Solved! Project: Reviving a decade-old laptop (Acer Aspire 4755G)

[Aashasha]

Hi all.

I’ve recently dug up my old notebook, an Acer Aspire 4755G, still running Windows 7. As it is, it’s pretty much a fat paperweight. Battery probably dead, and had to get a new charger for it. But once plugged in, it runs, and the battery -seems- to be charging, albeit very slowly.

That being said, a family member suddenly needs a Windows computer. Never having opened up a laptop before, I’m taking the opportunity to tinker around and see if I can’t breathe some life into this rustbucket.

I have three sets of goals in mind.

1. Windows 7, factory reset.
Only opening the laptop to clean the fan and apply thermal paste. Laptop is reset and should function as a 2010-era laptop.

2. Windows 10, factory reset.
As above, but booted with Windows 10. In this case:

a. How should I go about this? Should I factory reset, which would be to Windows 7, and then upgrade to Windows 10? Or should I instead do a clean install of Windows 10 off the bat? Will it be a bad idea to clean install, knowing that manufacturer drivers and such might be absent? The laptop has both Intel and Nvidia GPU’s.​

b. In either case, will I need a Windows key upgrading to Windows 10?​

3. Upgraded hardware, Windows 10.
As above, but also upgrading the RAM to a whopping 8GBs, and possibly replacing the hard drive with an SSD.

c. In this case, does this mean I have to clone the HDD to the SSD, then factory reset with the SSD installed, and THEN upgrade to Windows 10? There’s no point in resetting with the HDD then switching to SSD, as Windows would then be on the HDD anyway, right?​

d. Alternatively, switch out and clean install on SSD?​

e. Is any of this even worth it at this point?​

Apologies for the long list of questions, but I’m new to tinkering with laptops and any help would be appreciated :L

Thanks!

 

[hang-the-9]

If you want to install Windows 10 on it, then go to the support page for it and see if there are Windows 10 drivers for your model. If not there is a good chance something won't work right, or need some digging around to get working.

The system should have a Windows key on it, that should work to activate Win 10 on that system. Remove the existing drive, install the SSD, install Win 10 on it, see how it runs.