where you're from? I believe those have been prohibited in the States for a while now. I'm from Spain and my A515-54G even came with a kit to add a secondary 2.5'' SATA drive, as in "we're cool if you want to open the machine to add another drive, here you have the necessary bracket, flex cable and screws".

I may be wrong, but I believe laws at EU countries would allow you to do it without losing your warranty thanks to a directive we had from '99 that's integrated into each nation's laws by now.

Commodore_1995#

In my opinion, it is not worth breaking the guarantee seal. In your country, will an acer technician go to the user's home to maintain the notebook? In some countries, the acer technician goes to the user's home.

aphanic

I think it's a personal matter, we could give you our opinions and you can weigh them in but in the end it's you who has to make the decision.

If it were me, yes, I would certainly be opening the laptop to not only add an SSD or change the hard drive for one if adding one were not a possibility (at the very least, I would probably re-paste the machine as well).

For me the decision boils down to, do I struggle through 1.5 years until I can do it without penalty or do I take the "risk" (minimal to be honest) now and become more productive during that time? Because the tools we use on a day to day basis really affect our outcomes and switching from a mechanical drive to an SSD (even a SATA one) is one of the changes that most affect performance.

It's like the 4 GB of RAM you say you have, is it enough? Well, yes, I have a machine that is old and I can use it with 4 GB of RAM; but it would certainly work much better if it had 8+ (4 is the maximum for that one), less swapping to disk when using several programs at the same time or having multiple tabs opened in a browser.

So my vote is for yes.

I am wondering though, how come there are warranty void stickers in that machine? May I as where you're from? I believe those have been prohibited in the States for a while now. I'm from Spain and my A515-54G even came with a kit to add a secondary 2.5'' SATA drive, as in "we're cool if you want to open the machine to add another drive, here you have the necessary bracket, flex cable and screws".

I may be wrong, but I believe laws at EU countries would allow you to do it without losing your warranty thanks to a directive we had from '99 that's integrated into each nation's laws by now.

BakaInu87

egydiocoelho said:

In my opinion, it is not worth breaking the guarantee seal. In your country, will an acer technician go to the user's home to maintain the notebook? In some countries, the acer technician goes to the user's home.

Thanks for the reply.

Hmmm, based on my experience previously owning an Acer and helping a friend claim his warranty before, we usually bring the device to a certified Acer distributor and they usually take it to the central service centre on a nearby city next to us. Once it is fixed they will return the device and the distributor will notify us to take it.

Still, I really need to add a RAM and SSD. Uni is coming soon, and I usually open several Firefox tabs at once while writing stuff in Microsoft Word so I can research topics. Will just a RAM increase the general performance of my laptop? I'm afraid without an SSD opening files will take long, I often work with friends and I don't want to hold them up while I wait for my laptop to open them.

BakaInu87

aphanic said:

I think it's a personal matter, we could give you our opinions and you can weigh them in but in the end it's you who has to make the decision.

If it were me, yes, I would certainly be opening the laptop to not only add an SSD or change the hard drive for one if adding one were not a possibility (at the very least, I would probably re-paste the machine as well).

For me the decision boils down to, do I struggle through 1.5 years until I can do it without penalty or do I take the "risk" (minimal to be honest) now and become more productive during that time? Because the tools we use on a day to day basis really affect our outcomes and switching from a mechanical drive to an SSD (even a SATA one) is one of the changes that most affect performance.

It's like the 4 GB of RAM you say you have, is it enough? Well, yes, I have a machine that is old and I can use it with 4 GB of RAM; but it would certainly work much better if it had 8+ (4 is the maximum for that one), less swapping to disk when using several programs at the same time or having multiple tabs opened in a browser.

So my vote is for yes.

I am wondering though, how come there are warranty void stickers in that machine? May I as where you're from? I believe those have been prohibited in the States for a while now. I'm from Spain and my A515-54G even came with a kit to add a secondary 2.5'' SATA drive, as in "we're cool if you want to open the machine to add another drive, here you have the necessary bracket, flex cable and screws".

I may be wrong, but I believe laws at EU countries would allow you to do it without losing your warranty thanks to a directive we had from '99 that's integrated into each nation's laws by now.

Thanks for the reply as well.

For now I'm just considering adding some RAM, since I pretty much already maxed it out at this point. It is the most I can do without breaking the sticker. I don't come from a very well-off family, so that warranty is quite important. I think I can live with just that until it ends.

I come from Indonesia. I didn't even knew it was prohibited in USA! I always assumed it was the norm in all countries. I didn't get anything other than the basic stuff (the warranty forms, charger, and the main unit itself). For those kits we have to buy themselves, and it's not even official from Acer.

aphanic

Sometimes the kits come inside the actual device just taped, to be honest I was amazed when I saw something like that. I liked it, I liked that I was allowed to open the machine without repercussions.

And yep, just checked it was in 2018 when the FTC stated the "warranty void if broken" stickers were illegal in the United States, a very good decision if you ask me. Now, if they also worked towards the right to repair stuff, that would be great: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronics_right_to_repair

Commodore_1995#

It would be interesting if you send a photo of the place where the guarantee seal is installed. Just to complement the topic, here in Brazil, users can open the laptop, as long as the device is not damaged by the user, as they also do not have warranty seals.

BakaInu87

egydiocoelho said:

It would be interesting if you send a photo of the place where the guarantee seal is installed. Just to complement the topic, here in Brazil, users can open the laptop, as long as the device is not damaged by the user, as they also do not have warranty seals.

This is where the warranty seal is. It covers one of the screwholes required to open the back casing. My friend's laptop also has the seal in the exact same place.

p.s.: Sorry for the image quality. It was early in the morning and the lighting is *****.

BakaInu87

aphanic said:

Sometimes the kits come inside the actual device just taped, to be honest I was amazed when I saw something like that. I liked it, I liked that I was allowed to open the machine without repercussions.

And yep, just checked it was in 2018 when the FTC stated the "warranty void if broken" stickers were illegal in the United States, a very good decision if you ask me. Now, if they also worked towards the right to repair stuff, that would be great: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronics_right_to_repair

Just asking, won't the kits interfere with the device function if it is taped inside? I remember somebody in my social circle had his device literally not booting up because he used a wrong kind of tape to stop his PCIe card from wiggling around. Turns out the material it was made from was conductive.

Commodore_1995#

No! The ideal is to use the correct screw so that the ssd is fixed correctly on the main board.

rich1974

as i can see, you have separate doors for hdd and ram.  
you can remove the hdd and replace it with a ssd (sata 3 form). later, you can put the rotary hdd into a rack and use it like external storage. 
on the other hand, if your machine supports NVMe m2 ssd, it worths open the case and use that interface. i opened mine too, but it has no seal. 
go to an authorized acer service. 

and other thing....if you install the ssd, opt for clean install, not for cloning the hdd partition. 

AOMT

Hi all,
My helios 300 requires a change of thermal paste and fan clean up since it reaches high temperatures. I live in the UK and I was wondering if say I send to a third party repair shop who can do the job or I do it myself, does this void my warranty? It is important to note I have the acer care plus and registered it even though they still haven't sent me an official certificate for it, but nevertheless I will be in a two week quarantine soon and I would like to play games smoothly during the quarantine and I cannot send my laptop during that time to acer.