If you've recently came across the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K and found it to be a pretty good deal we can't blame you. Acer pulled out almost all the stops with this model but left us wanting more in the RAM department.
Sure enough, many people - mostly casual users - could easily get by with the pre-installed 4 GB of memory soldered onto the board but if you're looking to do some more intensive multitasking, want to have a few dozen tabs open at a time and not have issues with the laptop freezing or lagging behind then you'll definitely want to upgrade the RAM on the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K.
You're not "techy"? No worries! This is a pretty straightforward procedure. We'll have you upgrading the RAM of this laptop in 5 minutes or less.
What you'll need:
- A screwdriver
- A cloth
- A plastic knife
How much RAM does this laptop support?
First off, before getting the screwdriver, you should know that the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K supports a maximum of 12 GB of RAM. There's 4 GB soldered onto the motherboard which you can't do anything with and an empty slot where you can add anywhere between 4 and 8 GB of RAM.
How much RAM should I get?
That's going to depend heavily on what you're planning to do with your laptop but we can't see a scenario where upgrading to 12 GB of RAM would be a bad thing.
Sure, it might cost a bit more than upgrading to 8 GB but you're future-proofing your device to be able to work with multiple programs at a time for a lot of time to come so you should definitely look at it as an investment into extending the life of your new notebook.
Which RAM should I buy?
Now that you've decided to upgrade to either 4 GB or 8 GB of additional RAM you need to know the exact type. Particularly, this model takes the DDR4 PC4-19200 2400MHz Non-ECC SODIMM type of RAM.
In practical terms that basically means you can either get this 4 GB module or this 8 GB module. We recommend getting Crucial RAM because they have an excellent reputation and we have literally never met anyone who had a bad word to say about their RAM.
How do I upgrade the RAM on the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K
Now that you've got your RAM let's get on with the tutorial.
Step 1: You want to power off your computer.
Step 2: Get the cloth and place it on a plane surface. You're going to put the laptop upside down and you're going to remove the 10 screws located on the bottom lid.
Step 3: Once you've removed the screws you want to use a plastic knife (because plastic is not an electrical conductor ) and gently place the knife to remove the bottom lid. Be careful because this lid is plastic so you don't want to make to much preassure.
Step 4: Once you remove the bottom half you need to locate the RAM slots. They will look something like this - though the model can vary -.
Step 5: on the model that isn't soldered to the motherboard you are going to want to "unclasp" the sides. Once you do that the RAM bay will be open. You should hear a "Clicking" sound.
Step 6: Now, with your newly bought RAM - and I really hope you went with the 8 GB module on this one - you want to place the RAM upside down and insert it into the RAM slot. Once it's properly inserted you need to close the port again - you'll hear a click from the clasps that you've closed up again.
Step 7: Now that the RAM has been properly upgraded in the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R14K you will place the bottom lid back, screw all the screws back on and power up your computer.
Step 8: Now to close you need to confirm that the RAM was successfully added. To do so you just need to go to "device specifications" and search for a line that says "installed RAM". Start > About > About this device > Device Specifications. You should now see the amount of RAM you've placed. As in, you should see either 8 GB or 12 GB of RAM,
Step 9: Pat yourself on the back for a job well done and for substantially increasing the productivity you can reach on the A515-46-R14K.